On Politics: Let good public planning for Kakaako waterfront prevail

If Carl Sandburg can call Chicago the “City of the Big Shoulders,” city planners can also dub the marvelous city as the city of big promises kept.

As our state Legislature again launches an attempt to despoil Honolulu’s vista with thoughtless development, there’s a land use lesson to be learned from our Midwest metropolis.

Since the late 1960s, developers have eyed the beachfront land fronting Kakaako. Back then it was the manmade peninsula called Magic Island off the Waikiki tip of Ala Moana Park. Developers looked at the park land and saw hotels and condominiums. The developer needed state approval and in a last-minute deal, the 1969 Legislature approved the land use change as the clock hit midnight. The public was outraged and Gov. John Burns, who had helped nudge it along, was forced to approve turning the 35 acres into park land. “Remember Magic Island” was the rallying cry for those worrying about Honolulu’s growth sped on by political corruption.

What does this have to do with Chicago?

Although as one Windy City columnist noted, “Chicago has a long and unsavory tradition of powerful men deciding things for the people against their will,” there is a fighting spirit to save the last inch of open space and keep the classic views of parkland along Lake Michigan free of development.

As one English observer said in an opinion piece, “We look at that lakefront, and we think, ‘This is a good town. Greed didn’t take this town.’” Well, that might be a tad of an overstatement for Chicago, but good planning is always to be honored.

>> RELATED: Column: Renegotiate new Kakaako Makai settlement agreement for OHA

>> RELATED: Column: OHA helped drive 2012 deal for Kakaako; build on that foundation

Back in 1836, Chicago officials looked at the then-rotting waterfront structures along the lake and declared “that it would be held in “common to remain forever open, clear, and free of any buildings, or other obstruction whatever.”

That stipulation has held through the decades, preserving the lakefront, blocking airports, harbors or megadevelopments. All proposals for Chicago’s lake park land have failed. Politicians are known for what they saved, not what they snuck through with midnight chicanery.

So what now will come from the 2023 Hawaii Legislature?

It is faced again with calls to plow up the Kakaako Makai land, putting view-destroying condos along the shoreline.

There’s a series of goofy catches to this scheme. The state settled a $200 million debt owed the Office of Hawaiian Affairs for unpaid ceded land revenue by handing over the undeveloped Kakaako land. The parcel carries with it a stipulation that it cannot be used for development.

So now legislators are faced with voting against significant Native Hawaiian interests, or against those caring for proper planning.

The solution is to look to the future. Will the land in 25 or 100 years be used best as whatever land use development scheme makes the most money? The rich will always have good views, but for the rest living in Honolulu, will those generations have open park land looking over the Pacific to be enjoyed just because they live here, or a wall of concrete?

Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays; he is at 808onpolitics@gmail.com.