A K LEO T H E
MONDAY, JULY 15 to SUNDAY JULY 21, 2013 VOLUME 108 ISSUE 91
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UH Mānoa an d p decision on P artners await Presid residential C ent’s enter NOELLE F UJII News Editor
The University of Hawai‘i at Mā noa, Punahou Schools, Kamehameha School, the state government, the East-West Center and private citizens, who are working to have a Barack Obama Presidential Center built in Honolulu, are waiting on President Obama to decide where he wants his center located. “We have received positive feedback during the early stages of our proposal,” Associate Professor of Law Maxine Burkett said in an email. “There is possible interest in having some element of the President’s center in Hawai‘i.” According to Reed Dasenbrock, Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs at UH Mā noa, UH is leading the effort to have the center in Honolulu. “Presidential libraries usually have a strong connection to universities, so UH Mā noa is the logical place from which the effort should be led,” Dasenbrock said in an email interview.
FINDING A LOCATION According to an article in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser by Senator Brian Schatz, who had been involved with the effort since 2008, the project’s leadership team has worked with the state administration and the Hawai‘i Community Development Authority to set aside a site in Kaka‘ako Makai. In his article, Schatz said the presidential center would likely be constructed near the Kaka‘ako shoreline where it can also serve as “a model for sustainability and responsible building in the age of rising sea levels.” “We need a parcel of vacant land, and Kaka‘ako Makai has more such land than anyplace else in the city,” Dasenbrock said. “It is close enough to Waikīkī Ala Moana, and other places to be accessible for tourists, and there should be a rail stop nearby soon. … There is also a substantial UH presence already there.” PHOTOS COURTESY OF WIKICOMMONS; KAKA‘AKO PHOTO COURTESY OF MADMARV00_FLICKR