STAR-BULLETIN / 2001
Anti-ADB parade participants earlier this month walked
through Waikiki under the watchful eye of the police.
HPD estimates its costs at less than $4 million.

Board spent
$2 million on ADB

The final tab for the Asian
Development Bank conference is
still being tallied by city agencies

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By Rod Antone
Star-Bulletin

The Hawaii Tourism Authority estimates it spent $2.13 million while hosting the Asian Development Bank conference earlier this month.

Authority head Bob Fishman said that figure includes "the $525,000 or so that the governor asked us to give to the Police Department," but considers all other law enforcement costs to be separate.

"They didn't ask for a nickel of extra money," said Fishman. "They should be credited by using the resources they were appropriated in the previous year."

Though HPD earlier estimated its ADB costs to be about $4 million, police now estimate the cost at less than $4 million. No one would elaborate on exactly how much less.

City Managing Director Ben Lee would not confirm how much HPD spent, though he did acknowledge the department sent him a letter earlier this week about costs in general. Lee said, however, he was not sure that amount included overtime.

"I'm going to be talking to the chief to see that all those costs are in before I send it down to the City Council," said Lee. "I'm also waiting from the other costs from my other department heads so that we can total it up."

Lee said the other city departments that helped out with ADB include the Honolulu Fire Department, Emergency Medical Services, the Department of Transportation Services, Facilities Maintenance and Parks and Recreation.

But while the city did not yet have a breakdown of ADB costs, Lee said there have already been informal requests to get reimbursed by the federal government.

"We told the governor that we need to be reimbursed with these costs, and we also went to the senior senator as well as our congressional delegates," Lee said.

Tourism Authority officials said their costs included $357,400 for food and beverages, $171,700 for ground transportation and $97,700 for building temporary offices and a media center for the conference.

Hawaii won the bid for the ADB conference after Seattle turned it down following protest riots during the World Trade Organization conference in 1999.

Like Lee, Fishman said he fully expects the federal government to reimburse the state for its expenses. "Our deal with the United States government was that we would host three social events for the entire group, and we did," said Fishman.