Kokua Line June Watanabe

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Tree planters aim
to soften Waikiki image

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Question: I'd really appreciate if you would find out why they installed those large cement planters with tree saplings into both sides of the streets like Olohana, Namahana and Keoniana. This may be under the honorable and idealistic view of beautifying the area; however, with traffic and parking at a premium in Waikiki, it does not make sense to have holes dug up and those planters placed in the streets themselves unless someone wanted to create "busy work" for city employees. Those saplings will also need to be maintained over the years. If city workers needed something to do, why didn't they instead remove the trash polluting the Ala Wai Canal, just steps away from those blasted planters IN the streets?

Answer: The city maintains that only two substandard parking stalls were removed by the beautification project and that the planters were the result of "numerous" community meetings.

According to city Managing Director Ben Lee, the "Mauka Makai Trees" project is part of ongoing efforts to "pedestrianize" all of Waikiki.

"One of the main complaints voiced by residents during the preparation of the Waikiki Master Plan many years ago was that there were too many high-rise buildings," he said. "They kept saying that Waikiki didn't feel like a residential community."

Residents asked then if the city could "soften the appearance" of the buildings and repeated the request during the city's more recent "Waikiki Livable Community Plan" process, he said.

"Both planning efforts had numerous public information meetings and lots of opportunity for community input," he said.

Although two stalls had to be eliminated, Lee said the planters were placed so cars are able to park between the trees, minimizing the loss of parking. In time the saplings will create a tree-lined street, he said.

Lee pointed to other city projects, such as installing period light fixtures, adding landscaping and building wider sidewalks, as having "greatly improved Waikiki's appearance, enhanced property values and provided a catalyst for private landowners to improve and spruce up their properties as well."

As for the Ala Wai, the problem is that people "continue to treat our city streets and streams as trash receptacles," he said.

He noted that the state Department of Land & Natural Resources recently dredged the canal, finding tires, shopping cars, car batteries, appliances, as well as plastic bags and all types of trash, while the city has installed booms across the streams in mauka areas to trap much of the debris from entering the canal.

But reducing non-point source pollution and keeping waterways and the ocean clean is everyone's responsibility, Lee said.

"The best way to keep the Ala Wai free and clear of rubbish is to ask our residents to keep trash, debris and other pollutants from entering the City's drainage system and into Makiki, Manoa and Palolo streams, and eventually find their way into the Ala Wai Canal and the Pacific Ocean," he said.

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