A Honolulu City Council measure to allow private sponsorship of city parks and other public facilities to garner more revenues for the city is scheduled for further review today.
Introduced in January
by Council member Radiant Cordero, Bill 4 revisits
aspects of a prior law,
Ordinance 17-16, that established nonproperty tax
revenue sponsorships in 2017. That law all but disappeared after the pilot measure’s five-year repeal clause took effect in 2022.
As drafted, Bill 4 would seek to “create and enhance public-private relationships, including with individuals, corporations, and other organizations, through the creation of commercial sponsorships.”
“Private sponsorships will create alternate revenue streams that will increase the city’s ability to deliver services and to maintain city assets, including its facilities, parks, programs, equipment, and tangible property, and provide enhanced levels of service and maintenance beyond the core levels funded from the city’s general fund for the benefit of users and the community at large,” the bill states.
The bill would allow the director of a city agency to enter into a sponsorship agreement, but only for a term of less than five years, with a financial contribution of less than $50,000.
“All sponsorship agreements for a financial contribution of $50,000 or more must be approved by a resolution adopted by the Council,” the bill states.
“All sponsorship agreements for a period of five years or more must be approved by a resolution adopted by the Council.”
During the Council’s
Jan. 29 meeting, the panel
reviewed and adopted Bill 4 on the first of three readings.
Winston Welch, executive director of The Outdoor Circle, said his environmental group generally opposed the bill’s current language. He said Hawaii’s 1926 law that prohibits outdoor signage and billboards — created with the advocacy of The Outdoor Circle during Hawaii’s territorial days — should not be overlooked.
“Our concerns are especially about the signage, and I think the reason why this bill was not utilized before (was because) it became toxic,” Welch said at the meeting. “And we don’t need to go down that road again.”
Such an ordinance also contributes to the “over-commercialization of our public spaces,” he added.
But Council Chair Tommy Waters challenged Welch’s assertions that the new measure would harm the environment. And he noted that under Bill 4 all sponsorship agreements must first be approved by a resolution adopted by the Council.
Waters said the potential for revenue-generating sponsorship “was vitally important” to the city.
Bill 4 is also being advanced with accompanying legislation. City Council
Resolution 50 urges the city Department of Enterprise Services to specifically pursue the sponsorship of naming rights for the city-owned Neal S. Blaisdell Center.
Typically, naming rights means the city may grant individuals or organizations the opportunity to have their names associated with a facility, like a stadium or arena, in exchange for financial contributions.
“Such a sponsorship would provide the city with an alternate revenue stream and thus enable it to make much needed upgrades and modernization improvements to the more than 60-year-old Blaisdell and increase services offered to users and the community
at large,” the legislation
indicates.
As an example, the resolution notes that in 2020 the University of Hawaii and the Bank of Hawaii entered into a 10-year, $5 million sponsorship agreement for the naming rights of the Stan Sheriff Center — now known as the SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center — at UH’s Manoa campus.
DES Director-designate Dita Holifield has said her department was excited
to pursue this revenue-generating opportunity to improve the Blaisdell campus. But Holifield noted that based on discussions with the city Department of the Corporation Counsel, existing city laws do not allow for the sponsorship of naming rights.
The Blaisdell Center, originally called the Honolulu International Center, was built in 1964.
Today’s City Council meeting begins at 10 a.m.
inside the City Council Chamber, 530 S. King St.
