Small Business News
September 2004 | Online Edition
Construction for the City's BRT System is and will be bad for traffic.
Waikiki Business Owners Protest
City Construction in Tourist Mecca
By Malia Zimmerman, HawaiiReporter
Waikiki residents, who continue their effort to stop the administration of Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris from completing his construction projects now under way in the state's tourist mecca, hosted a town hall forum August 13 at the Waikiki Community Center on 310 Paoakalani Ave. They have invited concerned area residents and other elected officials in addition to Honolulu Mayoral candidates Mufi Hannemann and Duke Bainum.
The group, which sometimes reaches as many as 60 people, has met several times a week over the last few weeks to protest two projects in Waikiki. The first project involves the tearing up of Kuhio Avenue, which is phase one of the city's effort to launch a $1 billion Bus Rapid Transit System through Honolulu; and construction on Ala Wai Boulevard as a part of the mayor's plan to "beautify" the area. The streets represent two of the three main boulevards through the compact community.
Residents say they have multiple concerns about the projects and the way they were managed by the city. There were no public hearings on the projects. There was no environmental impact study done to see how the changes underway would affect the community. The mayor exempted himself from performing an environmental assessment by parceling the project into several pieces. In addition, the Emergency Medical Services, fire and police personnel and bus drivers were not consulted about safety issues relating both to the ongoing construction and the completed projects.
Residents say they want an assessment or the work stopped on the project on the Ala Wai, which at its conclusion will eliminate 60 parking spaces and a lane of traffic and reduce the size of the traffic lanes in addition to creating an unsafe bikeway.
Robert Kessler, who leads the group of concerned citizens and filed for a Temporary Restraining Order with the state court that was heard Aug. 24 before Judge Eden Hifo. He says there needs to be an environmental assessment to determine the viability and long term effects of these major changes.
Kessler's appeal was discussed on Thursday, Aug. 12, 2004, at a state Office of Environmental Quality Control Environmental Council meeting. Supporting Kessler, his group came in force in hopes of rallying the council members to help stop the project on the Ala Wai, which started earlier this week.
Council members said yesterday they are powerless to help because the state Legislature has given them essentially no power to regulate which construction projects can move forward in the state.
But they said they are concerned and wanted to know more about why the city moved forward on the $2.4 million Ala Wai project without an Environmental Impact Assessment and plan to invite city officials to a future meeting to "get their side of the story."
They also plan to forward all of the testimony from yesterday's hearing to the city with a cover letter detailing residents' concerns.
Despite the growing momentum against the construction in Waikiki, city officials have refused to stop either project and in fact have sped up the projects in order to get them completed by the time Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris leaves office at the end of this year.
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