Reopen Haiku Stairs as public treasure

On April 23, the Honolulu Board of Water Supply (BWS) announced in an Environmental Impact Statement Preparation Notice (EISPN) that it plans to “evaluate a range of alternatives” for the Haiku Stairs. The stated reason for this review is that it costs BWS $160,000 yearly to keep hikers off the Stairs, and that managing the Stairs is “not consistent with the BWS mission.”

How difficult is it to manage the Stairs and its hikers? Think about what was involved when the U.S. Coast Guard Omega Station did it in the 1980s: hikers parked in the parking lot next to the main building, filled out a sign-in sheet, and walked over to the Stairs. That’s it. The station and parking lot were open during the day, so no one had a reason to park on neighbors’ lawns and sneak up at night.

During the six years that the Stairs were open, an estimated 20,000 people a year climbed it, with no supervision, and no impact on the neighbors. And yet BWS needs an EIS to study the issue, and describes the problem as if it’s so complex, we need the nation’s top minds working on it around the clock.

If BWS can’t be troubled to manage the Stairs, hire a contractor to do it, and collect entrance fees to cover all operating, maintenance, security and management costs, as well as all potential liability. The state collects hundreds of thousands of dollars per year from entrance fees to Diamond Head State Monument.

Let’s not mischaracterize the purpose of the EIS. As stated in the EISPN, “This environmental review will formally assess the removal of Haiku Stairs as the BWS’ proposed action … “ BWS is discussing alternatives only because it’s legally obligated to do so by the state’s EIS law. If BWS was serious about finding a way to keep them open, it would not be using the EIS process to justify their removal (not to mention spending $500,000-plus for the EIS consultant); it would be actively engaging with the public to find a solution.

The Stairs are not some old infrastructure you get rid of because it’s obsolete. They have been determined to be eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places, because of their integral role in the defense of the Pacific during WWII. Experts in botany and natural history have described the Stairs hike as unique in the Hawaiian islands, for several reasons. It would be an incalculable loss of an irreplaceable recreational, educational, historic and cultural resource.

The city is the public steward of its resources, a civic responsibility that it can’t walk away from. You can’t destroy a national historic treasure just because you can’t be bothered to run it.

Perhaps the biggest myth perpetuated by the city and the media is that the Stairs are some unspeakable public menace seeking to accost unwary innocents. There are no documented reports of anyone being seriously injured or dying as a result of an accident there. Indeed, the Stairs’ handrails and metal treads make them much safer than Hawaii’s notoriously slick and muddy clay trails.

Finally, as far as the city’s fiscal responsibility: One very underreported item is the cost to tear them out, which the city estimated in 2011 to be $2.5-$3 million. Destroy a resource that has brought joy and wonder to nearly a million people? After spending $1 million less than 15 years ago to repair them for recreational users, and now another $500,000-plus for the EIS, how does this make any sense? Normally governments spend this kind of money to create a world-class attraction

We need to hold our public officials accountable for the way they spend their time, and our money. It is high time that the Stairs were reopened for all to enjoy.

Vernon Ansdell is semi-retired physician and president of Friends of Haiku Stairs. Jay Silberman, a retired Coast Guard environmental protection specialist, served as project manager for the Haiku Stairs prior to the Omega Station closure.