Almost exactly one year ago, folks at the Hawai‘i Convention Center were sweeping up after the largely successful 2011 APEC meeting.
One of the stars of the show was the actual convention center, vital as the meeting place for leaders across the Pacific.
Since then, not so much has happened at 1801 Kalakaua. The center is back to being the beautifully designed and laid-out spot marking the top of Waikiki that is always there and nearly always empty.
I suspect it looks so good because there has been no wear and tear. The center is not suffering from overuse. This month, for instance, the public calendar shows seven events, ranging from an estimated 6,000 for the Honolulu Marathon Expo to 150 for Allegiant’s flight attendant recruitment.
That is why discussion is again popping up at the Legislature to turn portions or the entire state-funded center into a stand-alone casino.
This year there is a bit more of a favorable combination for the annual question of legalizing casino gambling in Hawaii.
The storm forming may still be an imperfect one, but there are more important players than in the past alighting on the pro-gaming side of the question.
First, Maui Democratic Rep. Joe Souki is speaker-apparent, if not speaker-elect. He has announced that he has more than enough votes needed to win the job on opening day, although the present speaker of the House, Rep. Calvin Say, is not conceding and is still working on gathering a majority.
If Souki does indeed become House speaker, he would be of help to those wanting gambling. Souki has long supported it and earlier this year saw the convention center as a likely site for a casino.
"It is a possibility," Souki said in an interview last week.
The center would provide needed employment, and renting or leasing portions of it as a casino would provide needed funds for the state, Souki said.
Although the Waikiki Improvement Association has not taken a position on the gaming issue, a WIA survey of 1,000 residents taken earlier this year showed that 76 percent would be very likely or likely to visit a Waikiki entertainment center that featured gambling.
At the same time, lobbyist John Radcliffe says he has been working "for more than a generation" to legalize casino gambling in Hawaii.
Radcliffe, who is a lobbyist for Michigan’s Market Resource Group, which does public relations for Ilitch Holdings, owner of MotorCity Casino Hotel, said flatly that Hawaii won’t get gambling "until the people of Hawaii feel we should have it."
If that is not the condition today, Radcliffe is offering up the argument that the convention center could fit several needs.
"It is a near-perfect site for an entertainment center and casino. It is big enough, has enough facilities for ancillary events — large entertainment venues — as well as small ones — banquet halls, room for restaurants; is close to the economic engine that is Waikiki," Radcliffe said in an interview.
"An excellent use of a now mostly empty but important facility — and it would make money, lots of it, instead of taking money … And, wonder of wonders, the state already owns it."
The second part of the argument is largely unexplored territory. A state Supreme Court decision this summer declared that Native Hawaiians can sue the state to provide sufficient funding for administrative and operating expenses for the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands.
While no one has yet said that this means DHHL will be hitting up the state for more money, it could.
Radcliffe said this then would be a reason for the state to work out a deal with DHHL to use the convention center to fund new obligations.
There are a lot of "ifs and maybes" instead of sure bets in this new scenario, but it is not an impossibility.
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Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Reach him at rborreca@staradvertiser.com.
