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Cayetano may
offer an Ala Wai
bill this session

The legislation would return
the golf course land to the state
and develop a 'Central Park'

Manoa park plan
Will state end up in black?

By Gregg K. Kakesako
Star-Bulletin

Gov. Ben Cayetano said today he may introduce a bill this legislative session, which begins Wednesday, to return control of the Ala Wai Golf Course property to the state and turn it into Honolulu's "Central Park."

Legislative leaders say that any talk of relocating the popular Ala Wai course to anywhere else on Oahu will be controversial, adding to other hot-button issues, such as banning fireworks and building a new prison.

Both Cayetano and Mayor Jeremy Harris agree that a substitute 18-hole golf course would have to be built before any move is made to close the popular Ala Wai links, said to be the busiest in the nation with 176,000 rounds played annually, and replace it with a park and commercial activities.

Although the Ala Wai course sits on state land, the city has been allowed to use it under an executive order.

Cayetano could amend the executive order, requiring the city either to develop the property or return it to state control.

Both House Speaker Calvin Say and Senate President Norman Mizuguchi weren't sure if the Legislature has the authority to reject an executive order, but agreed it would be prudent for the governor to get a consensus from lawmakers before moving forward.

"If I go with (introduce) a bill, it would be cleaner," Cayetano told the Star-Bulletin this morning.

Mizuguchi added that "conventional wisdom would be to get the Legislature to buy in first," since, in the long run, the state would need authorization from lawmakers for funding and other purposes.

Cayetano has estimated it would take as much as $9 million to build a new 18-hole course.

Say said he is "open to the idea" of converting the Ala Wai course near Iolani School into Hawaii's version of Central Park, but he would like to go one step further.

The House Speaker said he would like to see a green belt or a promenade from Kalakaua and Kuhio avenues to the Ala Wai, replacing existing condominiums and apartments with trees and a walkway.

That way, "Maybe we still could keep a nine-hole golf course there," Say said.

Cayetano envisions building a municipal golf course on Sand Island along the ocean, "keeping all of the beach open to the people."

"We did a survey to find out where Ala Wai golfers come from," Harris said, "and they come from all over the island." So, he isn't wedded to any particular site.

He also said there is the possibility that an existing private golf course could be bought and converted to public play.

Not a new idea

Over the past five years, the idea of converting the Ala Wai to a park has come up several times in the city's community-based planning meetings, he said.

"The land is much too valuable just to be used as a golf course," Cayetano said. "We need to have better and more diverse use of the land."

Cayetano envisions converting the Ala Wai into something like New York City's Central Park, flanked by restaurants, an amphitheater and shops in the Kapahulu area.

Mizuguchi said any changes should be "viewed in the context of a master plan for Oahu, especially Waikiki, and it has to be accepted by the general community at large. We need to dialogue with the general public before making any changes."

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