There are protections in place for historic buildings in Hawaiʻi, although a new law allows some reviews to be sidestepped.

Like many others I was taken aback by images of a wrecking ball obliterating the East Wing of the White House. A beloved structure reduced to rubble to be replaced by a 90,000-square-foot ballroom —almost bigger than the White House itself.

I wondered how President Donald Trump could get away with it, moving with such secrecy and speed. Werenʻt there protections in place? I also thought: This never could happen in Hawaiʻi — a cherished structure vaporized in the blink of an eye.

Or could it?

The only thing I remember being remotely similar —and it is a stretch — is when Mayor Frank Fasi in 1976 brought in two bulldozers, driving one of them himself, and a wrecking

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