Cemetery group's plan due May 1
By Will Hoover
Advertiser Staff Writer
A group trying to save the financially troubled Honolulu Memorial Park cemetery and its rapidly deteriorating pagoda were told yesterday they have less than a month to come up with a reorganization plan.
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser
Attorney Christian Porter, who is representing the Friends of Honolulu Memorial Park, told about 200 people at the Kawananakoa Middle School cafeteria that the group is faced with two options: either give up, or make a firm commitment to save the park. The plan must be submitted to a bankruptcy judge by May 1.
About 200 people, mostly members of the Friends of Honolulu Memorial Park, gathered at Kawananakoa Middle School yesterday.
"Are we wasting our time, or should we be continuing to try to submit a plan?" Porter asked.
The Nu'uanu Avenue cemetery founded in 1958 is owned by the Richards brothers, who filed for bankruptcy in 2001. The brothers said the cemetery is insolvent and that it would cost $1 million to repair the 37-year-old pagoda, a replica of the Sanju Pagoda in Nara, Japan.
A Chapter 11 bankruptcy plan to tear down the pagoda at a cost of $200,000 and reorganize the business was withdrawn in February by the Richards family after the idea was rejected by pagoda niche holders who have a stake in the cemetery.
An attorney for the owners later said if a plan couldn't be drafted by niche and plot holders, the Richards brothers would file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, after which the court would appoint a trustee to close the park and liquidate the assets.
Porter told the group that the cold, hard reality is the park's $1 million trust fund no longer generates enough money to maintain the facility.
"There's no way the $1 million, based on today's interest, is going to be able to pay for the maintenance of the park — and I'm not talking about the maintenance of the pagoda."
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser
According to the park owners, said Porter, it costs up to $12,000 a month to maintain the park. Some have questioned that figure as being too high, and believe the maintenance tab is closer to $7,000 a month. But Porter said even that figure is more than the trust generates.
"There's no way the $1 million (in the trust fund) ... is going to be able to pay for the maintenance of the park," Christian Porter said.
However, Porter echoed the sentiments of others at the meeting who said there is a realistic possibility that adequate additional money could be raised through outside sources.
Porter then laid out a plan by which the Friends could operate the park through a nonprofit organization that would first focus on finding money to maintain the park, and thereafter concentrate on restoring the pagoda.
Businessman Vic Hejmadi said that as a nonprofit organization operated by the Friends, the cemetery could generate money through loans and grants, donations from businesses, and by selling more niches and plots.
Hejmadi said such a restructuring would put the park on a sound financial footing and protect the interests of the niche and plot holders.
David Scott, executive director of Historic Hawai'i Foundation, said what the Friends are trying to do is "noble."
Scott told the gathering that the park and pagoda are "treasures," and that their historical significance would be a "real opportunity to raise significant amounts of money to preserve and protect the entire memorial park."
He said his organization has heard from one philanthropist who wants to donate $50,000 to help restore the pagoda.
"That's a small part, but it's the beginning of something that is going to be much larger," he said.
Friends president and architectural historian Lorraine Palumbo urged everyone present to ask their state senators to support a Senate park restoration resolution. Such a resolution has passed in the House, she said.
Honolulu City Councilman Rod Tam said a similar resolution would also be presented to the council. "The resolution will say that the features of the pagoda and the cemetery are historic, and we should maintain and preserve them," said Tam. "We are asking all sides to come together on this."
At the end of the meeting Palumbo asked for a show of hands from those who favored going ahead with the reorganization plan. Virtually everyone in the room voted in favor.
"I'm not surprised," said Palumbo. "But I'm very happy. We have good people. I think we have time to prepare a plan."
