Just read the Sunday Advertiser front page story. http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20090517/NEWS01/905170392
What’s your take? The Advertiser’s coverage makes it appear the Army Corps’ report lacks a valid estimate on the enormous cost of demolition. This perpetuates the false perception — based on a comparison of incomplete, apples to oranges data — that a new man-made beach is cheaper than restoration.
In addition, the reporter fails to ask whether demolition of the pool and construction of new groins in a Marine Conservation District is even allowable.
Also missing are the the astronomical financial and environmental costs of demolishing and disposing of any or all of the pool and the accumulated sludge in the bottom. And you’d have to add $4M to the price tags of all the options that eliminate the bleachers as that is the sunk cost of the brand new, well-used restrooms underneath.
But you know what they say in Hollywood. No such thing as “bad” press. Being on the front page just gets more people thinking about the Natatorium. And that’s a good thing!
