Keeping our public spaces clean and safe has grown increasingly frustrating. Waikiki’s four beachside pavilions, for instance, offer world-class views of the ocean — but the shelter spaces have been overtaken by unsavory, even unlawful, activities.

So it’s hard to argue against the city’s plan to seek vendors for all four of the open-air, covered pavilions along Kalakaua Avenue. A pilot project seems to be successful at Kuhio Beach public pavilion No. 1, which since 2017 has housed a low-key, food-and-drink concession called Waikiki Grass Shack Bistro.

It’s hoped that renting out space to vendors at the other pavilions would likewise deter crime and vagrancy. An intractable homelessness problem has spurred routine complaints about drinking and drug use, sleeping, urinating or defecating on the grounds, fighting, swearing and panhandling. All that is unacceptable in any neighborhood — but is magnified to the world when occurring in Hawaii’s tourism mecca of Waikiki.

Instead of being accessible-to-all, family-friendly respites, the pavilions have become magnets for homeless squatters. Years of frustration over maintenance and security had even prompted the area’s former Councilman last year to call for the structures’ demolition.

As built-up as Waikiki is — chock-full of hotels, high-rises, retail and restaurants — it’s refreshing that there remains a stretch of idyllic shoreline for all to enjoy, easy to get to. Ideally, the open-air pavilions should remain free of any commercial enterprise, but circumstances are pushing otherwise.

“We want to activate the space, make it more inviting, while adding service to Waikiki. It could be a cafe but we wouldn’t limit it,” said Mayor Kirk Caldwell, in floating a possibility to allow hotels across the street to extend their brands to the beach.

That last bit raises eyebrows. The pavilion concessions should offer compatible beach-goer amenities that are lower-key — meant to deter shady behavior at the sites, not be a slippery slope toward overt commercialism. The city must guard against such overrun along the beachside of Kalakaua Avenue.

Aside from the concessions plan, support seems solid for a way to lock up the pavilions at night, as proposed by Honolulu Police Chief Susan Ballard, as part of her focus to keep Waikiki welcoming and anti- crime. Caldwell said he is considering something akin to garage doors. This would be a reasonable option, but must make sense in light of the concession scenario — whether it’s one or the other, or both solutions in tandem to reclaim the public spots, a clear vision needs to prevail.

Trying to keep the pavilions safe and open for all to use is the immediate goal. But any displacement of homeless people should also prompt renewed efforts to prod the houseless into transitional, then permanent, shelter.

Homelessness in Waikiki has been a longstanding problem, as it’s now become in many residential neighborhoods — but the high-visibility risk to Hawaii’s tourism industry can’t be ignored. Some noticeable improvement came after the city banned sitting and lying on Waikiki sidewalks in 2014. But the anti- loitering law doesn’t extend to the pavilions or grassy areas around them, and police can clear the pavilions only between 2 and 5 a.m., when park closure laws are in effect.

It will be an ongoing challenge to positively activate the public’s passive spaces. At the Waikiki pavilions, once popular for chess games and scenic rests, inappropriate behavior too often takes over. Bringing in low-key concessions would meet the challenge to have the sites be used as intended, for all to stop and enjoy the natural beauty of Hawaii.