Posted on: Sunday, January 30, 2005

EDITORIAL
Lawmakers must fund Kapolei court complex

One task lawmakers must see through in this year's session is moving ahead with the funding to build the long-planned Family Court complex in Kapolei.

Chief Justice Ronald Moon warns that unless the $95 million is approved this session, the judiciary will not get the 13.6 acres donated by Campbell Estate for the facility.

That can't be allowed to happen, for two reasons:

• The Circuit Court building on Punchbowl Street was inadequate when it was built in 1984. Today it's woefully overcrowded, particularly for Family Court functions. Adjunct services are scattered in makeshift buildings near and far, and parking is a nightmare.

• Relocation of the Family Court has long been envisioned as an integral part of the plan to build a Second City at Kapolei — not just another bedroom community, but a metropolis with jobs, amenities and services.

Moon said the judiciary's "primary legislative initiative" this year would be the Kapolei complex, which would provide a "one-stop" facility for all Family Court cases and services, including divorces, child custody hearings, adoptions and juvenile criminal cases.

Today the juvenile detention facility, whose inmates must be transported to the Punchbowl courthouse for hearings, is in Mo'ili'ili. The new juvenile detention facility would be contained within the new Kapolei complex.

The new complex would also house the Wai'anae District Court, along with some Circuit Court criminal and civil trials.

Many lawyers are upset — understandably, because their offices are on or near Bishop Street. Eventually some of them may move to Kapolei or open branch offices.

But people living in East Honolulu, once they pass downtown on the H-1 Freeway, and in Windward O'ahu, by using the H-3, will find the trip to Kapolei surprisingly quick and easy.

Anyone who has witnessed the morning "cattle call" at Family Court in the present facility will realize this move is long overdue. Let's make it happen.