'Waikiki gateway' plan on hold
By Treena Shapiro
Advertiser Staff Writer
Mayor Jeremy Harris' ambitious but controversial proposal to replace low-rise buildings with a park near the Hawai'i Convention Center has been scuttled because neighboring property owners don't want to sell their land.
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser
And a proposed ordinance that would have eliminated strip clubs and other adult entertainment within a half-mile of the center likely won't be considered until next year — and only if newly elected council members take up the issue.
Seen through windows of the Hawai'i Convention Center are businesses across the street that Mayor Jeremy Harris wanted replaced with a pedestrian-friendly plaza. He also wanted to get rid of the area's many strip clubs.
"We're disappointed, and perhaps the community will come out and pursue such a bill in the future," City Managing Director Ben Lee said last week.
Lee said the city should put an end to the proliferation of strip clubs and hostess bars along streets near the entrance to Waikiki — Kapi'olani, Kalakaua, Atkinson and Ke'eaumoku.
"They have a tendency to cluster together," Lee said. "I don't think it's a good first or last impression that we should have for our visitors."
Harris unveiled plans in April 2001 that included condemning five properties at the corner of Kapi'olani Boulevard, Kalakaua Avenue and Kalauokalani Way — the so-called "gateway to Waikiki" — and tearing down the structures to make way for a plaza.
The City Council approved the project, earmarking $6 million in the 2001-02 budget to acquire the properties, help the businesses move and design the plaza. But after an outcry from the business owners, the council said the project would move forward only if the property owners agreed to sell.
Since then, Lee said, he has not been able to reach an agreement with RSK Lum Trust, which owns the site occupied by the popular strip bar Club Rock-Za, and Ryan Associates, which owns the building that houses Da Hui, an upscale surf shop. Another owner whom Lee declined to name prefers that the city condemn the property.
None of the owners could be reached for comment.
"Because of those two properties — or possibly three properties — that basically do not want to sell, we will not pursue it any further," Lee said. He said he had met with the owners or their attorneys several times to consider alternatives, such as a land exchange.
If not spent, the $6 million will lapse at the end of December, Lee said.
"That's probably what we'll do. We'll lapse the money and not spend it," he said.
City Councilwoman Ann Kobayashi, who chairs the Budget Committee, said she preferred that the money be used for purposes such as maintaining existing parks.
"There's so many other needs, and if we started this condemnation process and put in the park, we also have to look at maintenance money, and we just don't have it," she said.
Kobayashi questioned the purpose of removing small businesses such as strip bars. "It's unfortunate that that's there, but still, it is a legitimate business," she said.
Lee was clearly disappointed the project fell by the wayside.
"It's a shame, because I think it's a great project," he said. "The old and dilapidated buildings need to be demolished ... to provide for more open space."
Arla Moore, assistant manager at Da Hui, said communication with the city ended more than a year ago. "They did show us a plan of what they were expecting to do if they moved us, then they never talked to us again," Moore said.
The plan to improve the Kapi'olani entrance to Waikiki included a proposed ordinance that eventually would have removed all adult entertainment within a half-mile radius of the Convention Center.
The proposal encourages a more pedestrian-friendly environment, with complementary architecture, landscaping and design similar to what has been done in Waikiki. The design guidelines include requirements for lawns and setbacks, landscaping, "streetscape" improvements such as street furniture, light fixtures and sidewalk paving, and roadways.
The area is ripe for redevelopment, Lee said, noting that Kapi- 'olani is one of the few tree-lined streets in the area.
"If there's something in place, we can certainly encourage new businesses and residential apartment buildings to develop along Kapi'olani," he said.
Under the proposed ordinance, strip clubs, hostess bars, adult video and book stores, cabarets and theaters would be required to move out of the district within three years — a provision Lee calls the sticking point of the bill.
John Breinich, chairman of the Ala Moana/Kaka'ako Neighborhood Board, who supports the proposal, said he had not gotten official word that plans to create a special district had stalled. He still hopes the bill passes.
"I think it would be a positive thing for the community to help clean up some of the area," Breinich said. "We have a high concentration of bars, strip clubs and cabarets in that district, and in some cases they're adjacent, one after another on the block."
Breinich said the establishments make it difficult to attract other businesses. And some problems, such as noise and crime, spill into nearby residential areas.
Lee said the administration might eliminate the section of the bill related to the adult establishments, to try to get the council to move on the design aspects.
Councilman Romy Cachola, who headed the Zoning Committee when the bill was discussed in March, said he did not anticipate the special-district issue being revisited before the new council members take office after the November election.
"I guess the bill is still in committee, and any action should be initiated by whoever is the new chairman," Cachola said.
Councilman Jon Yoshimura agreed, saying council members have other priorities before their terms end.
"There's a lot of effort on a lot of people's parts to try to get work done before we leave," he said. "There doesn't seem to be any excitement with those two parts."
Reach Treena Shapiro at tshapiro@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8070.
