KEN IGE / KIGE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Motoku Yahiku and his wife, Asano, paid their respects yesterday at the marble headstone of his family's gravesite at Honolulu Memorial Park. The couple go there once a month to tend to the site.
Memorial park
stockholders
give up ownershipThe Nuuanu cemetery's 119-foot
pagoda requires $1 million in repairs
The majority stockholders of bankrupt Honolulu Memorial Park relinquished ownership yesterday of the Nuuanu cemetery, known for its deteriorating 119-foot pagoda.
The move paves the way for new owners to take control. However, the makeup of the controlling entity has not been decided.
Richards family members resigned as officers and directors and turned over stock certificates representing 90 percent interest in the cemetery to Chris Porter, attorney for Friends of Honolulu Memorial Park, a group of niche and plot owners.
"It took a long time, but I think this was the best possible result," said Jerrold Guben, attorney for the Richards family. "The park is in the hands of the Friends, who are interested in preserving the pagoda, but also many of the plot and niche holders who have a long-term interest in maintaining the park."
The pagoda, which has been accruing city fines for failing to meet safety standards, needs more than $1 million in repairs.
The Richards family closed the cemetery on Sept. 5, saying they could no longer afford to pay monthly maintenance bills. Access to niches housed in buildings was cut off, water was turned off, trash pickup and maintenance ceased, and employees were laid off.
KEN IGE / KIGE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Bags of rubbish could be seen throughout Honolulu Memorial Park yesterday, but all were neatly kept.
Honolulu Memorial Park filed bankruptcy in December 2001, blaming the high cost of maintaining the pagoda. A proposal to demolish the pagoda prompted an outcry to save the landmark Nuuanu structure. A bankruptcy judge dismissed the Chapter 11 bankruptcy case on Sept. 9, allowing yesterday's stock transfer to take place.
Porter said Kyoto Gardens Park, a nonprofit entity set up about 10 years ago by the Richards family to collect donations for the perpetual care of the cemetery, will probably take over the 90 percent stock interest from Friends. The Richardses no longer are connected with Kyoto Gardens Park, whose executive director is the former general manager of the cemetery.
Members of the Friends group will meet this week to discuss details of the transfer and the makeup of a new board for Kyoto Gardens.
The group hopes to be able to announce any decisions, share information and answer questions at a meeting 11 a.m. Saturday for all niche and plot owners.
Nils Katahara, who owns the remaining 10 percent of Honolulu Memorial, has not relinquished his stock ownership. He did not return a telephone call yesterday seeking comment.
Questions remain on who legally can operate the cemetery, and whether Honolulu Memorial Park can become a nonprofit organization if Katahara holds onto his shares. Kyoto Gardens has $100,000, but the money cannot be used to maintain the cemetery unless Honolulu Memorial Park is converted to a nonprofit, Porter said.
Wayne Kotomori, who spearheaded efforts to save the pagoda and rallied niche and plot owners, said, "I don't think the Friends know what they're getting into. I don't think they have the money to take it over."
Manning Richards said earlier this month that the business has been struggling since he and his siblings inherited it 30 years ago. He also blamed the poor performance of the stock market as part of the reason a perpetual care fund did not remain at a level necessary to provide enough interest income to maintain the park.
Families visiting the cemetery yesterday said they were pleased with the ownership change.
Motoku and Asano Yahiku prayed to their ancestors after washing the tombstone that holds four generations of Yahikus, including reinterred ashes of those who died in Okinawa. They were hopeful the water would be turned on again, so they don't have to haul water from the cemetery next door.
Asano Yahiku said "it's a shame" the pagoda had been allowed to deteriorate, and should have been repaired sooner. "It's such a beautiful pagoda."
Patsy Sekigawa and her family visited the cemetery yesterday on her deceased father's birthday, and lit incense.
"The sad part about (the cemetery's closure) is they can't even have the service for those who need to be interred," she said.
