Federal court takes up
beach stand fee dispute
A federal judge might decide today whether a Waikiki beachboy stand can continue to operate or must comply with city orders to vacate because it has not paid $202,230 in disputed fees.
The city informed Gilbert "Uncle Gil" Hisatake on April 14 that unless he deposited the disputed amount in an escrow account, his Pacific Beach Services would have to leave Kuhio Beach by midnight April 30.
Hisatake acknowledges he paid only half of his $12,000-a-month rent to the city during a portion of his 1999-2001 concession contract. But he refused and wants to take the matter to court, he said.
The dispute between Hisatake and the city is over how long reduced rent should have been charged while improvements to Kuhio Beach were being constructed, city Managing Director Ben Lee said.
Hisatake's noncompliance with the city's eviction notice means his month-to-month contract with the city is terminated, and the beachboy stand will remain vacant until the city awards a contract for the concession.
Bids have been advertised and are to be opened June 3 for the stand Hisatake has been renting and the two other for-profit beachboy stands on Waikiki Beach, Lee said.
"I think we've got a good case," Lee said. "We've bent over backwards" to reach an agreement.
Hisatake's attorney, Jack Schweigert, filed a lawsuit yesterday in U.S. District Court protesting the ouster and asking for a temporary restraining order that would allow his beach stand to stay open. A hearing on the restraining order is scheduled for today before Judge Helen Gillmor.
The city Department of Enterprise Services removed all of Pacific Beach Services' items from the city-provided stand Tuesday evening.