As a mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, former educator and taxpayer, I empathize with families looking for activities for all of our keiki. We need more clean parks and play areas for families islandwide. We need safe accessible parks in neighborhoods so parents don’t need to fight the town traffic and parking to come to Ala Moana Beach Park to let their children play. Isn’t that the idea of sustainable neighborhoods that the mayor was supporting earlier? Children’s play should be an everyday event, not a destination event.

The one-acre “world-class playground” in Ala Moana Beach Park across from Park Lane, touted as OK’d in a December article (“‘World-class’ playground approved for Ala Moana park,” Star-Advertiser, Dec. 3, 2018) is not only unnecessary as columnist Lee Cataluna noted (Star-Advertiser, Dec. 7, 2018), but has overstepped environmental impact statement rules for timely disclosure or process.

The article reported that this project was 18-24 months in the planning. Yet, the 900-plus-page Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) or Master Plan for Ala Moana Regional Park, released in July 2018, only lists a playground (without description) projected five to 10 years out. No city-sponsored informational meeting was held to explain the scope of the playground (or newly added dog park). DEIS comments were due on Aug. 22, 2018, without the benefit of even a hint of these plans.

Before the city responses to DEIS comments had even been completed, the mayor appeared on several news stations claiming he would do what he could to push the playground permits through so work could start as early as June 2019. A touted win-win — private money or donations to build and gift to the city, with taxpayer dollars to maintain.

But given our city’s more pressing needs (i.e., homelessness, infrastructure for sea level rise, pedestrian safety) and the Department of Parks and Recreation’s spotty record on park maintenance islandwide, pushing this playground through and committing taxpayers to sustain it is a bad idea.

The city is playing by two sets of rules: one, where regular park-goers who just want the park maintained responsibly write comment letters year after year to processes like the DEIS and the supplemental DEIS and wait months for a standardized response; and another set, where those with money can have a meeting with the mayor to have their plans added to the master plan separate from the EIS process (as noted in Nov. 27 minutes of the Ala Moana-Kakaako Neighborhood Board 11).

Why encourage people to vote or engage in government, if in truth, in our city, private money/interests allow rules to be skipped over, bent or ignored?

Not until Feb. 8, when the city was forced to publish a supplemental DEIS to include results of a Cultural Impact Assessment (CIA) required by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, did more information about the playground gleaned from the Dec. 3 article and a new source for sand nourishment come to light. Again, no city-sponsored meeting was held to provide information about the impact of the playground, sand replenishment or CIA before comments were due.

Given predictions of a 3- to 6-foot sea-level rise at Ala Moana Beach Park, maintenance of this substantial playground will be an increasing problem for the city.

Why not save these tax dollars to address the repairs needed at other public parks all over Oahu, in areas less vulnerable to climate change, and where fewer recreational choices exist?

Let’s take this opportunity to make prudent choices for Ala Moana Beach Park. Ask your City Council member to support Resolution 19-92 and tell them you want safe playgrounds in your own community.