They arrive late at night and park on the street, maybe four or five cars, sometimes many more — young people out for wild fun fueled by alcohol and reckless indiscretion.
“They’re not getting here sober and going to the beach to drink. They arrive drunk already,” said Chula Harrison.
Bob and Chula Harrison bought their sweet 1930s-style house on Hunakai Street in Kahala in 1974, and through the years, they’ve seen young people — some in their 20s, others too young to drink — park their cars on the street and lug bottles of booze to the beach. They’re loud when they arrive, even louder when they leave, slamming car doors, laughing, revving engines. Bob, a big guy who, as a retired teacher, knows how to deal with kids, goes out to tell them to quiet down and go home.
“For years, it was ‘Sorry, sorry.’ They were polite. But in the last five to seven years, I’m met with impunity,” he said.
Their neighbor Dr. John McGee says he’s called police on three separate occasions in the last two months. Sometimes, the partiers don’t make it to the beach. They sit outside people’s houses to drink and laugh like nobody’s watching.
“The kids had open containers and many were visibly intoxicated,” McGee said. “That night the kids left about the time the police drove by the house. The following night there was a sudden appearance of at least 40 kids. They were walking down Aukai with beer cans and half-gallon bottles of vodka.”
The partiers park along Hunakai or Aukai Avenue instead of Kahala Avenue fronting the public access because that would be a giveaway that there’s a party on the beach.
The Harrisons have tried everything they could think of. They’ve called the police. They went to their neighborhood board. They tried to get no-parking signs on their street, at least between the hours of 11 p.m. and 4 a.m., thinking that if the kids’ cars were ticketed, at least their parents would know where they had been. “Kids don’t own the cars, their parents do,” Bob said.
The neighbors asked Alexander and Baldwin, owner of the properties alongside the beach access, for help.
“Since our purchase of the Kahala properties in late 2013, A&B has had security conduct nightly checks on each property,” said Lance Parker, president of A&B Properties. “In response to calls from the community, we now have a dedicated security guard patrolling our properties throughout the entire night. This began last month. We have instructed security to notify the police if they see any illegal activity in public areas adjacent to our properties.”
The Harrisons said the security has helped, but they would like police to be proactive. Police, however, can’t make arrests if they don’t see the illegal behavior, and by the time the officers park on the street and make their way down to the beach, the party crew can stash liquor bottles, douse the bonfire or run off into the night.
“Officers have responded to complaints in the area on an intermittent basis. Complaints about illegal bonfires come in about once a month or less often,” said HPD spokeswoman Michelle Yu. “Officers will be patrolling the area more frequently, and residents are advised to call 911 to report illegal parking, drinking and loud noises. An officer will be sent, but he or she must witness the violation before a citation or enforcement action can be taken.”
They’ve talked about selling and moving to someplace quiet, but the Harrisons love the house where they raised four kids. “I’m at wit’s end,” Bob said. “What am I supposed to do?”
Reach Lee Cataluna at 529-4315 or lcataluna@staradvertiser.com.
