A recent commentary complaining about the state Land Board’s imposition of a $250 fee for Hilton Hawaiian Village’s weekly Friday fireworks show is a reminder of the unequal treatment that exists between locals and the hotel industry (“Hilton’s fireworks show deserves better than DLNR fee hike,” Island Voices, Star-Advertiser, June 29). After all, regardless of how one feels about the 8 million annual visitors to Hawaii, no one can deny that tourism affects everyone.
Esteemed and beloved former chief justice of the Hawaii Supreme Court William S. Richardson used to tell the story that as a curious youngster he was forced to stand in the water offshore to observe the rich visitors at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. The roped-off beach was off-limits to locals. Years later that experience would become the catalyst for the Supreme Court’s ruling that Hawaii beaches are public property.
Richardson’s story is a reminder that while the visitor industry has its economic benefits, it comes at a cost to Hawaii residents and the impacts to our natural resources.
In his piece, Waikiki Improvement Association President Rick Egged’s unhappi- ness with the Land Board’s decision overlooks the fact that for 25 years, Hilton has enjoyed the exclusive use of public lands totaling nearly 200,000 square feet every Friday at Kahanamoku Beach at a nominal cost.
The permit authorizes Hilton the right to prohibit the public from using those lands.
It also means that for at least 25 years, HHV has negatively impacted Hawaii’s ocean. A Land Board member brought a garbage bag full of fireworks trash he collected from the ocean to the last meeting. It contained cardboard, paper and plastic fuses, among other trash. It’s a fair question to wonder how much and where all the other fireworks rubbish has drifted to for the last 25 years.
Astonishingly, Egged has requested the increase from $50 to $250 be reconsidered.
That request raises the issue of fairness. It also begs the question of why tourist industry titans like the Hilton, owned by billionaire Blackstone Managed Fund, should be given special treatment over other hotels and local residents.
The Hawaii Prince, Ko Olina, Mauna Kea Beach, Turtle Bay and Kahala Mandarin each paid a fee of $550 for their fireworks shows. The Royal Hawaiian Hotel paid the state $3,375 for its fireworks show on June 4, 2017.
On the other hand, the state charges all others 10 cents per square foot to use public lands and 25 cents per square foot for submerged lands. The 2017 Transpacific Race paid the state $11,200 and local organizers of the Waikiki Roughwater Swim, the Moloka’i Hoe, Na Wahine o ke Kai and Duke’s Canoe Races all paid the going rate.
In this case, not only is the HHV fee for the exclusive use of the public beach significantly less, it is inconsistent from the amounts other hotels are charged. By simple arithmetic, locals would be charged nearly $2,000 for using the same land for which Hilton pays $250. Inexplicably, no one can explain the genesis of the $550 assessment for the other hotels’ fireworks shows either.
Egged’s article raises the issue of wildly diverging fees DLNR charges to different hotels and exposes the fundamental lack of fairness in what locals are charged for using the same land.
Finally, locals who use state property are required to clean up their mess. That same expectation should be a condition of all fireworks permits. After all, Hawaii’s ocean is not a rubbish can.
Just as Chief Justice Richardson felt unfairly treated because he was local, the article has reminded us that special treatment by government remains a bright line between the hotel industry and everyone else.
Clayton Hee is a rancher, consultant and former state senator.
