Neighborhood
Board bumped
from facility

Ballroom dancers cut in,
forcing the panel to find
another time to meet

By Gordon Y.K. Pang
Star-Bulletin

It will take some fancy footwork for the Diamond Head/Kapahulu/St. Louis Neighborhood Board to keep its traditional meeting night at the Ala Wai Clubhouse.

The reason: A ballroom dance group has cut in.

Board members said they received a letter Tuesday from Neighborhood Commission Executive Director Ben Kama telling them that a group will use the clubhouse for ballroom dance meetings Thursday nights.

The board has been meeting at the facility the second Thursday of the month for more than a decade, said longtime member Art Ross.

Kama suggested the board could meet that same night at Paki Hale or continue meeting at the clubhouse on the third Wednesday each month.

"We've been there since (the clubhouse) was put up," Ross said. "We were one of the first groups to go up there."

Board members say they're also miffed they weren't formally told by Kama until this week, though rumors started swirling more than two weeks ago.

In fact, the board at its regular meeting last week voted unanimously to "strongly object to being evicted from the Ala Wai Clubhouse."

Board Chairwoman Karen Ah Mai said members already had established they were going to meet at the clubhouse on second Thursdays for the coming year.

"To be given the notice the way we were, it was a little bit of a shock," Ah Mai said.

Board members fear fewer people will attend meetings.

Nine different ballroom groups already use the facility -- which dancers have dubbed "the palladium" -- three nights a week and simply want to get a fourth night, said city spokeswoman Carol Costa.

"All we're saying is that the palladium, which is uniquely suited for dancing due to its hardwood floors, be made available for this ballroom dance group that is squished over at the Ala Wai Community Park with very little space and very little parking," Costa said.

The dance group attracts 200 people, while the neighborhood board has an average of 20 people in attendance at a meeting, Costa said.

But board member Michelle Matson said Paki Hale is too small and the board needs the bigger clubhouse because a number of major issues will draw large crowds this year.

Ah Mai is meeting with city officials later this month to see if a compromise can be reached.