Woman's efforts at park pay off

By Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser Windward O'ahu Writer

KAILUA — Ann-Marie Medeiros used to accompany her 2-year-old son and his 82-year-old great-grandmother to Pohakupu Park where she would watch the pair swing together.

Castle Medical Center president Robert Walker visits with Ann-Marie Medeiros, who worked hard to get new swings for Pohakupu Park, and her son. The medical center pitched in $1,000 to help pay for new swings. Ann-Marie Medeiros

Medeiros figured that the swings would be replaced, but learned that the city had no plans to do so.

"It was like stealing from the kids," said Medeiros, 33.

So she embarked on a campaign to raise the money for new swings herself. After writing an opinion article about the situation and receiving phone calls of support following its publication in The Advertiser, she made dozens of calls asking everyone she could think of for help. She also took the issue to the Kailua Neighborhood Board, which backed a resolution to return the swings to the park.

In three months Medeiros had managed to line up $2,200 and an array of free materials and services toward the $30,000 project.

Then she got the news she had been hoping for, delivered in person last week by Terrence George with the Harold K.L. Castle Foundation, who found Medeiros at Pohakupu Park.

George told Medeiros that the foundation had approved her $30,000 grant request to replace the swing set and she should get the money by the end of the year.

"I asked him, 'Where is your Santa hat?' " Medeiros said. "I was elated."

Upon asking why the swings were removed, she was told that the action followed a complaint and that the swing set was indeed unsafe: The swings were too close to each other, the supporting poles and the trees, and had a grass surface underneath instead of an approved padded surface that guards against head injuries in the event of a fall.

She felt that a park as heavily used as Pohakupu should have swings, but wherever she turned — whether it was her City Council representative or Mayor Jeremy Harris on his radio show — she was told the same thing: There was no money for swings.

Since 1999 the city has been on a drive to remove unsafe play equipment and install new ones, said Carol Costa, city spokeswoman. The Department of Parks and Recreation has spent almost $8 million to install play apparatuses in 111 parks throughout O'ahu. The emphasis has been on an apparatus that offers 15 different activities for children, Costa said. The equipment includes resilient playing surfaces and disabled-accessible pathways, with each project costing from under $100,000 to as much as $125,000.

Once these playgrounds are all installed the city may consider installing swings, Costa said.

The closest Medeiros came to getting a commitment was through City Councilwoman Barbara Marshall, who told her that something might be considered to be built in 2007 if she could collect 150 signature on a petition, Medeiros said.

But when she returned with 330 signatures, Medeiros said she was advised to seek private financing.

Marshall said she told Medeiros to seek outside help if she wanted the project done right away.

So Medeiros did.

Castle Medical Center and Rotary Club of Windward Oahu were the first to pitch in — $1,000 each — with a promise for promotional help from Castle and labor from the Rotary Club, Medeiros said. An additional $200 came from McKenna Motors Hawaii.

Others promised architecture service, building material, machinery, refreshments and construction supervision.

Also joining Medeiros as part of the core committee for the swing project are representatives from the city parks department, Ameron Hawaii, Hardware Hawaii, MOMS Club of Windward Oahu, Pohakupu-Kukanono Community Association, The Mechler Corp., Westcon Microtunneling, Aloha Playgrounds, Rep. David Pendleton's office and the Harold K.L. Castle Foundation, she said.

Steve Mechler, a landscape architect, said he was asked to join because of his involvement with the Kailua Vision Team's work at the park. He'll provide a "pretty picture" of the project, and another consultant will design the equipment and surface under it.

Aloha Playgrounds will donate plans and construction supervision, said Ian Ross, general manager for the company. The project calls for a four-seat swing set: two bucket seats for toddlers and two for older children.

Since the city also plans to remove a 25-foot metal "dinosaur" play apparatus from the park, the committee decided to replace it with some kind of overhead ladder or chin-up bar, Ross said. A bench and landscaping is included in the plan.

The city balks at installing swings because of the cost of the rubber surface required beneath them, he said. A rubber surface for a four-seat swing would cost about $15,000; that same amount of rubber surface could accommodate play equipment for 25 children, Ross said.

Once the swings are installed, the city will take possession and maintain them, Medeiros said.

Despite the donations received so far, the committee is accepting others to offset any unforeseen expenses. If more is collected than needed, the money will be used to further improve the park.

Robert Walker, president of Castle Medical Center, said the hospital donated the metal dinosaur to the community years ago and is committed to having a nice play area for children.

"Having grandchildren of my own, I understand the importance of play," Walker said. "That's their work — to play."

Reach Eloise Aguiar at eaguiar@honoluluadvertiser.com or 234-5266.