Hawaii’s parks need attention

Mention a great American city and a great park springs to mind: San Diego and Balboa Park, Chicago and Millennium Park, New York City and Central Park, and the granddaddy of them all, Boston and Boston Common, the anchor of the "Emerald Necklace" that winds through diverse neighborhoods of that Massachusetts city.

Honolulu has some wonderful open spaces, too, but as a ranking of urban U.S. park systems makes clear, setting aside land for parks is not enough. The necessary resources to keep those outdoor areas accessible, inviting and safe must follow.

The Trust for Public Lands, a national nonprofit, ranked Honolulu 28th among the 60 largest cities in the United States in its annual ParkScore index. Honolulu ranked highest in the country for the percentage of city land devoted to parks, and scored much higher than the national average for public access, but its ranking fell when median park size, the number of playgrounds and overall spending on the park system were considered.

Maintaining an excellent park system is no "feel-good initiative" for a city as large and diverse as Honolulu — it is vital to the health and well-being of all residents. Well-kept, welcoming parks make urban neighborhoods more livable for everyone and raise the value of adjacent private real estate.

As Oahu’s population increases and urban redevelopment crowds more people into the close quarters of high-rise living, creating and preserving vibrant green spaces for recreation and relaxation must be a higher priority. It’s much better for the city if those green spaces are on ground level, open to all, rather than private aeries limited to the wealthy denizens of a single luxury building.

Rising homelessness puts enormous pressure on existing facilities, with park restrooms, benches and picnic tables becoming substitutes for the residential quarters thous- ands of individuals on Oahu lack. The associated squalor found at some parks discourages use by everyday citizens and fuels developers’ inclination to offer a private alternative. All of these realities height-en the need for public-private partnerships that lev- erage combined resources to enhance public parks.

There are some thriving examples of such joint efforts in Honolulu, but there need to be more. The Outdoor Circle, the 102-year-old group responsible for planting so many of the majestic trees that grace Honolulu parks, has partnered with the city to replace these soaring specimens as they reach the end of their natural lifespans or succumb prematurely to vandalism or disease. The Hawaii Branch of the Trust for Public Land has come to the table with private money and expertise to work with the city and state to acquire private land for public use, most recently on the North Shore. And a Waikiki hotelier has stepped up to maintain a small park that had been taken over by vagrants.

Increasing city funding for park maintenance as a core government function and forging partnerships that expand and improve public green spaces are the best route to raising our ParkScore, and, more important, to improving Oahu’s quality of life. Like those other cities, the city of Honolulu should be synonymous with great parks.