Just east of Kaimana Beach, nestled against the southern foothills of Diamond Head on Diamond Head Road, lies Makalei Beach Park–a tiny, tree-adorned recreational space with a seawall along its shoreline. The park has picnic tables, showers, a patch of sandy beach on its ‘ewa end and access to some favorite south-shore surf spots, including Rice Bowl, Tongg’s and Graveyard’s.
Earlier this month, In Defense of Animals, a non-profit animal welfare organization, ranked the Honolulu Zoo third-worst in the nation for elephants. “Everything about the zoo’s antiquated elephant exhibit is wrong,” the organization posted on its Web site.
Regular readers know City Watch as an occasional segment in which we take a look at things around town that are broken (a rotting picnic table, a leaky water pipe, an unmarked trailhead), find out why they haven’t been fixed and let readers know who’s responsible. And if our initial coverage isn’t enough to spring officials into action, we’ll revisit problems over time until they’re resolved.
Honolulu Police have a bit of a reputation for traveling in packs. Anyone who’s ever been pulled over for speeding knows this, as do those of us who find ourselves around Fort Street Mall at breakfast time.
Kapiolani Park is one of our best-used resources on Oahu. But some areas of the sprawling green are a little worse for wear, including nearly a dozen picnic tables, which (as anyone who’s gotten bug-bitten from lying in the grass can tell you) are a necessity for those who like to spend entire days in the park.
McCully swimming pool / A reader recently contacted City Watch inquiring about the situation at the McCully swimming pool. “It’s been like five years already since it closed,” she said.
Waikiki Shell / A reader recently contacted Honolulu Weekly about what he said were missing water fountains at the Waikiki Shell. Without them, he wondered, what option did visitors have but to purchase bottled water–at steep prices– from concessionaires?
Welcome to CityWatch, a new occasional feature designed to help hold public officials accountable for fixing things that aren’t working around Oahu–and to give them credit when they do. Here’s how it works: You let us know when you see something that’s not working.
Given the city’s crumbling infrastructure and rail controversy, it’s hard to believe anyone would want to be the next mayor of Honolulu. But a few do want the job, including the incumbent, Mayor Peter Carlisle, the former Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney who won a 2010 special election to fill the remainder of Mufi Hannemann’s term.
I’d never been to a Honolulu City Council meeting until a few weeks ago. Features, not politics, was my beat.
Victoria Holt Takamine is a kumu hula, a cultural activist and a teacher and has an impeccable pedigree to back up all these titles. Born of an alii family whose kuleana was in Moanalua, she graduated as a hula teacher under the legendary Auntie Maiki Aiu Lake and taught hundreds of students in her own halau (Pua Alii ‘Ilima) and at the University of Hawaii.
On April 25, a state judge dismissed trespassing charges against a Kauai man after finding that he had been exercising traditional native Hawaiian rights hunting wild pigs on private land. Kui Palama, 28, was arrested on Jan.
The city plans to dish out $3.5 million from its Affordable Housing Fund and either purchase or renovate a structure to provide transitional housing for Honolulu’s special needs homeless population. “Our community has invested considerable effort and resources in addressing homelessness,” Mayor Peter Carlisle said in a statement, “but there remains a population whose disabilities or chronic conditions make it difficult for them to participate in traditional shelter programs.” Carlisle is referring to those homeless with mental illnesses, addictions and physical disabilities.
Makaweli Poi faces an uncertain future after its owner, a corporate subsidiary of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) ordered the West Kauai mill to suspend operations May 23. Mona Bernardino, chief operating officer of the corporation, Hiipoi LLC, says the move to shut down Makaweli Poi was prompted mainly by financial concerns.
A resolution adopted by the City Council will solidify an agreement between the City and County of Honolulu and the University of Hawaii Water Resources Research Center (UH-WRRC) to conduct an analysis of impacts from ocean sewer outfalls on the marine environments off of Oahu. The city will pay UH-WRRC as much as $2.5 million for biological and sediment studies in portions between now and June 30, 2017 .
Along with the deep, verdant growth of spring sprouts an unyielding desire to spend more time in the open air. That’s why it should come as no surprise that National Bike Month falls in the sun-drenched time of May.
Of the many letters you publish against rail, how many offer an alternative that won’t send us into further economic demise? Billions of gallons of oil are imported for us from every oil-producing nation on this planet so that we can buy billions of gallons of gasoline.
TheBus is taking a back seat to rail. At the May 3 Downtown Neighborhood Board meeting, an audience member asked city Transportation Director Wayne Yoshioka when we could expect the bus route cancellations and changes to be reversed.
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