Posted on: Sunday, June 24, 2001
Editorial
New biomed campus: tail wagging the dog
Lest there be confusion over what we're advocating here, let's outline our views right at the top:
• The Advertiser supports Dean Edwin Cadman's plans to build a new medical school and science research park. We're excited by the manner in which Cadman has brought the University of Hawai'i's med school virtually from its deathbed to (on paper for the moment) a self-supporting complex that he predicts could win $56 million in new research grants annually and add 1,100 permanent jobs.
This epitomizes what people mean when they refer to UH as a potential economic engine for the state. Moreover, you have to admire Cadman's plan to do the job substantially with private money.
• Cadman hopes to build his campus on 10 acres in Kaka'ako bordering on lands often referred to as "Kaka'ako Makai," the last remaining crown jewel of public-owned waterfront land.
It is imperative that the state avoid frittering this land away incrementally on nickel-and-dime development. As we've often said, it must be the site of a signature landmark.
We've always advocated that this vision be solidified first, so that nothing else built in the area is incompatible.
This is no place for piecemeal planning or ad hoc development. Honolulu has an opportunity to do something grand here, something that will make the world sit up and take notice.
• Is it imperative that Cadman use Kaka'ako land for the new med school? Probably not, although one imagines that the thought of a facility with sea breezes and a world-class waterfront view would be a huge selling point to potential faculty and researchers.
We hope no one at UH reads this as opposition to a new medical school campus, perhaps in Kaka'ako. What scares us right now is the distinct possibility that, by developing the med school campus first, before deciding what to do with Kaka'ako Makai, we will end up with yet another patchwork development where the individual pieces make up far less than a magnificent whole.
