As one who grew up blocks from Ala Moana Regional Park, and has swum there nearly daily for the past 25 years, I attended with great interest the March 11 forum on its future.

The notion of it being “the People’s Park” resonated strongly among the vast majority of the hundreds present and those who testified.

What emerged from their voices is that planners of the park need to persist in putting people over profit. This calls for a future that places badly needed repairs to the main parking lot, existing showers and benches over costly new commercial-driven development. It also calls for sensitivity to Hawaii’s historic culture in planning the park’s future.

It is my hope that the mayor’s office and its consultants focus on addressing the heartfelt concerns of the park’s users passionately raised at the forum.

Wally Fukunaga

Makiki

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