Editorial: More public input on ‘People’s Park’

The city’s Ala Moana Regional Park master plan aims to improve the aging and popular 119-acre urban site while maintaining its character. Among its sensible guiding principles: restoring beauty while increasing accessibility and enhancing park features.

While plan components requiring in-depth environmental impact scrutiny have yet to be finalized, various other upgrades — such as the addition of 40 monkeypod trees along Ala Moana Boulevard and a spruced-up exercise path — are already in place. Work on a project that includes repaving and reconstructing of mile-long Ala Moana Park Drive starts next month, and is welcome.

Meanwhile, a few decidedly contentious pieces of the plan, which has been taking shape in draft form for more than four years, are continuing to touch off debate in the community. Among the pieces in need of more public input is a private-public partnership proposal to reserve 1 acre of green space for installation of a playground.

The initial master plan’s list of park-enhancing features included mention of building its first-ever playground, with the public weighing in on selection of location and play equipment. But in December — seemingly in lieu of the plan’s direction — a volunteer group, with Mayor Kirk Caldwell’s support, announced that it wants to bankroll the building of a playground, with the intention of gifting it to the city.

The design of the playground — complete with standard swings and other equipment, including some tailored for special-needs kids, as well as features such as close-to-the-ground mini “zip cruise” lines and a splash pad, but no water slides or pools — has essentially been mapped out by the group, Pa‘ani Kakou.

It’s unclear whether the private-public partnership is a good idea. What is clear, though, is that it deserves more community input, which should include a city-organized public hearing on the matter.

Created as a New Deal project and dedicated in 1934, the look of the park hasn’t changed much since its “Magic Island” tip was added five decades ago. It has long been regarded as a go-to for everyday recreation and beachside potlucks for residents, who rightly feel a sense of ownership of its acreage.

Pa‘ani Kakou has secured support from the Ala Moana-Kakaako Neighborhood Board, and has gathered comments from some school children on playground features. Those are steps in the right direction, on the group’s part. But there are other concerns tied to this proposed private-public venture. Among them: While the playground is pitched by the group’s leadership as free and accessible to all, issues of public usage and long-term upkeep need to be fully vetted.

Overall, the city should guard against potential for bit-by-bit privatization of any of our park spaces and facilities. In the interest of preserving a public place that has ample beauty and few frills, residents are right to feel wary of any proposal that could pave the way for gentrified-focused ventures.

It’s apparent that many of Ala Moana Beach Park’s fans care about every detail in the master plan. Last summer, those in favor of tidying but maintaining the site much as it is, cheered when the City Council effectively cut from the plan a proposal to eliminate parking on the makai side of Ala Moana Park Drive to make way for a wider beachside “promenade.”

This summer, contention continues over whether those parking spaces should remain parallel or be switched to perpendicular, to accommodate more vehicles.

As the master plan process continues, the city will be considering projects, big and small — but all of it must include public input to forge the future of the “People’s Park.”