ROD THOMPSON / RTHOMPSON@STARBULLETIN.COM
Practicing yesterday for a canoe regatta on Hilo Bay were the boys of Kai E Hitu Canoe Club. The beach is expected to be crowded today for a fireworks show on Coconut Island, but safety restrictions could shrink the audience.
Hilo hopes for more
lawful July Fourth
HILO >> By the rockets' red glare, the Hilo bayfront should be a lot different this year.
Every Fourth of July, thousands of people pack the beach and parks fronting Hilo Bay, some arriving as early as the evening of July 3 to ensure a good view of the Independence Day fireworks shot from Coconut Island in the bay.
And every year, the event has gotten more crowded, more lawless, more dangerous, Mayor Harry Kim said.
Police Maj. David Kawauchi remembered seeing a solid wall of tents last year as he looked across the bay toward the shore. Crowd estimates have been as high as 20,000, but Kawauchi thought 5,000 to 10,000 more realistic.
People parked and drove on the beach and grassy park areas, Kim said. The area was so congested that emergency vehicles could not get in.
Illegal fireworks set tents on fire, fights broke out and sexual assaults were reported, Kim said. The next morning, 11 tons of trash were picked up.
"It's a disaster waiting to happen," he said.
Today will be different.
Several bayfront roads are closed. Primary parking areas are at the civic auditorium and the county building, formerly part of the Kaikoo Mall complex. A shuttle bus will run between them and along Kamehameha Avenue fronting Hilo Bay.
Drinking alcohol in public is illegal and suddenly becomes much more difficult if the booze has to be carried on a shuttle bus.
No one has been allowed to set up family tents. The county set up canopies in seven places, and people are welcome to bring beach umbrellas, Kim said.
Public reaction has been mixed.
"That sucks," said Hau Sayles, at the beach yesterday preparing for tomorrow's canoe regatta. "He (Kim) has his nerve," she said.
But she agrees there was a problem. "Pilau" people, filthy ones, left a mess on the beach. After the fireworks display, kids made huge fires on the beach. "There's no supervision. Their parents are too drunk by the time the fireworks go off," she said.
She will visit relatives today rather than park her new car and take a shuttle. There is no security staff at the designated parking areas, she said.
Kawauchi said no security will be permanently assigned there, but roving patrols will make checks.
Leimomi Shearer and Keith Lewis, of the Kai E Hitu Canoe Club, said the restrictions could be beneficial. "It will stop more people from coming down," she said. "The past years have brought the bad apples," he said.
Businesses near the two major parking sites agreed on one thing, that the new rules will mean traffic congestion in their areas.
At Longs Drug, across the street from the county building, manager Wesley Wung could only hope that would translate to more sales today.
Wiki-Wiki Mart convenience store owner Carl Okuyama, near the civic auditorium, said business usually goes up on Independence Day, and he expected the same today.
He was more interested in a vision of the grassy bayfront park covered with people instead of tents and cars.
"It's going to be a large sitting area, like a rally at the Washington Monument, a large, festive celebration," he said.
"It's going to be a beautiful Fourth."
