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Editorials
Tuesday, July 25, 2000‘Wedding mills’ stir
neighbors’ oppositionWEDDINGS have become a lucrative element of Hawaii's travel industry, but proposals to conduct them in residential areas are anything but sacred. Opponents complain about the prospect of "wedding mills" causing traffic congestion that would spoil the tranquility of their neighborhoods. Despite the purpose of exchanging marriage vows, the issues are no different from those in other controversies that have gone before zoning commissions for decades.The issue: A growing tourism market for weddings has brought conflict to neighborhoods where the services are proposed.
The motivation behind the proposals is plain. Brides, grooms and honeymooners spend $5.3 billion in the U.S. annually, and Hawaii is the most popular choice among Japanese couples. Governor Cayetano announced the state's intention a year ago to earmark money for national exposure as a bridal destination.
Last year, a liquor license application by Japan-based Gloria Bridal Chapel in Kapahulu was rejected after nearly two-thirds of area residents signed a petition opposing it. Such an application is automatically rejected if more than half the people living within 500 feet register their objections.
Honolulu City Councilman John Henry Felix is paying $100-a-day fines for operating a wedding service out of his Aina Haina home, contending it is a home occupation allowable under the city land use ordinance. The ordinance has been changed, but Felix believes his weddings are allowed under a grandfather clause. While his case heads for the state Supreme Court, the weddings go on, despite the fines and outrage from the councilman's constituents.
A few doors away, a company formed by a brother of Councilman Andy Mirikitani seeks permission to conduct weddings at the Bayer Estate, a home that is registered nationally as an historic place. The operation is proposed by Bayer Estate LLC, formed by Castle & Cooke Vice President Richard K. Mirikitani and wife Susan.
State zoning law allows nonconforming uses of historic sites. The variance in this case appears supported by the Bayer structure's location next door to Calvary-by-the-Sea Lutheran Church, which has its own wedding business along with a preschool, thrift shop and several other activities.
Opponents argue that the addition of the Bayer Estate wedding operation would be too much for traffic to bear.
Include "wedding mills" with fast-food restaurants, drug-treatment facilities and other activities that set the not-in-my-back-yard alarms ringing. So much for the sanctity of marriage vows.
Tiger Woods needs
some competitionWILL somebody please step forward to give Tiger Woods a decent match? The spectacle of Woods' brilliance and youthful record-setting unquestionably has been great for the sport of golf. Without competition, though, public interest in Woods and professional golf may wane, and no golfer capable of accomplishing that task seems to be forthcoming.
No one has so dominated golf since Jack Nicklaus, and he was given a commendable run in the 1960s and '70s by the likes of Lee Trevino and Tom Watson. At this point, however, Woods' dominance is even greater. That has Nicklaus and others worried about the state of golf as a spectator sport unless something happens to cast some doubt on Woods' next victory.
"And if it doesn't," Nicklaus said, "then you know the game of golf is going to suffer. He's good for the game, but he has to have challengers for the whole thing to be right. It's a bad story if there isn't any."
Granted, Nicklaus made his skeptical remarks during a British Open played on the historic but tediously barren links of St. Andrews. All golfers, including Woods, concentrated on steering safely away from potentially debilitating pot bunkers near tightly tucked pins. "Pin locations are such where it is hard to play aggressive," Woods said on the way to his sand-free championship, a feat of superb course management this time more than his customary splendid shot-making.
American courses are more conducive to aggressive, risk-taking play, but that occurs only when a daring shot is worth the gamble. As the gap widens between the scores of Woods -- his game happens to be improving -- and his nearest opponent, the risk becomes less worth taking. The exciting level of bold, precision play does not occur among players vying for runner-up.
Golf is fortunate in having a great sportsman as humble and well-liked by fans and colleagues alike as Woods, whose multiple ethnicity is an encouragement for greater minority participation. For the game of golf, Woods has been a huge asset. All it needs now is someone nearly as good.
Published by Liberty Newspapers Limited PartnershipRupert E. Phillips, CEO
John M. Flanagan, Editor & Publisher
David Shapiro, Managing Editor
Diane Yukihiro Chang, Senior Editor & Editorial Page Editor
Frank Bridgewater & Michael Rovner, Assistant Managing Editors
A.A. Smyser, Contributing Editor
