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In Waikiki this week, Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell announced a plan to lock down or convert the row of pavilions fronting one of the most famous stretches of beach in the world because the shaded benches have become a haven for hard-core homeless.
It used to be a nice spot to sit and watch the waves, a congenial place where a mixed bag of characters would play chess, but now it’s just too filthy, too problematic, too unmanageable even for the police, whose substation is only a few yards away.
Meanwhile, Caldwell is pushing a controversial new ballfield along Waimanalo Beach. Some residents may have wanted it 10 years ago when their kids played ball, but because the city took so long to take bulldozer blade to tree trunk, attitudes have changed and now they just want their beloved Sherwoods left alone.
The city can’t keep homeless people from taking over the pavilions along Waikiki Beach, but Caldwell is all-in for the Waimanalo ball field that Waimanalo doesn’t want and a new mega-playground to be built on the grassy open space at Ala Moana Beach Park.
Who was it who said, “If you can’t take care of it, you can’t have it”?
Nobody. Nobody said that. At least not to the City and County of Honolulu or to Caldwell, who, now that he’s rounding the corner of his second term, seems to be on a building binge, “adding value” to beaches that are valuable just by being beautiful beaches.
The problems of maintenance and security will not fall to Caldwell. He’ll be long gone when the news stories come out about fecal contamination in the fancy Ala Moana park splash pool or dirty bathrooms, shaggy grass and permanent “campers” at Sherwoods. He won’t have to deal with the frustration of community volunteers and outside interests who tried to take care of those public areas.
Caldwell may be in elected office somewhere, but he won’t be around when the next mayor has to do the press conference saying the new Waimanalo ballfield will be swept of homeless tents or the new Ala Moana park playground is being closed for a month of “deep sanitation,” as they say in Hilo.
Yes, Hilo has the same hard-core homeless troubles as Honolulu. They’ve trashed public spaces and scared away the locals, which is why Mooheau Park is being closed down, scrubbed clean and reopened with a security guard. “It’s way past time — and I stress way past time. We got to put our foot down,” Hawaii island Mayor Harry Kim said this week.
Contrast this approach with Waikiki, where Caldwell’s plan is to deal with the homeless by leasing the space to vendors and concessions, including allowing nearby hotels to “extend their brands” to the beach.
While Hilo scrubs and secures and puts its civic foot down, Honolulu builds around the problem, betting that a couple of boba tea kiosks and snorkel rental booths will do the trick.
So what are the chances that putting businesses into the pavilions will do the trick? Ask Chinatown businesses how successful they are in dealing with the homeless problem.
Reach Lee Cataluna at 529-4315 or lcataluna@staradvertiser.com.
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