FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
Special-duty police officers have been posted at the entrance to the Haiku Stairs in Kaneohe once more in response to complaints by residents in nearby neighborhoods. Officer Gerald Bento kept hikers off the stairs yesterday.
Police return
to Haiku StairsWould-be hikers are to be
turned away until temporary
warning signs are finished
The city hopes to reopen the popular Haiku Stairs in Windward Oahu to hikers next month.
But while last-minute preparations are made, the city is posting a police officer at the base of the steps to warn away would-be hikers.
If that sounds familiar, it's because that is almost exactly what city officials were saying and doing a year ago, shortly after spending $875,000 to repair the 3,992-step hike nicknamed "Stairway to Heaven."
A year ago, negotiations to give hikers passage through noncity land to the base of the stairs postponed the opening to August from July, and then it was set for October.
But on Sept. 24 a Circuit Court judge found the state liable for a May 1999 accident at its Sacred Falls State Park, which killed eight hikers and wounded 50 more. Signs at that park did not adequately warn hikers of the danger, the judge said in his ruling, which the state is appealing.
Since that ruling, the city had not said much about when it will open Haiku Stairs, except that it was working on warning signs.
Temporary signs at a cost of $3,000 should be ready for posting as soon as two weeks from now, city Managing Director Ben Lee said. The city will seek bids on the permanent signs, at an as-yet unknown cost, he said.
Meanwhile, in the Kaneohe cul-de-sac neighborhoods nearest the base of the stairs, residents increasingly have been annoyed by hikers who come to sneak onto the stairs and trespass through yards, cut through fences and park cars in front of mailboxes and trash cans.
"Neighborhood concern seems to have been swelling in the last couple of weeks," Councilwoman Barbara Marshall said yesterday.
Marshall said she urged posting police at the base of the stairs, which began yesterday and will continue this weekend, Fourth of July weekend and perhaps longer.
Special-duty police officers will not be issuing citations, Lee said, just telling people the stairs are closed.
"Our main purpose (in postponing the trail opening) is, we are concerned about the safety of residents and visitors hiking the stairs without signs," Lee said.
When the stairs are opened, Hope Chapel Foursquare Church at 45-815 Pookela St. will serve as the official starting point for hikes. The city will pay the church $1,500 a month for use of 50 parking stalls and restroom facilities for hikers, Lee said.
