Legislation to allow private sponsorship of city parks and other public facilities in order to garner more revenue for the city was successfully advanced by the Honolulu City Council last week.

On Wednesday, the Council voted to pass Bill 4 on the second of its three readings. Later, the panel adopted an accompanying resolution to grant naming rights to the city-owned Neal S. Blaisdell Center.

Introduced in January by Council member Radiant Cordero, Bill 4 revisits aspects of a prior law, Ordinance 17-16, that established nonproperty tax revenue sponsorships in 2017.

That law — first known as 2015’s Bill 78 and introduced by former Council members Kymberly Pine and Ann Kobayashi — all but disappeared after the pilot measure’s five-year repeal clause took effect in 2022.

As drafted, Bill 4, which mirrors the language of the earlier measure, would seek to “create and enhance public-private relationships, including with individuals, corporations, and other organizations, through the creation of commercial sponsorships.”

“Private sponsorships will create alternate revenue streams that will increase the city’s ability to deliver services and to maintain city assets, including its facilities, parks, programs, equipment, and tangible property, and provide enhanced levels of service and maintenance beyond the core levels funded from the city’s general fund for the benefit of users and the community at large,” the bill states.

The bill would allow the director of a city agency to enter into a sponsorship agreement, but only for a term of less than five years, with a financial contribution of less than $50,000.

Sponsorship agreements of $50,000 or more and agreements for a period of five years or more must be approved by a resolution adopted by the Council, the bill states.

Discussion of the new measure comes as the nine-member Council and city administration allege budgetary constraints for the coming 2026 fiscal year, which begins July 1.

Those multimillion-dollar costs include siting the city’s next solid-waste landfill on Oahu; operating and maintaining ongoing city rail services toward downtown; and implementing a total increase of 115% for sewer fees across all rate-paying classes over a 10-year period to address rising operational costs and fund critical sewage treatment projects within the city’s $10.1 billion capital improvement program, scheduled for 2025 to 2040.

At Wednesday’s meeting, Bill 4 received mixed reviews from the public.

Mahealani Cypher, representing the nonprofit Ko‘olau Foundation, suggested the measure could affect Native Hawaiian history, culture and heritage.

“As such we’re concerned about the possibility that the city may be negotiating a program that may lead to the loss of traditional names for various city parks and places that may be important cultural and historic treasures,” she said.

She noted the renaming of island place-names involving historic Native Hawaiian figures or persons of historical importance could be problematic.

“It has troubled us for some years now, particularly when a city property is renamed by the City Council,” she said. “But it loses its original name, which was often a sign and honor of someone’s contributions or their place in our island’s history.”

Cypher also mentioned her concerns over naming rights related to the Neal S. Blaisdell Center.

“I remember when the city renamed this complex the Neal Blaisdell Center years ago, after a beloved and popular former mayor,” she said. “I wonder how much that sponsorship is worth? I wonder how much it would cost the business sponsor to rename the Fasi Municipal Building,” named after Honolulu’s longest-­serving mayor, Frank F. Fasi.

“Do you remember the uproar that occurred a few years ago when someone in Chicago trademarked the words ‘poke bowl’?” she added. “This is something you might want to think about.”

“Please let me clarify: We wholly support the Council’s interest in finding alternative funding resources, and this is not a bad bill,” she said. “We commend you for the idea.”

Among the suggestions offered by Cypher is that the Council’s finalized measure “exempt from this sponsorship program historic properties that are listed or eligible to be listed on the national, state or Honolulu’s list of historic places.”

She also asked that any potential sponsor sites first be routed through the Oahu Historic Preservation Commission, and that no sponsor should hold “complete control of a city property unless agreed to in advance in the sponsorship agreement by City Council resolution.”

Via remote testimony, Winston Welch, executive director of The Outdoor Circle, said his environmental group generally supports Bill 4 as long as it had “clarifying language that reinforces and upholds the language in our signage laws.”

At a January Council committee meeting, Welch said Hawaii’s 1926 law that prohibits outdoor signage and billboards — created with the advocacy of The Outdoor Circle during Hawaii’s territorial days — should not be overlooked.

Mayor Rick Blangiardi’s administration offered support as well as potential changes for Bill 4.

Krishna Jayaram, the city’s deputy managing director, proposed amendments to the measure would clarify the types of city properties and activities and equipment that may be sponsored; clarifies what might comprise a memorial; deletes a vague provision relating to physical sponsorship that was deemed redundant; makes indemnification optional at the discretion of a city director; and requires, but does not dictate, terms under which a sponsorship may be terminated.

Bill 4, now expected to undergo further review Tuesday by the Council’s Budget Committee, was advanced with a companion resolution.

The Council voted unanimously to adopt Resolution 50, which urges the city Department of Enterprise Serv­ices to pursue the sponsorship of naming rights for the Blaisdell Center at 777 Ward Ave.

Typically, naming rights means the city may grant individuals or organizations the opportunity to have their names associated with a facility, such as a stadium or arena, in exchange for financial contributions.

“Such a sponsorship would provide the city with an alternate revenue stream and thus enable it to make much needed upgrades and modernization improvements to the more than 60-year-old Blaisdell and increase services offered to users and the community at large,” the resolution states.

As an example, the resolution notes that in 2020 the University of Hawaii and Bank of Hawaii entered into a 10-year, $5 million sponsorship agreement for the naming rights of the Stan Sheriff Center, now known as the SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center, at UH’s Manoa campus.

Previously, Enterprise Serv­ices Director Dita Holi­field told the Council that her department was excited to pursue this revenue-­generating opportunity to improve the Blaisdell campus. But Holifield noted that based on discussions with the city Department of the Corporation Counsel, existing city laws do not allow for the sponsorship of naming rights.

The Blaisdell Center, originally called the Honolulu International Center, was built in 1964.