Maritime center's debt shrinks
By Karen Blakeman
Advertiser Staff Writer
The Hawai'i Maritime Center is hoping to rid itself of a nagging debt that has plagued it since its founding in 1982.
Advertiser library photo • Sept. 18, 2002
"We spent more than we raised to build it," admitted Bob Krauss, former board member and long-time supporter of the Maritime Center and a columnist at The Honolulu Advertiser.
Students check out the Hawai'i Maritime Center's exhibit about the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.
In their enthusiasm to perpetuate Hawai'i's maritime history and culture, the founders and original board members spent about $2 million more than they raised. And 22 years later, with annual loan payments of $100,000, the debt was $1.4 million.
Recently, friends of the center decided it was time to put the Maritime Center in the black. They launched a "Financial Freedom Campaign," and started the fund-raiser by digging deep into their own pockets first.
"Several times, it has nearly gone under," Krauss said of the center. "I don't think people understand how close we've come to going under."
The debt has been "an anchor on the Maritime Center," Bill Brown, president and CEO of both the Maritime Center and the Bishop Museum.
The Maritime Center, with its educational, historical and cultural exhibits and programs, is well worth saving, Brown said.
"We have several new exhibits, including a really cool exhibit on the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands," he said. "We have the Falls of Clyde, which I'm told by the experts is the only fully rigged, four-masted sailing ship still on Earth. We're the legal owners of the Hokule'a — so we're in a partnership with that to keep it going."
Krauss said the Maritime Center's financial woes are similar to that encountered by the Japanese Cultural Center in recent years. The Cultural Center's solution to the problem seemed workable for the Maritime Center as well: a grass-roots fund drive.
Krauss was the first to ante up.
"When the Bishop Museum board got to the point where they were saying: 'Well, why don't we just sell it?' " Krauss said, "I said I would pledge $100,000, if the others would join in to the best of their ability."
Then he teamed up with Dwayne Steele of Grace Pacific Corp., and the two of them went to visit friends, starting with Allen Doane, chief executive officer of Alexander and Baldwin.
Doane donated $100,000, Brown said. Two other people have made "firm promises" of $100,000 each, and Brown said there are other pledges that total another $200,000.
Krauss handed over his personal check for $100,000 earlier this week, Brown said. He said the well-known journalist's frugal lifestyle and high level of personal commitment made such a contribution possible.
"Bob Krauss is not poor, but he's no Bill Gates, either," Brown said. "He's doing this out of love."
Developing the Maritime Center has been Krauss' passion for years.
"If I die knowing the Maritime Center will stay afloat," Krauss said, "well, then I can go peacefully."
The Maritime Center has about $800,000 left on the debt, and donations are still being accepted, Brown said.
"I am confident that by end of this calender year we will buy off the debt and free the Maritime Center of that burden," he said.
Those wishing to donate to the Center's Financial Freedom Campaign should make checks payable to the Bishop Museum and specify that they are for the Hawai'i Maritime Center's FFC (or Financial Freedom Campaign).
Mail the checks to Bill Brown, president of the Bishop Museum, 1525 Bernice St., Honolulu, HI, 96817.
Reach Karen Blakeman at 535-2430 or kblakeman@honoluluadvertiser.com.
