Are pretty sidewalks worth it?
By Lee Cataluna
Advertiser Columnist
It's 11 on a weekday morning and there's lots to watch from the window of Saigon's Restaurant on Wai'alae Avenue.
The sidewalk is in rubble, and city work crews are attending to about 10 things at once. There's one guy about 8 feet in a hole and three guys on the street handing him stuff.
Another group gathers around a backhoe. Every so often a worker will stop to hoist a cooler over his head to take a drink of water. This alone is a feat of strength and coordination — holding the heavy cooler with one hand, working the spout with the other and aiming so as to avoid the always-embarrassing shot of water up the nose.
They're busy tearing up the place. It's noisy, messy, sweaty work.
But is it necessary?
This first phase of the $1.9 million city project is meant to make Wai'alae between 11th and Koko Head avenues more "pedestrian-friendly." The sidewalks will be wider, some utility wires will be buried and there will be landscaping along the street.
At the moment the sidewalk isn't "pedestrian-friendly" at all, yet a steady stream of pedestrians is braving the treacherous terrain.
A police officer directs a woman in wedge heels and shorts around a truck, onto the street, past a hole and over a metal plank to the relative safety of the chewed-up sidewalk.
A mail carrier pushes a hand truck loaded with 15 boxes up the broken sidewalk, navigating the piles and patches and pukas like a stunt driver. He catches my look of admiration and laughs. "It's not that bad," he tells me.
A tiny, frail obachan teeters past the construction site clutching the collar of her sweater with one hand and holding her big white purse with the other. She's headed to Bank of Hawaii with a determined look in her eye.
The point is, pretty sidewalks are great, but they're not necessary. Folks are making do with no usable sidewalks at all.
Sure, Wai'alae Avenue could use sprucing up, but the obvious, pressing need is for affordable parking.
The chai latte at Coffee Talk is divine, but if you circle the block five times and still can't find a spot, the hassle overrides the 'ono.
Big City Diner is one of the friendliest places in town, but it's hard to enjoy your kimchi fried rice when you're worried about having to feed the meter on the other end of the parking lot twice before your meal is pau.
Sure, you can park in the lot behind 3660 On The Rise, but three bucks is a lot to pay if you're just buying manapua at Kwong On or picking up a lemon grass chicken sandwich at Saigon's.
Of course, this is something the Kaimuki business community has been saying for years. Although Wai'alae Avenue will soon be prettier, it's frustrating when a pretty project comes before a truly useful one.
Lee Cataluna's column runs Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at 535-8172 or lcataluna@honoluluadvertiser.com
