Street performances
enliven WaikikiThe issue: A city ordinance restricting
sidewalk entertainment in Waikiki
has been struck down.STREET performers have been given assurance by a state judge that their shows will go on, despite an overreaching ordinance approved nearly two years ago by the City Council. The entertainers, recompensed solely by tips, have added zest to the sidewalks of Waikiki, and their freedom of expression would have been suffocated by the restrictions.
Such entertainment should be not only allowed but encouraged. Mimes, musicians, singers, jugglers, living statues and other entertainers are welcomed on stages improvised from the sidewalks of New York to the Ramblas of Barcelona, the Metro stations of Moscow and, perhaps one day soon if not already, alongside the dusty streets of Kabul. Waikiki should be so blessed.
Circuit Judge Virginia Crandall ruled that the ordinance violated the entertainers' constitutional rights to free speech and due process. A city attorney says the city may appeal the decision, but a compromise protecting the performers' rights while minimizing congestion would be a more rewarding course.
The ordinance was signed into law by Mayor Harris in April 2000, but the city agreed to delay its implementation pending court approval. It would have limited street performances to six designated locations, forbidding them altogether on the sidewalks along Kakalaua Avenue. The approved spots were either remote or too small to accommodate spectators. Earle Partington, an attorney for the street performers, said the restrictions were so onerous that they would have amounted to a ban.
In a 42-page ruling, Crandall said the city could have been less burdensome by requiring street entertainers to perform individually, limiting them to locations equipped with buffers that prevent pedestrians from stepping onto the street and peddling on or obstructing sidewalks.
City Councilman Duke Bainum said the Council was merely trying to "make Waikiki safe. This law was drafted specifically because of concerns raised by the police, residents and others."
The Council undoubtedly had good intentions. However, although aimed at assuring safety on Waikiki's sidewalks, the ordinance would have drained them of an exuberance that adds to the ambiance of the tourist area.
"We bring good entertainment to the people, free entertainment," T. Tron, a silver-painted mime, told the Star-Bulletin's Leila Fujimori, "so actually it's good for the tourists."
Clifton, Duffy deserve
federal judgeshipsThe issue: The Senate has yet to
confirm the nomination of Hawaii lawyer
Richard Clifton to a federal appeals judgeship.BIPARTISAN support for President Bush in the war against terrorism has made it no easier for him to gain Senate approval of his judicial appointments. Two federal judgeships that should be filled by Hawaii candidates remain vacant, awaiting a reasonable compromise that would put two highly qualified attorneys on the bench.
As the year begins, there are 97 vacancies on the federal bench, and that number will increase with retirements before Congress reconvenes on Jan. 23. While the gridlock is mostly ideological -- conservative nominees before a Democratic Senate -- that is not the case with Richard R. Clifton, Bush's nominee for an opening on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, or James E. Duffy, whose nomination to the same post by former President Clinton was allowed to die in a Republican Senate.
Both Clifton and Duffy earn high praise from across the political spectrum of Hawaii's legal community. However, Duffy's nomination to the 28-judge panel of the 9th Circuit languished before the Senate for more than a year and a half before its unattended death with the end of the Clinton administration.
When Bush named Clifton to the still-vacant post, Senator Inouye rightly demanded an "official letter" from the Judiciary Committee on why Duffy had been turned down before he would support Clifton's nomination. Hawaii's claim to the seat on the appellate bench was assured by legislation sponsored by Inouye in 1997, so his concern deserves consideration.
A judicial opening that occurred when District Judge Alan C. Kay assumed senior status in 1999 provided President Bush an opportunity to appease Inouye and other Democrats and at the same time win Clifton's Senate confirmation: Appoint Duffy to fill the District Court vacancy. The compromise was suggested by Richard Miller, a law professor emeritus at the University of Hawaii.
"It just seemed to me that the Republicans had screwed up a perfectly good appointment that should have gone through routinely," Miller told the Star-Bulletin four months ago. Inouye said he "absolutely" agrees with Miller, although state Rep. Barbara Marumoto, Bush's main adviser on Hawaii-related appointments, insisted at the time, "Mr. Duffy's name is no longer in contention."
Although Clifton had been a legal adviser to Republican Party leader Linda Lingle and former GOP Congresswoman Pat Saiki, he gains high marks from Democrats, including Miller, who says his credentials are "sound." Duffy has not been politically active. We agree with UH law professor Randall Roth, a Republican and former president of the Hawaii Bar Association, who has said Clifton and Duffy would be "equally terrific" judges.
Published by Oahu Publications Inc., a subsidiary of Black Press.Don Kendall, Publisher
Frank Bridgewater, managing editor 529-4791; fbridgewater@starbulletin.com
Michael Rovner, assistant managing editor 529-4768; mrovner@starbulletin.com
Lucy Young-Oda, assistant managing editor 529-4762; lyoungoda@starbulletin.comRichard Halloran, editorial page director, 529-4790; rhalloran@starbulletin.com
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