Kapolei sees money for its library vanish
By Alice Keesing
Advertiser Education Writer
Four walls and a floor — that's all Kapolei residents will have for their new library.
There will be no staff, no chairs, no shelves and no books after the Legislature wiped out a $3.1 million request from the Hawai'i State Public Library System for the next biennium.
"We're going to have a white elephant," said Board of Education member Meyer Ueoka when the board was briefed on the situation last night.
The first phase of the Kapolei library is scheduled for completion next year, but without the money to staff and furnish the new building, it will remain an empty shell, said state librarian Virginia Lowell.
Residents in the burgeoning "second city" have long awaited their own library and began lobbying legislators when it became apparent the project was in jeopardy.
"I think we're all pretty disappointed," said Kristine Newmann, acting president of the Friends of the Library-Kapolei. "I was kind of hoping for a rescue. It will be pretty embarrassing to build the building and then just have it sitting there."
Frustrations over the unfinished Kapolei project have been simmering for years and have become a sore point in the community. There are two rival groups of Kapolei library "friends," one of them headed by Rep. Mark Moses. Tensions have grown between the two groups and also between Moses and the library, who have disagreed about how the library should be built.
While Moses is facing some criticism for the stalled project, he said he fought hard for money this session. But the library fell victim to the rising costs the Legislature faced this session, he said.
"The state is hurting, to tell you the truth," said Moses, R-42nd (Kapolei, 'Ewa Village, Village Park). "It's dire straits. There's not only the pay raises but Felix and the health fund . . . with all of that we had to drastically reduce."
Moses said he's holding out hope that the governor, who has supported the Kapolei project, may be able to reallocate some money.
To add to the library's frustrations, legislators gave the library $2.5 million it had not asked for to move the 'Aiea library.
Lowell said she has no choice but to wait until the next session when she can again ask legislators for the Kapolei money in a supplemental budget request. Staff cannot be moved from other libraries, because the system already is short-handed.
In recent years the library system has suffered stringent budget cuts while dealing with growing community needs. In 1993, the system had 628 staff. That dropped to 519 this year.
To add to the library's woes, the Legislature did not approve the $1 million in construction money needed to finish phase I of the Kapolei library. And it did not appropriate the $11 million needed to build Phase II.
