Residents vocal in 'Stairway' standoff
By Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser Windward O'ahu Writer
KANE'OHE — Rae Leong says closing the Ha'iku Stairs permanently is the only way to stop hikers from abusing her neighborhood. John Goody believes the popular hiking trail is a natural treasure that must be reopened to the public.
They were among 80 people at a community meeting last night over the route, also known as the Stairway to Heaven.
The highlight of the meeting at Windward Community College was testimony about hikers' behavior and a videotape that documented illegal and lewd activities, including hikers climbing fences marked with No Trespassing signs and "mooning" a neighbor who took the video.
The meeting was called by Rep. Ken Ito to give state officials a chance to hear first-hand about residents' concerns, who are upset when hikers trespass, block driveways and leave trash when they hike to the stairs.
Resident Carleen Yokotake brought a petition signed by 100 residents in the Hokulele subdivision that called to "shut down the stairs completely if trespassing violations do not disappear."
Whoever is responsible should completely block access to the stairs through Hokulele and the community near Ha'iku Road, post security guards at trespassing spots and prosecute trespassers, Yokotake said.
The communities' well-being is at stake when 400 to 500 hikers descend on the neighborhoods on weekends to climb the stairs, she said. Hikers have trashed the neighborhoods, sworn at residents, walked through people's yards with total disrespect for the community, Yokotake said.
Leong, a Hokulele resident, said before the meeting that the community was unwilling to take the abuse from the hikers any longer and only one solution could stop that.
"Initially we were trying to meet the city halfway," Leong said. "Now we're asking to shut it down permanently."
Compromise sought
But the Friends of Ha'iku Stairs believes a solution can be worked out that will satisfy both residents and hikers. The solution would not include closing the stairs, which the city spent $875,000 to repair last year, said Goody, president of the Friends.
"The Ha'iku Stairs are a unique and valued part of the Kane'ohe community and have been for nearly 60 years," Goody said before the meeting. "In the 1980s the stairs were legally climbed by up to 20,000 people a year at complete peace with the surrounding community. We can do that again with proper access."
Others called for solutions short of closing the stairs, but said they do not want access given through their community.
Hikers warned that closing the stairs wouldn't resolve anything because people would still trespass to go there.
Access problems remain
The Ha'iku Stairs were built by the Navy in 1942 to reach equipment 2,800 feet up the Ko'olau Range. The 3,922-step metal stairway was closed in 1987 after vandals removed several sections, making it unsafe to climb.
Once the stairs were repaired, reopening stalled over parking and access issues, and liability concerns after a 2002 Circuit Court ruling that found the state liable for deaths at a 1999 Sacred Falls rockslide because of poor signage.
New warning and educational signs have been installed, but access has yet to be resolved.
The city is negotiating access and parking with Hope Chapel Kane'ohe, but even that solution has problems, Leong said. The city was to get 50 parking stalls, but residents said that as many as 400 a day climb the stairs on weekends and the number of stalls is inadequate.
Aaron Lowe, trails and access specialist with the Department of Land and Natural Resources, said closure is difficult and compromise is possible. One possibility would be to make the stairs a concession that pays for its maintenance, Lowe said.
"If you have revenues coming in it helps all these problems," he said.
Micah Kane, director for the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, said the department could provide access to the stairs across land it owns in Ha'iku Valley, but wouldn't until residents' concerns were resolved.
Ito, D-48th (Kane'ohe), said he wanted the new directors of DHHL and the departments of Transportation and Land and Natural Resources to hear the residents and "take it back, digest all the concerns and come up with a win-win for everybody."
If all else fails, Ito said he would introduce a bill outlining a solution to the Legislature next year.
Attending the meeting were House Speaker Calvin Say, D-20th (St. Louis Heights, Palolo, Wilhelmina Rise); Sen. Melodie Aduja, D-23rd (Kane'ohe, Kahuku); Kane; Kane's deputy, Ben Henderson; Scott Ishikawa, spokesman for the Department of Transportation; and Lowe.
There was no representative from the city, which owns the stairs.
Reach Eloise Aguiar at eaguiar@honoluluadvertiser.com or 234-5266.
