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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted on: Tuesday, May 29, 2001

Editorial
State should give up Irwin Park battle

Surely there must be a better use of taxpayer money than a lawsuit that seeks to pave the way for construction of a parking structure at Irwin Park fronting the Aloha Tower Marketplace.

The Aloha Tower Development Corp., the state agency that oversees development of the Honolulu waterfront, has filed suit in land court seeking to remove restrictions on the 70-year-old park.

They were put there in 1930 by Helen Irwin Fagan, when she donated the half-acre site to the Territory of Hawai'i in memory of her father. The donation stipulated that the parcel be used either for a park or be returned to her family.

As a practical matter, the land is already used for parking. But it is relatively low-impact parking, with stalls in and around a lush grove of monkey pod, banyan and coconut trees.

But the development corporation has a critical need for more parking.

It has proposed a landscaped garage on the Irwin Park site. But that project cannot go forward unless and until the 70-year-old land restrictions are cleared up. Hence, the suit.

The corporation would do better to spend the money planning alternative solutions for its parking problems. Even if the restriction is lifted by land court, the plan will face continuing objections.

And rightly so. Downtown Honolulu needs every grace note of greenery and shade it can get. The last thing Aloha Tower needs at its front door is another parking structure.