People, not profits, in Ala Moana Park

The stewards of Ala Moana Park have resisted the urge to overdevelop it before, and now is not the time to reverse course.

The city has turned to the public for ideas on how to improve the park for a future in which high-rise, dense residential and commercial buildings crowd in and make open space an even greater asset to urban dwellers than it is now. What’s needed is better caretaking of the park which, as officials acknowledge, has been allowed to deteriorate in condition over the years.

Hono­lulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell has launched an outreach aimed at taking the public pulse in preparation for an Ala Moana master plan. One important element, an interactive website (www.ouralamoanapark.com) is up already and is gathering comments.

But there’s nothing with the impact of a face-to-face encounter, so residents who care about Ala Moana are urged to have their say at a public meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the park’s McCoy Pavilion.

This is supposed to be an open planning process, but residents may have to impress on the hired consulting company the need to retain a sense of place, one not imprinted with visions from other cities. The New York firm of Bie­der­man Redevelopment Ventures and Associates is credited with the upgrade to that city’s Bryant Park.

It may find that, over the park’s 80-year history, Honolulu residents have developed a good sense of Ala Moana’s place in their lives, one that’s distinctly island-style.

Most people find its primary attraction to be its accessibility to people for simple, low- or no-cost entertainment, exercise and enjoyment with family and friends. Just take a drive by at the end of a workday — or before work starts — and there are people having a run, walk or swim. It’s an ideal place for a little quiet time before the daily routine begins, or after a busy one ends.

The mayor has said he would like a reasonably priced restaurant there where people could relax and watch the sunset. While there’s nothing wrong with that pastime, there’s plenty of opportunity for that to the east in neighboring Waikiki or across the street at the shopping center.

One of the promising elements of the master planning is finding a way to connect Ala Moana with Kewalo, as part of a "lei of green" along the urban waterfront. That would serve the public and the tourists alike, with an extended park frontage enhancing the experience of the shoreline.

But Kewalo is also facing redevelopment, a plan most likely to include some commercial and retail activity, which doesn’t need to be part of the plan next door at Ala Moana Park as well.

Anyone who takes a look at the comments on the website will pick up a clear message from many that commercialization is not what’s in demand. One visitor pointed out that the concession stands at the park have struggled to stay afloat. One possible reason: The island tradition that’s developed at Ala Moana centers on coolers and hibachis, not restaurant menus.

The dominant theme in the online comments so far is that maintenance of the park, under particular strain because of homelessness, desperately needs to be sharpened. Providing enforcement to keep the park from becoming an ad hoc shelter, and security to keep it safe, are concerns that should top the priority job list.

The website also includes some fascinating reading about the park’s history, a 1987 document titled "The People’s Park," written by Robert Weyeneth, now a history professor at the University of South Carolina but then on the University of Hawaii faculty. Conceived in the 1920s, Ala Moana was built in 1934 during the Depression’s New Deal era.

The 1950s and 1960s brought tremendous development pressure, he wrote, but ultimately, the community resisted "calls to enlarge park facilities and reshape the land into a satellite resort for Waikiki."

Those calls are echoing in the current move to "upgrade" Ala Moana, and the community must resist them again.