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Kokua Line June Watanabe |
Chinatown police station
eases lack of restroomsQuestion: When I went to Chinatown and used the new underground parking garage at Smith and Beretania streets, I asked to use the restroom. I was told by the cashier to go to the stores in town and use theirs. I also was told that Chinatown has no public bathrooms. The city and county that built the parking should have made a restroom. Can we use the restroom at the police substation?
Answer: Yes. Any member of the public may use the public restroom inside the Chinatown Police Substation, located on the makai, Koko Head corner of Hotel and Maunakea streets.
Honolulu Police Capt. Ed Nishi, who worked on the initial design of the substation, said the lack of public restrooms in the area was a concern brought up by the Downtown Neighborhood Board.
There were concerns about tourists sightseeing, as well as residents shopping in the area, "so we incorporated a restroom in the design of the downtown station to try to help out," Nishi said.
He pointed out that the facility is staffed with a police officer 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to make sure there is no vandalism or illegal use of the facility, as happens at so many public restrooms.
The one unisex restroom is located to the right of the front lobby area. An officer will have to press a buzzer to open the door, Nishi said.
Meanwhile, the city doesn't put restrooms in parking garages, and the Smith-Beretania Park above the garage is too small for a restroom, said Carol Costa, spokeswoman for the city administration. In addition to the police substation restroom, she pointed to "a large restroom" nearby in Aala Park, although the latter isn't really convenient to people walking around Chinatown.
However, Sunny Wong, executive director of the Chinatown Merchants Association, said the lack of public restrooms in Chinatown doesn't appear to be a major problem, noting that most restaurants are accommodating.
Instead, he said, having public toilets would bring a new set of problems, notably the need for security and maintenance because of the tendency for such facilities to attract street people and drug users.
Before any public restrooms are considered, the question of security and maintenance needs to be addressed, he said.
But Tom Smyth, a member of the Downtown Neighborhood Board, said the lack of public restrooms is a "definite hygiene issue" for many segments of the population.
Beyond the needs of the public and tourists, there also is the problem of the homeless urinating and defecating in public. While there is a proposal to make it a petty misdemeanor for such acts, there also has been talk about providing a facility -- a so-called "wet house" -- where the homeless could go to wash up, use toilets and rest any time of the day or night in the Chinatown/downtown area, Smyth said.
The Mayor's Homeless Task Force has been looking into the possibility of setting up such a facility, he said.
It wouldn't be a full-fledged homeless shelter such as the Institute for Human Services or a Safe Haven, but more of a "drop-in center," said Smyth, who has been an advocate of the homeless on the neighborhood board.
He also noted longtime discussion of putting up pay toilets -- stand-alone, modern "porta-johns," similar to those found on streets in Europe.
The problem with those, Smyth said, is that they don't meet standards set by the Americans With Disabilities Act, although they appeared to deal with most of the objections of having public toilets -- that they attract prostitutes and drug users and require maintenance -- by being self-cleaning and automatically spraying water every few minutes.
At this point, there is no immediate solution to the lack of restrooms in Chinatown, for locals and visitors as well as the homeless.
"But there is definite interest in it," Smyth said. "As the cruise ships become more predominant and people tend to take walks through Chinatown, I think Chinatown's vitality is good. It's getting better. Hotel Street is looking better. There is less crime -- it's a Weed-and-Seed area. So a lot of things are making it a better area, but the one missing thing right now is the public restrooms."
Q: A while back when that multimillion-dollar Kapiolani Park bandstand was finished, there was a lovely party. Aaron Mahi conducted the Royal Hawaiian Band and his wife, Cathy Foy, sang a song called, "It's a Grand Bandstand." I believe he wrote the song also. Has he ever published it, and if so, where can we get a copy, or has the band recorded it and can we purchase a copy somewhere?
A: Royal Hawaiian Bandmaster Aaron Mahi says he hasn't published or recorded "You're a Grand Bandstand," which was performed at the dedication of the new bandstand on July 4, 2000.
That may happen in the future, however, since he's also written a march for the bandstand, while another band member has written "The Kapiolani Bandstand March."
"So we're starting to build a repertoire of bandstand songs," he said.
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