Keep Ala Moana park locally focused

If Ala Moana Regional Park truly is the “people’s park,” then its master plan will have to reflect that, making it all the more important for residents islandwide to weigh in on the park’s future.

There is no question the park is looking tired and needs upgrading. Already, the city has begun to implement a short-term improvement plan that includes a 2.9-acre exercise path, stepping up maintenance of comfort stations and 40 monkeypod trees along Ala Moana Boulevard — all of which are welcome.

Proposals unveiled in the conceptual plan include doing away with most of the parking along the makai side of Ala Moana Park Drive and using that footage to double the width of the sidewalk, creating a “destination promenade.”

There is appeal in creating a promenade with more benches and trees lining the sidewalk, but any loss of parking is a serious issue.

The lost stalls would be relocated to a revamped parking area between McCoy Pavilion and the lawn bowling area, as well as other areas on the mauka side of the park.

Plans also call for broadening the recreational space along the two sides of the Magic Island parking lot by reducing the number of stalls in that area to 360 from 431.

However, if the goal of renovating the park is to make it more inviting to local residents, reducing the number of parking stalls is counterintuitive. A large percentage of park users are not within walking distance, so ample parking must be a key component in the park’s master plan.

Another highlight in the conceptual plan is a Piikoi Street entrance open to only pedestrians and bicyclists, in part due to the proliferation of high-rise residential development in Kakaako.

Such a feature would allow nearby residents as well as pedestrian traffic from Ala Moana Center to safely access the park.

Other components of the plan include installing a “boxed culvert” to cover up the canal that runs parallel to Ala Moana Boulevard, increasing green space.

The removal of four smaller bridges that now connects the canal’s two sides also is included in the plan. Because maintenance of those bridges is costly, their removal makes good fiscal sense.

The current plan would keep the double-arched historic bridge that is part of the park’s original design and is tied to the Hawaiian pond on the Diamond Head end.

Updates also are in store for McCoy Pavilion, which is dated.

Another idea is to establish a children’s playground near the L&L food concession with the help of private funding from community partners, according to Chris Dacus, an executive assistant for the city Parks and Recreation Department.

However, the city should exercise caution in creating public-private partnerships, which it says is necessary to help develop the public space. Such partnerships could lead to commercialization of the park, which would run afoul of the public responses the city solicited early on in the planning process.

To keep the park from becoming developed or commercialized, all stakeholders should take part in the planning process — either by contributing comments online or engaging with the city, which is hosting a public meeting at 6 p.m. Thursday at the park’s McCoy Pavilion.

The city will review its conceptual plan, and public input will be taken into consideration when a master plan for the 119-acre park is drafted later this year.

Cost estimates won’t be provided until a draft master plan is released, likely this summer. The improvements won’t come cheap, and the city must reconcile its spending on the “people’s park” with improvements at other parks and recreational facilities across Oahu.

Critics, including City Council Chair Ernie Martin, say that too many resources are being devoted to Ala Moana Park when parks in different communties are in disrepair.

He has a point. Ala Moana Park deserves updating, but the city cannot put all its eggs in one basket. Parks and recreational facilities in neighborhoods and communities on Oahu cannot be ignored while Ala Moana Park monopolizes the city’s attention.

Mayor Kirk Caldwell’s administration defends its decision to focus on Ala Moana, which serves all communities and is the gateway to Waikiki.

“Ala Moana is the one park that everyone on the island uses,” Dacus said.

Exactly. That’s why park improvements must, above all other considerations, meet the needs of the local residents who use it now.