Proposals have resurfaced in the Legislature to demolish Aloha Stadium and replace it with a new facility in West O'ahu at a cost of $300 million or more.

It's not necessarily a bad idea, but proponents haven't offered enough details to make it a compelling idea. They need to connect the dots better, and they need to do it soon before Aloha Stadium falls into such disrepair that it has to be shut down for safety reasons.

Last year, the Lingle administration requested $25 million for urgent short-term repairs, but lawmakers held the money while they pondered whether to build a new stadium. Little has happened to advance that ball in the interim, while the tab for neglected short-term repairs at Aloha Stadium keeps going up.

If we don't commit one way or the other soon, we risk having Aloha Stadium declared unsafe, or spending millions more than necessary just to keep it standing until a new facility is built.

Aloha Stadium has been diagnosed with rust damage, structural and seating problems, a shortage of women's toilets and noncompliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Studies conducted for the state conclude that the facility, completed in 1975 for $37 million, needs $99 million in urgent short-term repairs and some $115 million more to extend its useful life for 20 or 30 years.

Lawmakers such as Rep. K. Mark Takai see that as "money we're throwing to something that's already falling apart," and would rather spend it on a new stadium. Proponents of a West O'ahu stadium hope part of the costs could be recovered by selling rights to Aloha Stadium land for affordable housing and transit-related development.

"There is a need for this discussion to happen," says House Tourism and Culture Committee chairman Ryan Yamane.

Fair enough, but it becomes a problem if it's all discussion and no action while Aloha Stadium continues to decline.

One potential roadblock is that the federal grant to the land has a covenant restricting its use to public recreation; if that covenant can't be lifted, the rationale for a new stadium elsewhere starts to crumble.

There's no reason why the state and our congressional delegation can't start pressing federal officials now for an answer on amending the covenant so we'll know where we stand and can make a decision.

If we have to wait until there's a specific plan for use of the land in place to get an answer on the covenant, we may have no choice but to make a massive investment in Aloha Stadium just to keep it in use in the short term.

We also must give careful thought to what the various alternatives give us for our money and whether West O'ahu is really a better location for a new stadium than the current site.

The 50,000-seat Aloha Stadium is a perfectly good venue for its primary uses — football, concerts and swap meets. It's stood for 32 years, and for an investment of $215 million more, it'll apparently be good for another 30 years.

Would a new stadium in Kalaeloa or Kapolei for $300 million or more last longer than 30 years before needing refurbishing? Would it be able to accommodate new uses that Aloha Stadium can't, or would it displace existing uses such as high school football and the income-rich swap meet?

The current Halawa site is about as centrally located as you can get on O'ahu, with easy access to H-1, H-2, H-3 and the city's proposed rail transit line.

Kapolei or Kalaeloa would be seriously inconvenient for anybody living east of Aloha Stadium or on the Windward side, transit or no transit.

David Shapiro, a veteran Hawai'i journalist, can be reached by e-mail at dave@volcanicash.net. Read his daily blog at blogs.honoluluadvertiser.com.