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Hawaii, the youngest state among the 50, launched in 1959 with a government either new or in its infancy.
Nothing could have more hopes piled on it than the University of Hawaii. It would go from a university for a territory, to the major high educational institution for the State of Hawaii.
John A. Burns, Hawaii’s first Democratic governor, and his political colleagues helped shape the importance of UH. To be in the mix of states, tiny, new Hawaii would need to be recognized by its university. Like it or not, UH would need a sports program and in America, that meant playing football. That meant a football stadium.
So 62 years later the University of Hawaii, the nexus for major local sports, is again looking for a football field and stadium suitable to hold Division 1 games. The quest is not simple.
The old stadium is crumbling enough that many of the Aloha Stadium seats were condemned as unsafe. Hawaii’s state bureaucrats rose to the occasion by dreaming up a scheme where not only would Hawaii build a 35,000-seat facility, there would be an “integrated entertainment district,” under the Stadium Authority, with the new stadium ready to go by 2023.
But later, state planners said the “phased mixed-use precinct (would be) built out over time.” Completion for a new stadium under that plan is now left unsaid.
The plans had gone far enough astray that three old pros, former Govs. John Waihee, Ben Cayetano and Neil Abercrombie called it nonsense.
>> RELATED: Column: Say aloha to Aloha Stadium, and hello to a collegiate stadium at UH-Manoa
If anyone has a mind to know rubbish from reason and get the political players back on track, it would be that trio with 20 cumulative years serving as the state’s chief executive.
UH, they reasoned, could handle this without the help of the Stadium Authority’s New Aloha Stadium Entertainment District. UH had stepped up to the challenge recently for the Manoa campus, putting together a build and then executed it, constructing new stands and seating for the UH to hold Division I football games.
The three wise governors called for building a 22,000- to 27,000-seat stadium at UH-Manoa, and use the old stadium site at Halawa for residential development, emphasizing workforce, affordable housing and rentals. (Editor’s note: See above for more details of their proposal.)
The trio pointed out that Dave Matlin, UH athletics director, and Kalbert Young, UH’s chief financial officer, assembled a team that “proved it could respond to the stadium challenge with dispatch, efficiency and quality. The Ching Complex stadium was built to standard in less than a year with a minimum of bureaucratic static and a maximum of cooperative on-time, on-budget success.”
The current governor, David Ige, responded by tactfully saying in essence, “We got this.” Ige, instead of rising to the challenge, is choosing to ignore it.
In February, he said, “There’s things we can do to prolong the life of the stadium if we are unable to come up with the funds necessary to totally rebuild a new stadium. Right now we are looking at all the options. We recognize that the University of Hawaii is an important part of our community, that we need to find a venue for them to play games in for the next season.”
It appears that staring blankly, as opposed to looking at all the options, appears to be Ige’s way of addressing the UH stadium issue. That is not an answer.
The gubernatorial trio show they can assemble a reasonable and doable alternative that deserves a thoughtful review.
Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays. Reach him at 808onpolitics@gmail.com.
