Editorial
Underground utilities worth fighting for
Congratulations to the residents of L'Orange Place in Kailua for achieving underground utilities on their short street after a long struggle.
Of course, what should be happening in this tourism-dependent, beautiful land of ours is general undergrounding of utilities wherever practicable.
But considering the 20 years of discussion and the 2 1/2 years the project lasted for this comparatively well-off community (16 homes valued at upwards of $700,000 each), it makes one despair that there will ever be any hope for the rat's nests of wires shrouding blue-collar neighborhoods in Kailua and Waipahu.
The views of the verdant Pali from Kane'ohe and of craggy Wai'anae valleys from Makaha are magnificent, if you can visually edit out the wires that crisscross the vista. But who in these communities is able to cough up, say, $8,000 per household, not to mention dealing with four utility companies (power, phone, cable and water), the city, a consultant, an electrical engineer and a contractor?
As daunting as this prospect sounds, it's much improved from when Lanikai tried to be the first older neighborhood to clear its overhead views. Hawaiian Electric put the cost at up to $12.5 million, or $16,000 per household.
That was before HECO offered a cost-sharing plan to some neighborhoods, including L'Orange Place — the power company picks up one-third of the cost. Any way you slice it, that's good news, although it's not clear that HECO is ready to concede that it, too, benefits from undergrounding.
We must do far more, of course. The other utility companies should contribute, as should state and county governments. One important in-kind service that either government or a utility service might offer is an office for undergrounding, which would consolidate all of the bothersome details that residents now must accomplish on their own.
A worthy goal for Hawai'i — heads up, lawmakers — would be a commitment to underground all overhead utilities in the next 20 years. Our 'aina deserves nothing less.
