Fort Street Mall getting ready for customers
By James Gonser
Advertiser Urban Honolulu Writer
More than a year ago, the city's removal of public benches on Fort Street Mall signaled the start of changes for the students, homeless people and business community whose lives and work center around the mall. Now more benches have been taken away, some expected to be replaced quickly, but officials say the change signifies the next phase of redevelopment, not an effort to force out the homeless population.
Photos by Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser
Now that the basics are being taken care of at Fort Street Mall — increased security, improved clean-up activity and enforcement of rules — the area is about to enter a new phase intended to draw customers. Plans include public concerts, art shows and outdoor restaurant seating, according to Chris Nakashima-Heise, president of the nonprofit Fort Street Mall Business Improvement District.
The new benches the city installed at Fort Street Mall near Wilcox Park are built with metal bars in the middle to prevent people from lying down on them.
Mall planters have been removed as improvements continue, and shows are being planned to draw customers.
"We are moving in that direction," said Nakashima-Heise. "It's a little slow because it's been difficult to get all our resources together and coordinate with the city, but we are getting some things done."
The first concert on the mall will be the Royal Hawaiian Band, which will perform next month in conjunction with the grand opening of Namea Hawai'i book store on Merchant Street.
If the timing works out, the event also will celebrate the unveiling of the renovated Pioneer Plaza lobby just across the mall, Nakashima-Heise said.
The city recently removed several benches near Wilcox Park and replaced only two — both with metal arm rests in the center that will keep anyone from stretching out. The park area along King Street has been frequented by homeless people.
Nearby, the Executive Center also removed its outside benches near the Ross Store entrance this week, and public seating used primarily by bus riders was removed along Hotel Street because of damaged tile.
Ben Lee, city managing director, said all but two of the city benches near the park will be replaced.
Lynne Matusow, chairwoman of the Downtown Neighborhood Board, said elderly residents complain to the board regularly that there is no place for them to sit on the mall.
"They walk from Kukui Plaza down Fort Street Mall to the bank and back and there is nowhere they can rest. It's nuts," Matusow said.
If more benches are permanently removed it will exacerbate the problem, she said.
"The reality is there is a group of people who stay in the mall all day long," Nakashima-Heise said. "They are not part of the business community, they don't rent space, they don't shop, they don't eat at the restaurants. They just hang out as their social setting. We deal with them every day, and they are mostly the source of our complaints."
The business improvement district began operations in November providing security officers and a full-time caretaker. The designation allows the landowners to essentially tax themselves and use the money to beautify the mall while increasing security in hopes of drawing more customers. The association has gathered more than $300,000 toward the effort so far.
Since the association began, the mall is cleaner, business is better and complaints about crime are down, Nakashima-Heise said. The association plans to provide outdoor tables and chairs for the exclusive use of restaurant patrons.
"We are trying to do that," Nakashima-Heise said. "It's an ordinance thing. If we didn't have to pay attention to the law we could just get it out there. We're working on finding ways to get properly licensed and permitted to do that."
Lee said the city corporation counsel is looking into the legality of allowing a private business to place tables and chairs on the public mall.
The city recently replaced all the concrete trash containers with new metal ones, but budget cuts have reduced the popular power washing of the mall from weekly to monthly and now quarterly. The association just purchased a $15,000 "green machine" to clean and scrub the mall, picking up the slack in city maintenance caused by budget cuts.
"We are going to continue to clean the mall, prune the trees and work with the BID," Lee said. "But it's not sidewalk sales that is going to revitalize the mall. It is giving people things to do like providing a concert on Friday afternoons or outdoor dining."
The mall is owned by the city and operated under rules similar to a public park — no drinking alcohol, and no animals, bicycling, camping, littering, skateboarding, vehicles or feeding the birds. The mall is closed from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. daily.
Nakashima-Heise said the goal is to enforce rules on the mall and enhance business.
"Our policy for the homeless people on the mall has been to treat them as fairly and equally as everybody else," she said. "Anybody who breaks the rules will be asked to stop or move. We are not targeting anyone."
