[ OUR OPINION ]

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City should foster
condo land sales

THE ISSUE City Council members have voted in committee in favor of repealing the city's condo leasehold conversion ordinance.

RISING real-estate prices have added heat to the controversy over the city's mandatory condominium leasehold conversion ordinance, which now appears doomed. The City Council has agreed to repeal the law, and Mayor Hannemann says he will sign the repeal. In the absence of mandatory conversion, the city should next find ways to encourage voluntary sales of land ownership to condo owner-occupants.

The City Council, meeting as its Executive Matters Committee, voted 6-3 last week in favor of repealing the law. Hannemann opposed the ordinance in last year's mayoral campaign and says he will sign any bill that repeals it. Final Council action is scheduled Jan. 26.

The ordinance was patterned after the 1967 state law requiring conversion of ownership of house lots, which was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1984. However, the city measure was more controversial, perhaps because of the escalating land prices at the time. When real estate values subsided during the stagnant economy that followed, landowners might have been less likely to resist purchase proposals.

Another factor in the controversy was that ownership of land under condominiums is less heavily concentrated than were house lots. That difference became more stark when Kamehameha Schools decided to voluntarily sell nearly all of its condo leasehold land to the condo owners. It has sold land underneath more than 9,000 units on Oahu. While that development can be regarded as positive, the result is that most of today's condo lessors are small landowners.

A task force assigned by the Council to explore whether the law could "be made fairer" was sharply divided according to the task force members' perspective; six members reflected landowners' perspectives and six reflected those of lessee-occupants.

However, both sides in the task force agreed that the Council should encourage federal, state and local tax incentives to create "a mutually beneficial climate for owners and lessees" for land ownership sales apart from the mandatory conversion ordinance. It also suggested that the Council survey condo landowners to find those interested in voluntary sales to lessees and then help facilitate the process. Those are strategies that the Council should pursue.

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Beach events belong
with private sector

THE ISSUE Mayor Hannemann says he will transfer costs of the Sunset on the Beach and Brunch on the Beach programs to the private sector.

FORMER Mayor Jeremy Harris' initiatives to lure residents to Waikiki with meals on AstroTurf-covered Kalakaua Boulevard, entertainment and free meals were effective in helping the visitor industry through tough times. With tourism on the upswing, Mayor Hannemann is appropriately shifting the entire cost to the private sector.

Harris launched the Sunset on the Beach and Brunch on the Beach programs in 2001. During one period, Sunset events were staged every week, even after the City Council ordered that they be reduced to once a month. The Council fought with Harris to obtain an accounting of the events.

The Council should be pleased with the new mayor's decision, which is in keeping with his campaign promise to focus on the city's basic needs, such as filling potholes and fixing sewer lines. Hannemann says the Sunset and Brunch programs "are worthy of city sponsorship, as long as we are reducing the city funding for that."

Hannemann says he plans to continue providing some city funding for the programs through this year but shift the entire cost to the private sector next year. The Waikiki Improvement Association, a nonprofit organization of hotels, restaurants and other businesses, has agreed to assume a greater share of the cost.

The city now pays for $235,000 of the programs' cost of more than $700,000. That does not include the $230,000 in labor costs in setting up chairs and tables, trash pickup and police security. Those tasks will be performed this year by private companies. The number of beach events also will be reduced.