Council Discouraged By Soccer Park
Taxpayers Footing $750,000 Bill
POSTED: 5:08 p.m. HST March 14, 2002
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HONOLULU -- A plan to get a private group to run the city's huge new soccer park in Waipio has fallen through and taxpayers are paying for it.
The mayor wanted to get a private non-profit group to run and maintain the Waipio Peninsula Soccer Complex.
That way, taxpayers would not have to pay to keep up the 19 soccer fields because the non-profit would bring in revenue by cutting deals with professional soccer teams from Asia and the Pacific and charging local leagues for tournaments here.
Problem is, the only qualified bidder, a group of local soccer leagues, wanted a substantial public subsidy. So, the city decided to pay for maintenance at the park itself. So far, no professional teams have brought in players or revenue.
That means city taxpayers will foot the $750,000 annual cost of maintenance, including 12 parks personnel, equipment, fertilizer, and other supplies needed to keep these soccer fields in top shape.
Council members are upset.
"We all want nice complexes, but make sure they're to the scale that we can maintain them. Make sure that we don't count on funds that later evaporate," Councilman Duke Bainum said.
"The soccer complex, it's a good thing, but the maintenance is a burden," Councilman Gary Okino said.
Some council members worry that the situation in Waipio could be repeated at other expensive city park sites around the island.
The city is spending at least $5.2 million to buy Waimea Falls Park and wants to find a private operator to bring in revenue to the failing visitor attraction.
The city also hopes to get non-profit groups to run portions of the Central Oahu Regional Park, which opened last summer.
"They give you the reason that they're going to find some private operator to maintain the thing, so we don't have to worry about maintenance. But a lot of that never comes to reality, and we just keep increasing our operating expenses," Okino said.
The mayor wanted to get a private non-profit group to run and maintain the Waipio Peninsula Soccer Complex.
That way, taxpayers would not have to pay to keep up the 19 soccer fields because the non-profit would bring in revenue by cutting deals with professional soccer teams from Asia and the Pacific and charging local leagues for tournaments here.
Problem is, the only qualified bidder, a group of local soccer leagues, wanted a substantial public subsidy. So, the city decided to pay for maintenance at the park itself. So far, no professional teams have brought in players or revenue.
That means city taxpayers will foot the $750,000 annual cost of maintenance, including 12 parks personnel, equipment, fertilizer, and other supplies needed to keep these soccer fields in top shape.
Council members are upset.
"We all want nice complexes, but make sure they're to the scale that we can maintain them. Make sure that we don't count on funds that later evaporate," Councilman Duke Bainum said.
"The soccer complex, it's a good thing, but the maintenance is a burden," Councilman Gary Okino said.
Some council members worry that the situation in Waipio could be repeated at other expensive city park sites around the island.
The city is spending at least $5.2 million to buy Waimea Falls Park and wants to find a private operator to bring in revenue to the failing visitor attraction.
The city also hopes to get non-profit groups to run portions of the Central Oahu Regional Park, which opened last summer.
"They give you the reason that they're going to find some private operator to maintain the thing, so we don't have to worry about maintenance. But a lot of that never comes to reality, and we just keep increasing our operating expenses," Okino said.Copyright 2002 by TheHawaiiChannel.com All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
