Mayor Kirk Caldwell has stepped up law enforcement at the Waikiki pavilions at Kuhio Beach Park, which have been plagued by homeless campers, crime and drug use, and says he is considering converting more of them into commercial enterprises to reclaim the public beach space.
Caldwell’s latest plan follows a front-page story in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser this month on community frustration over the public pavilions. Because of enforcement loopholes, the beach locations have become havens for homeless campers, panhandlers and substance abusers.
While Honolulu police use the city’s sit-lie law to move homeless sleepers from Waikiki’s sidewalks, they have no authority to move them from the pavilions or the grassy areas around them because these places are defined as park spaces, not sidewalks.
As a result, more homeless people have taken over the pavilions and surrounding space.
Police can move loiterers only if they catch them violating other laws or find them in the park during closing hours, which run from 2 to 5 a.m.
Mark Howard, principal broker and president of Hawaii Americana Realty, was so frustrated by the trend that he launched a blog and YouTube site this month, documenting people urinating, defecating, fighting or sleeping on the beach.
Caldwell said the Star-Advertiser story motivated him to check out the pavilions along with Deputy Managing Director Georgette Deemer and city spokesman Jesse Broder Van Dyke.
The mayor said he was pleased to see that the adjacent bathrooms were in order and the pavilions were clean thanks to the efforts of the park’s workers, who have to remove human waste daily. But he said that he saw people lying in the grass and others smoking marijuana.
"Jesse took a picture; they flipped us off and then left. … There’s a group that’s hanging around the pavilions who are not necessarily homeless, who have drinks late into the evening and pee in the bushes," he said.
Caldwell said police have been aggressively enforcing Waikiki laws. During the week of March 22 at Kuhio Beach Park, where the pavilions are located, police issued four smoking citations, one prohibition citation, one alcohol citation, one skateboarding citation and two open-lewdness citations. They also gave out two park closure warnings, 11 park closure citations and made two park closure arrests.
Since then, Caldwell said, he’s asked police to redouble pavilion enforcement efforts to include hourly sweeps.
"They’ve been very aggressive, but we still have pockets of problems because there’s a real criminal element down there," Caldwell said. "I want the patrols to move forward on a regular basis every hour."
On Monday police arrested three males on contempt of court warrants at the Kalakaua and Paokalani pavilion. Police picked up a 49-year-old man, who had three contempt warrants; a 28-year-old man, who had 18 contempt warrants; and a 39-year-old man with eight contempt warrants.
Howard said he’s seen some improvement in the past few days. However, he said more needs to be done before he’ll quit documenting the issues.
"My blog and YouTube site are not about embarrassing Hawaii to the world. I put them up to document what’s going on, and I’ll take them down when I see enough improvement, like seven days without an issue," Howard said Friday. "Right now, I’m sitting at Jamba Juice watching a group at the pavilion passing around a liter of vodka and fighting."
Enhanced enforcement is only part of Caldwell’s pavilion cleanup. He said he is also working with city departments such as Enterprise Services, Facility Maintenance, and Parks and Recreation to expand pavilion commercialization.
In May the city joined with a private vendor, Service Systems Associates, to open an oceanside cafe in a former Kuhio Beach public pavilion that had become a haven for homeless people, panhandlers and substance abusers. Converting the blighted pavilion into an eatery displaced the squatters, at least by day.
It also created jobs and earned additional revenue for the city.
"I think the (Waikiki Grass Shack Bistro) has made a dramatic difference," Caldwell said. "When I was there, the tables were full with tourists and local folks, and there was a line from the counter to the road."
Edwin Lugo and Angelika Rivera of New York were enjoying the bistro experience Friday.
"I think it’s a good idea. The food is a little pricey, but the view is just priceless," Lugo said as he dived into a rainbow-colored shave ice. "This place just looks like it should be here."
Caldwell said he wants feedback about what kind of services would make sense at other pavilions. So far, he favors turning the pavilion closest to Kuhio Groin into a sundry store with lockers, where beachgoers could store their belongings.
"Petty crime occurs on Waikiki Beach on a regular basis. We don’t want locals and visitors to worry about their belongings," he said.
Caldwell also said he wants to see the middle pavilion, between the bistro and the groin, converted into a culture and arts center. He envisions a place where tourists could hear stories in pidgin, enjoy local entertainment or learn to make lei or play the ukulele.
"I’ve made this a high priority," Caldwell said. "I’m taking feedback, and I’ve asked my administration to come up with a plan in the next two months. I’m hoping that by fall we could have something in place."
Howard said he would be disappointed to see the pavilions converted into something that reduced or removed the public’s use of the facilities, since free and easy access was what he had hoped to regain.
"I’d prefer that they enforce the current laws," he said. "The point of what I’ve been doing is to return the pavilions to public use, not commercialize them, which would detract from the ocean view and change the nature of the park."
However, Caldwell already has a supporter in Waikiki Neighborhood Board Member Jeff Merz, who said he’d like to see the plan advance.
"I think the locker and cultural thing is great," Merz said. "The big thing is that by leasing the space you create a champion who will defend it because they have a business there."
He added, "If police keep their boots on the ground, this will work."
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ON THE NET
» Mark Howard’s blog: 808ne.ws/1J2l3az
» His YouTube site: 808ne.ws/19QoPqM
