honoluluadvertiser.com

Sponsored by:

Comment, blog & share photos

Log in | Become a member
The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted on: Thursday, December 2, 2004

EDITORIAL
Garbage decision only half of the work ahead

After far more dithering and ducking than was necessary, the Honolulu City Council made the right decision yesterday to continue and expand its garbage dump operation at the existing Waimanalo Gulch facility on the Leeward Coast.

This was the top site recommended by a study conducted by a nonpartisan panel that looked strictly at the technical and scientific virtues of the various potential sites.

The decision to keep dumping trash at the Waimanalo site is a bitter pill to swallow for residents of the Leeward Coast who argue — rather convincingly — that they already have been forced to accept more than their share of problems the rest of O'ahu cannot stomach.

It is particularly painful since residents there were promised by Mayor Jeremy Harris and others that once the current capacity of Waimanalo Gulch was reached, the city would move its landfill operation to another site.

Now, the die has been cast. But yesterday's vote was only half of the decision the council must make. If Leeward O'ahu must accept the entire county's garbage for the foreseeable future, it must be compensated for this responsibility — big time.

It will take an economist to figure out the equity value added to the rest of the county by the decision to continue the landfill there. But there is real dollar value to be found.

Consider this: The council heard passionate opposition to each and every proposed site from surrounding communities that feared the noise, disruption and potential loss of equity that would go along with a dump. Opposition was equally strong against sites under serious consideration as well as for fanciful proposals.

Well, that equity has been preserved for those neighborhoods and has been drained, if you will, from the Leeward Coast.

An offsetting package of benefits should begin with the proper landscaping and other alterations needed to mitigate the visual and other impacts of the landfill. The dump need not be an eyesore.

But it should go further than that. After a fair estimate is made of the equities gained and lost by this decision, a way should be found to compensate the Leeward Coast fully.

This could be through property tax reductions and quality public infrastructure that benefits the entire community.