Critics call on mayor
to scrap Ala Wai project
Mayor Jeremy Harris should drop a planned $2.4 million beautification project along Ala Wai Boulevard because it will take away parking spaces and add traffic tie-ups, some Waikiki residents and City Councilman Charles Djou say.
"Taken all together, the amount of congestion already in Waikiki is extremely high," Djou said yesterday. "For my constituents, this is their top concern right now."
Ala Wai resident Bob Kessler agreed that the project should be halted.
"I think Councilman Djou is voicing the opinions of his Waikiki constituents," Kessler said.
Kessler is an organizer of a sidewalk demonstration with sign-waving scheduled for this morning along the boulevard.
"We would like to make sure that the community at large in Waikiki is aware of this," Kessler said.
The five-month project is part of the city's Waikiki beautification plan, which also includes a $19 million Kuhio Avenue project under way since February. The project includes installation of a bike path and concrete landscaping hubs over the boulevard's far right lane.
Kessler and Djou said residents are concerned that the improvements will worsen traffic flow and remove 60 parking stalls.
Residents are also concerned because the construction on Ala Wai will start as a major road project continues on Kuhio Avenue.
"The community does not want what the city wants to do. Even if the project were sold to the community, the timing could not be worse," Kessler said.
City spokeswoman Carol Costa said the Ala Wai project is scheduled to begin on Monday, and work will take place in phases, a couple of blocks at a time.
"As they work on one little area, the rest of the parking is still open," Costa said. "It's a matter of hopscotching from one build-out area to another."
Costa said the city is going to "get in and get out in five months and get that project under way and work as quickly as we can so there would be as little inconvenience to the traveling public as possible. ... In the end, there will be more parking."
The city is planning to open two municipal lots in Waikiki in response to the outcry about parking.
City & County of Honolulu
www.co.honolulu.hi.us