Park opening to be celebrated
By James Gonser
Advertiser Urban Honolulu Writer
Plans have been finalized for a community celebration to mark the long-awaited opening of the city's Smith-Beretania park, with the event scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday in the park.
Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser
The Rev. David Kauweloa Kaupu, kahu of Kaumakapili Church, will give the blessing, which will be followed by a lion dance performed by the Chinese Physical Culture Association.
After the new city park at the corner of Smith and Beretania streets opened without any fanfare on Oct. 31, the Downtown Neighborhood Board decided to hold a dedication ceremony, using money for the year's meeting refreshments.
Hawaiian Electric Co. and the ARTS at Marks Garage will provide children's activities, including mask making with Auntie Lolo and Clowns of Aloha featuring Rodd Johnson and his balloon creations.
The city agreed to build the park in 1981 as part of an arrangement with Charles A. Pankow Development Corp., which developed Honolulu Tower. After 20 years of postponements and debate, the city broke ground for the $7.6 million park in September 2001.
The park opened unannounced Oct. 31 last year, and when the city decided not to hold a blessing, the Downtown Neighborhood Board voted in December to spend the money intended for the year's meeting refreshments to pay for the event.
The park is surrounded by a wrought-iron fence with locking gates on Beretania and Pauahi streets. It has proved popular with a lunchtime crowd and with families after work and school. Wide concrete paths and several benches are available for park users, and old-style hanging streetlights line the walkway.
• Who: Downtown Neighborhood Board • What: Celebration and blessing for the Smith-Beretania Park • When: 10 a.m. Saturday • Where: At the park at the corner of Smith and Beretania streets • Featuring: Music and children's activities
There is a basketball-volleyball court at one end. An underground parking lot stretches the length of the park.
At a glance
Board chairwoman Lynne Matusow said no speeches are planned because the event is simply to recognize the community effort that went into making the park a reality.
Matusow said the park was more than 20 years in the making and would not have been built without the perseverance of the community.
The park is on the site of the first supervised playground in Honolulu, which opened May 1, 1911, and was operated by the Free Kindergarten and Children's Aid Association. More than 6,000 people now live in high-rises within a two-block radius of the park.
Matusow said the board has invited people who were involved in the struggle to build the park, including former City Council members Tony Narvares, Marilyn Bornhorst, Gary Gill and Jon Yoshimura; former neighborhood board chairs Andrew Rothstein, Linda Martell, Dennis Chun and Burton White; former board members Ibrahim Aoude and Christine Brown; and Joy Wong from People Against Chinatown Evictions.
Matusow said the park is still not finished because the promised children's play apparatus has not been installed.
"Given the number of kids we have playing in there, riding tricycles, we really need the play apparatus," Matusow said.
City Councilman Rod Tam said the money is in the city budget for the apparatus. He said he also will try to provide picnic tables for families to use at the park.
Tam supports the community blessing because the residents worked so hard for the park and a celebration will let everyone in the surrounding area know that the park and the parking lot are open for their use.
"Some people don't even know it's open yet," Tam said. "The parking lot is empty."
Reach James Gonser at jgonser@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2431.
