By Lee Cataluna
Advertiser Columnist

The moms stood on the playground behind their strollers.

The park workers peered out from their office windows.

The kids climbed over the play structure, oblivious to the showdown.

"I've never been so upset," said Tracy Hoevel, scooping up her 17-month old daughter

Sydney. "I want to feel comfortable when I come to the park with my child, not like I'm in high school being watched and scolded."

Over the last few months, there have been enough run-ins between the moms — members of the Kailua Mothers Offering Mothers Support Club, a local chapter of the national organization — and the park staff that some of the moms have sworn never to come to the park again.

"I'm done with this park. There are other parks that aren't so crowded and where

I won't have to worry about park nazis telling me all the things I can't do," Hoevel said.

At the heart of the conflict at Kailua District Park is a sign hand-painted on a window of the park office. It's a list of rules for using the brightly colored play structure that's squeezed between classrooms, office space, a pavilion and the pool. It says:

"PLEASE FOR YOUR SAFETY

"Play ground rules

"No — running or ball playing

"No — bicycles, skateboards, razors, wheely shoes, cleats or strollers

"No — food or drinks allowed on green surface"

Nancy Keegan, president of the Kailua Mom's club, asks: "How can you not play with a ball at the park? How can you tell kids not to run?"

The rules are not "official" park rules. That is, they were implemented by park staff without official department approval. But the staff says they only have the children's safety in mind.

It's the rule prohibiting strollers on the rubberized surface of the play structure — and the enforcement of that rule — that has the moms seeing red.

One of the Moms Club members has two children, a 3-year-old and a baby. The older child wanted to swing, so the mom parked the baby in his stroller off to the side of the swing set so she could attend to both children at the same time. A park staffer came out and told her she had to move her stroller off the play area.

"Which one was she supposed to watch?" club member Ann Medeiros asks.

Vicky Burke stopped coming to the park after a similar stroller altercation.

"I had the stroller flush against the wall out of the way and this woman came charging out of the office and said I had to move it. When I refused, she moved my stroller for me. She moved it 3 feet onto grass, where a kid fell into it. We haven't been back here since because they come out and yell at you for miscellaneous offenses," Burke said.

So on the one hand, there's the immovable object, the park staff bureaucracy, and on the other, the unstoppable force of a group of mad moms.

And in between, Wilfred Ho.

Ho is the Windward O'ahu district manager for the city Department of Parks and Recreation.

"We're trying to look at what all the issues are and how they might be addressed in perhaps a more kindly way instead of just hard-and-fast rules," Ho says.

"Staff members generally don't want to have to go out and do these things, and it was only when they became concerned about the mixture of elements that they took the initiative; they felt that this was something that was needed to be done."

Ho says that Kailua District Park is one of the most heavily used parks on the island. The little play area on the padded surface is a particularly congested part of the park where there is sometimes a dangerous mix of big kids, little kids, flying baseballs, fleets of strollers, and glass windows.

"The stampeding herds of buffalo from three Pop Warner teams come storming through," Ho says. "When you first think about tell kids 'no running at a play apparatus,' it seems absurd. But when you dig deeper, there is a rationale."

The strollers probably won't damage the rubberized surface the way a razor scooter or wheelie shoes will, Ho says, but the concern is that they create obstacles that kids could trip over, fall into or land on.

As for the rule prohibiting balls on the playground, Ho says, "It's hard to put signs that say: 'Rubber balls allowed, foam balls allowed, plastic balls allowed, baseballs not allowed, soccer balls not allowed, tennis balls not allowed."

Is there a point where bureaucracy meets discretion?

Ho says it may take building a fence around the play area to keep out the "stampeding herds"; perhaps even creating a stroller parking area with a bench where moms could sit.

"Rules are a tool, like anything else," Ho says, "but there are other options that we may want to consider that are ... ," he pauses, looking for the right word. "Softer."

Lee Cataluna's column runs Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at 535-8172 or lcataluna@honoluluadvertiser.com