Aloha Stadium repair debated
By Walter Wright
Advertiser Staff Writer
Parts of Aloha Stadium's parking lot are so deteriorated, it looks like a'a lava. Sections of the concourse flooring around the steel arena squish like a calloused blister.
Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser
Hawai'i's 27-year-old sports facility needs $1 million to repair concourse flooring, plus $3 million to fix a parking lot full of potholes, officials said yesterday.
The Aloha Stadium parking lot is full of potholes. Repairs to the lot and other work will cost $4 million.
The stadium will need a similar amount every year for routine maintenance and to catch up with neglect, said stadium engineer Kenneth K.W. Tong.
Some legislators, saying the state is strapped for money, have advanced a bill to dismantle the special revolving fund the Stadium Authority uses to pay for such repairs. House Bill 2827 has passed the House Committee on Finance and is scheduled to move to the Senate on Thursday.
Sen. Rod Tam, chairman of the Senate Committee on Technology and Economic Development, said yesterday he had introduced his own bill to send money back to the stadium for necessary repairs.
Tam, D-13th (Nu'uanu, Downtown, Sand Island), said he intended to make an inspection tour and hold hearings if necessary to make sure repairs are made before someone is hurt or the facility is damaged further.
Tong said yesterday the waterproof surface over the concourse is failing in many areas.
Despite dozens of patches, moisture has seeped in, breaking down cement and rusting steel in the concourse floors. The rubbery surface is lifting throughout the concourse, the stadium engineer said.
In the parking lot below Halawa Stream — the site of such major events as the 50th State Fair — asphalt is buckled in many places, often where fair operators have driven heavy vehicles or set up amusement rides.
Because outside users pay substantial rents to use the area, "surpluses" need to be plowed back into maintenance, Tong said.
Tam said yesterday he did not favor proposals to transfer the stadium to the University of Hawai'i. Such a move would leave maint-enance problems unsolved.
"I am looking at the public grassroots uses of the stadium, for high schools and all sorts of activities," Tam said. "If the university is concerned about having to continue to pay rent ... I'm willing to push legislation that they don't have to pay rent. It makes no sense for government agencies to pay each other for use of public facilities."
No matter who operates the stadium, Tong said, delaying repairs will increase costs.
Reach Walter Wright at wwright@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8054.
