Unlicensed vendors crowd Chinatown mall
By James Gonser
Advertiser Urban Honolulu Writer
Crowded shops and sidewalks overflowing with fruits, vegetables, meats and herbs are part of Chinatown's shopping experience. But merchants and residents along Kekaulike Mall say the street is so jammed that it's more like a swap meet than a shopping district.
Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser
Every day the area named for the sister of Queen Kapi'olani is filled with shoppers, but in recent years, street vendors — essentially anyone with a basket of produce and a stool to sit on — have proliferated, moving in during the day to hawk their wares.
Street vendors at Kekaulike Mall in Chinatown are generating protests among residents and rent-paying merchants.
Merchants who rent booths in the Kekaulike Market say that is not fair because they pay rent in the building, but customers first must pass rows of vendors selling the same produce and many never make it inside.
Residents complain about the crowds and the noise, which can begin as early as 6 a.m. with unregulated vendors chopping coconuts.
Both groups want to new user guidelines established. Honolulu police will discuss the issue at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Downtown Neighborhood Board meeting.
"The balance for the police department is how far do we enforce peddling laws and still let the flavor of Chinatown remain," Police Maj. Michael Tucker said. "It is something we are currently wrestling with and working with city corporation counsel and the merchants down there."
• Who: Downtown Neighborhood Board • What: Police Maj. Michael Tucker will give a presentation on plans to regulate Kekaulike Mall vendors. • When: 7 p.m. Thursday • Where: Pauahi Recreation Center, 171 N. Pauahi St.
Tucker said city law allows people to sell fresh fruit, flowers and vegetables without a peddling license, but a peddling license is needed to sell other products such as clothing or canned goods. "The idea was, way back when, to not make it difficult for people to sell things like fresh fruit," Tucker said. "Things people use every day."
At a glance
All vendors must have a general excise tax license, and police may start checking for that to limit the number of vendors.
Ben Lee, city managing director, said the administration plans to introduce a bill to the City Council to regulate what is allowed on the mall and to limit street vendors to just those who have shops or rent booths.
"Right now it is unlicensed, unpermitted and they just kind of do anything they want down there," Lee said. "That is not acceptable."
Kris Larssen, resident manager for the City Villa rooming house on Kekaulike, said for her tenants the problem is the noise, as unregulated vendors start chopping coconuts at 6 a.m. every day to sell to tourists as a refreshing drink.
Larssen said there is now a row of merchants along the store fronts, a row where the sidewalk would be and another row down the middle of the street. She would like to see signs and restrictions in the area similar to Fort Street Mall, which is closed at night.
"There should be some guidelines about noise (and) how far into the mall people can set up," Larssen said. "From 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. it is flowing like a parade."
One of Tucker's concerns is access for the handicapped and emergency vehicles.
Kekaulike Street between King and Hotel streets became a pedestrian mall in the late 1990s during city redevelopment of the area.
Paul Ha, a Vietnamese immigrant, buys coconuts and sells on the mall a couple of days a week to supplement his income. Ha said there are enough customers for everyone and he tries to stay to one side of the mall near his brother's shop so he doesn't block traffic.
Eileen Siakkhasone, who runs a produce booth inside Kekaulike Market, said she was forced to hire an additional employee and put produce out on the street because with so much competition few people make it inside the store.
"I don't want a booth outside, but nobody is coming inside," Siakkhasone said. "It is not fair that they don't pay rent and we do. They should go to the swap meet or a flea market, not in front of our store."
