WAIKIKI, Oahu (KHON2) — Community members in Waikiki are hoping to reinvigorate Kuhio Beach Park into a world-class centerpiece of the islands.
The Waikiki Business Improvement District has a plan to do just that, and it will not be on the taxpayers’ dime.
The WBID president told KHON2 that there are trouble spots around Kuhio Beach Park that have attracted crime, drug use and homelessness for years.
“And these tables behind me have been a huge source of a lot of those issues,” said WBID president Trevor Abarzua. “A lot of arrests happen here, a lot of vagrancy type crimes. So what can we do to add positive activation?”
Some ideas include creating a children’s playground or a beachside workout area — or even a picturesque sign for folks from around the world to take advantage of.
It is part of a plan of deterring crime through environmental design.
“That’s a kind of a nice way to say ‘Build things that are not conducive to criminal behavior, criminal activity,’” said Waikiki Neighborhood Board Subdistrict 1 chair Jeffrey Merz. “Doesn’t mean you’re not going to provide seating or you’re going to make it so people can’t sit down, but you create facilities that invite everyone to the area, not just the criminal element, to sit down and stay there all day.”
The bulk of the money for the project would go into replacing palm tree mounds with resort-quality turf in the effort to turn Kuhio Beach Park into a world-class destination and local community hub.
“If you have dead grass, then, if you have graffiti, it’s going to attract a certain type of behavior. If you have world-class turf, if you have no graffiti, if you have beautiful activation, you have activities for people to do, then that’s going to add positive activation,” Abarzua said.
Some grass along Kuhio Beach Park and in Waikiki has already been replaced with artificial turf, and the WBID wants to expand to include all of Kuhio.
A major selling point is that taxpayers are off the hook for the cost.
“A few years back, the City Council approved the building permit for Hilton Grand Vacations, and as a condition of their certificate of occupancy, they are to provide $1 million in a community benefit package,” Honolulu City Council chair Tommy Waters said.
The proposal was presented at the Waikiki Neighborhood Board meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 14. Click here for more information on contacting members to submit community input on the proposal through the Neighborhood Board.