Waikiki residents and leaders are stepping up efforts to get the first city park built in central Waikiki after the death of community activist William Lee Sweatt, who worked for more than a decade to turn the derelict lot behind his condominium into a place where his grandchildren could play.

Sweatt, 85, died in California June 30 of myelodysplastic syndrome, a form of leukemia, and will be buried today in Ballard, Calif.

He died before realizing his dream for a neighborhood park, but those close to him — including state Rep. Tom Brower, Waikiki Neighborhood Board Chairman Bob Finley, Waikiki Neighborhood Board member Walter Flood and Jeff Apaka, community relations director for the Waikiki Community Center — are determined to see his vision come true.

"I admired him for leading the community effort to establish a park and parking on the vacant lot that is now being used for sewer repair staging on Aloha Drive," Finley said. "He looked out for our community."

Sweatt, who moved to Waikiki in 1997 along with his wife of 64 years, Helen, is credited with stopping the construction of a high-rise senior living facility, and he led a 700-signature petition drive to get a park built there instead. The neighborhood celebrated when Sweatt’s efforts resulted in the city’s 2003 decision to condemn the land "to provide an open-space park." The city paid $2.57 million for the 33,000-square-foot property at Seaside Avenue and Aloha Drive, a block mauka of Kuhio Avenue.

At the time, the park project was praised as needed relief from Waikiki’s density. State and city officials and lawmakers pledged their support for the park, which they saw as the best use of limited space.

"We need more open space in the community," Sweatt had said in a telephone interview from his part-time California home at the end of April. "There are a lot of children and grandchildren in the neighborhood who don’t have any outdoor space to play."

Despite Sweatt’s enthusiasm, progress stalled when city officials decided to turn the proposed park into a "temporary" staging area and construction base yard for improvement projects throughout Waikiki. Seven years later, sewer pipes occupy the ground where Sweatt had one day hoped to see playground equipment and park benches.

"The city recently apologized to the Waikiki Neighborhood Board for the inconvenience and explained that without this site, these projects would have been very difficult to execute," said Louise Kim McCoy, Mayor Peter Carlisle’s press secretary.

Sweatt persistently pursued the park even while battling ill health.

"As far as trying to see it to fruition, it would be marvelous to see the groundbreaking and all that kind of stuff," Sweatt told the Star-Advertiser in April. He said he wanted to see the park completed in his lifetime so he could one day take his grandchildren to play there.

Those who knew Sweatt said such determination was not unusual. As a boy, Sweatt attained the rank of Eagle Scout and as a man he worked his way up from rolling tires in a warehouse to becoming president and chief executive of Lee Tires of Conshohocken, Pa., which produced Goodyear private label tires.

Before leaving Oahu in March, Sweatt said that he sought park support from Carlisle. From California, Sweatt continued to contact Waikiki Neighborhood Board members, urging them to keep the project going.

"Every time I would drive by the site, I would see Bill’s window overlooking it and just pray that the project would get started," said Apaka, a former neighborhood board member. "Waikiki is ignored by the city. It’s been too much time."

"He was tenacious about everything that he got involved in," said Lane Yandell, property manager at the Royal Kuhio, where the Sweatts lived for years. "He probably talked to every political figure that was even remotely tied to the park."

While Sweatt acknowledged in April that "trying to get a lot of people pushing in the same direction is not the easiest thing to do," he never gave up his quest. Friends said the "nosweatt" moniker that he selected for his email address belied his steadfast spirit and his imposing presence. At 6 foot 6, Sweatt was hard to ignore.

"He was just a great, big, tall lug," said his Royal Kuhio neighbor Bill Lofquist. "He was a fantastic man."

Brower, who represents the Waikiki district, joked that even after death Sweatt is advocating for the park.

"He’s probably up there working with Mayor (Frank) Fasi to get this done," Brower said. "We are so lucky that this is not a high-rise, but we wanted a park."

Waikiki needs a park to relieve congestion, Flood said.

"We’ve got 30,000 residents living in Waikiki and we’ve got up to 100,000 people here with the visitors," he said. "This site is the only available space for a Waikiki park."

Flood and other Waikiki residents who knew Sweatt have started a movement to name the park in his honor.

"Bill worked so hard on this. It should be named the Bill Sweatt Park or the Bill and Helen Sweatt Park. If it needs to be in Hawaiian, it should be the Hawaiian word for ‘sweat,’" Apaka said.

Sweatt’s death has increased momentum to get the park back on track; however, the neighborhood could be in for a lengthy wait. McCoy said there is not any other free available space in Waikiki close to the existing construction projects. Moving the construction materials would require the city to lease land, which would increase construction costs, McCoy said.

"By using the city-owned parcel for this purpose, the city has saved approximately $620,000 in taxpayer money annually instead of having to lease space and pay another government agency or a private landowner,” she said.

Brower, Apaka and Flood have said the city should seek other options.

"There are other vacant spaces," Brower said.

Waikiki land is too valuable to be used for staging, Flood said.

"It’s an eyesore," Apaka said.

McCoy said the city will initiate planning and design for the park after completing its Waikiki improvements.

"The city estimates the completion of the Beachwalk Force Main (sewer) project by the end of 2013," she said. "However, other projects will require the city to use the parcel as a staging area and construction base yard until 2015."

In the meantime, McCoy said, Carlisle will send his condolences to Sweatt’s widow and to his family and friends.

"Bill was a positive and active community member who will be greatly missed," she said.