Gathering Place
John M. Flanigan
Don’t let complainers
ruin Haiku Stairs
for everyone
The controversy about the trespassers on the Haiku Stairs is beginning to create its own reality. Despite all the negativism currently being voiced, when this popular world-class hike finally is opened, with adequate parking, exhibition facilities and proper security, the heroes will be those who helped make it work, not those who placed obstacles in the way.
STAR-BULLETIN / 2002
Hikers risk the treacherous climb up Haiku Stairs.
One problem is that there is a dearth of information and a surfeit of misinformation that feeds the negativism. At Rep. Ken Ito's community meeting, Kaneohe Neighborhood Board meetings and in letters to the editor, questions are asked that have already been answered, and claims made that appear to be exaggerated. A few examples: the term "trespasser" has been applied not only to people walking through private property, but also to people who were walking on public streets. One speaker claimed that the new signs have suffered graffiti. They have not.
Some have advocated tearing the stairs out without first finding good information and developing a good sense of the situation. Some have suggested removing some of the sections to prevent climbing. "Vandals" did that in 1987. Ropes quickly appeared and climbing continued.
An article in the Sept. 22 Star-Bulletin and some testimony at neighborhood board meetings have left the impression that residents are still suffering the same problem with rogue hikers that they were before the city hired security guards. Recent visits to the site by Friends of Haiku Stairs volunteers leaves a different impression.
An FHS volunteer group has been making periodic visits to Haiku Stairs to control invasive plant species and to do maintenance on the trail. On our first such workday, April 19 (this was before security guards had been posted), I was at the base of the stairs with an employee from the Department of Parks and Recreation for the specific purpose of fending off would-be hikers, since there would be chain-sawing and poisoning in the vicinity. It was a perfect Saturday for hiking. During an eight-hour period we confronted 111 people, nearly all of whom turned back. There also was a motorcyclist, a kid who came dirt-biking by while we worked.
A few months later, in preparing for the expected opening in August, four of us made an inspection trip up the stairs. A policewoman was then on site, and the only trespassers we saw during six hours was one couple who had been turned away by the guard.
A few weekends ago we accomplished our second workday, again a beautiful day. There was a private security guard on duty, who had been dissed by a neighborhood resident as ineffective. There were only two would-be climbers, who said they had come from a friend's home in one of the nearby neighborhoods. She encounters an average of eight would-be climbers a day, a few more than half of whom turn back. This does not seem to be an overwhelming intrusion, and it will be mitigated further when adequate parking and management are in place.
Wouldn't it be wonderful if all this energy were put into an effort to get the City and County of Honolulu, Department of Hawaiian Home Lands and all other players in this complicated game to work together to achieve the desirable goal of developing this wonderful asset to the neighborhood and state. It is an achievable goal if only the crabs would quit pulling each other down.
John M. Flanigan is chairman of the board of Friends of Haiku Stairs.
