Question: I am inquiring about the Sunset Beach Recreation Center, which I believe has been open for about one year. It’s on a rather large piece of land with a generous-sized parking lot. I am at a loss, however, to understand why money was used to build the center, because I have never seen much activity there. It appears to be closed most of the time and there are few cars in the lot. What is the purpose of the Sunset Beach Recreation Center? Why is there no publicity regarding it? Who uses it? It’s a shame such a new and nice building appears to have been a waste of money.
Answer: The $3.4 million center, at 59-540 Kamehameha Highway (corner of Kahae Road and Kamehameha Highway), was dedicated on May 31, 2009.
It was built primarily to replace the portable building that was at Pupukea Beach Park and used only for indoor activities, said an official with the city Department of Parks and Recreation.
Currently, only scheduled activities — ranging from art and basic cooking classes for youngsters to yoga and tai chi classes for adults and meetings for a senior citizen group — are held on weekdays.
The former recreation director resigned a year ago and there still is no replacement, so the building is closed when there are no scheduled activities, the parks official said. The official said the city is in the final stages of hiring a new recreation director.
He said the facility is being managed by Waialua Complex Supervisor Laura Whittaker, who has been scheduling part-time staff to conduct children, adult and senior citizens classes for the spring program, which runs from January to April.
Regarding notice of activities, the parks official said fliers are sent home with children in local schools and publicized on local business, parks and community poster boards. The information also is available on the parks department’s website, www.honoluluparks.com.
The building is also available to nonprofit community groups, which obtain a monthly permit to use the facilities.
“These groups are not sponsored by the department, and therefore would not appear on our website,” the parks official said.
The large parking lot fronting the center was empty and the facility locked when we visited on a late Monday morning recently, but groundskeeper Karen Oury was at work readying the center for afternoon classes.
It’s obvious she takes great pride in her work, eager to show off the immaculately kept grounds and facilities.
“We do our part to keep it clean and ready for use,” Oury said.
Question: Confusing street signs have been posted in Waikiki. The signs are yellow and feature black arrows and the letters “L R.” They are attached to a pole at the intersection of Ohua Street and Kalakaua Avenue, as well as to a tree along Kuhio Avenue. Waikiki has a lot of drivers who don’t know the area and the signs are a distraction. Can they be removed, please?
Answer: We also saw the signs on Monday, but were told they were removed later that day.
The Honolulu Film Office, which approved their posting, said the signs were related to a film project based at the Marriott Waikiki Beach Hotel and were up for 10 days.
“They were put up by the production company in an effort to efficiently move the crew from the hotel through Waikiki in the least disruptive manner possible while the crew was doing their specific location work,” the office said.
The work ended Monday “and the signs were removed promptly.”
Mahalo
To the nice lady at Don Quijote in Pearl City on March 6. She offered to help me when she saw me reaching up to get an item on the top shelf. It was so thoughtful and kind of her. May she be blessed, always. — A Senior Citizen
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