City parks director Lester Chang said the fees could range from tournament charges to parking costs. He hopes to take detailed proposals to the City Council and the public by the end of next month.

During his decade in office, former Mayor Jeremy Harris oversaw major park expansion, including the creation of the city's two largest parks — Central O'ahu and Waipi'o soccer. Mayor Mufi Hannemann said paying to maintain the large, popular but pricey parks is a major challenge because the public-private partnerships promised by Harris never happened.

The cost for their maintenance is more than $2.3 million a year. Meanwhile, the mayor is trying to pay for maintenance of all 293 city parks while asking city departments to trim their budgets by 2.5 percent.

"It is a major challenge," Hannemann said.

Some park users say even the big new parks are showing signs of wear and, without proper care, will deteriorate.

Yesterday, more than 200 volunteers pulled weeds at the vast Waipi'o soccer park to help keep up the quality of the 20 fields.

Phil Neddo, director of coaching for the Honolulu Bulls Soccer Club, estimated that 33,000 people play soccer statewide and the number is growing.

Neddo and many members of his team spent their holiday morning waging war on weeds because Waipi'o fields are the best available and his club wants to help keep them that way.

"It's a battle," he said.

Overall, he thinks the city does a good job on maintenance. "Could it be better? Of course, we could have bleachers at every field," he said.

Neddo said he can understand the city wanting park users to help pay the bills for some of these larger parks but wants to see charges assessed across various sports.

"I'm not against paying a fee, but it's got to be fair," Neddo said. "They need to charge all those baseball players. They need to charge the football players."

Courtney Botelho, 14, has been playing soccer since she was 6. The Kamehameha Schools eighth-grader said helping take care of the fields makes sense because "we like to play soccer and this is one of the best fields."

Teammate Aja Lopes, 13, of Waialua High and Intermediate agreed. She said it's much more difficult to play at the older Kapi'olani Park fields where "the ground is hard and dry and they don't cut the grass by the goal."

Ted Baker, who serves on the board of the statewide Hawai'i Youth Soccer Association, hopes the city will first consider event-based fees rather than assessing residents for weekend use.

Baker, who was also out pulling weeds yesterday, said the soccer complex and Central O'ahu Regional Park are impressive community resources. But he also noted that the Harris administration estimated annual maintenance costs of $550,000 while the actual costs now are $750,000 to $850,000.

"It's clear there was not sufficient forethought into how to maintain," Baker said.

That criticism resonates with Hannemann, who raised exactly those concerns as a councilman when Harris was laying out the ambitious plans for the parks.

Hannemann hasn't given up on public-private partnerships but also hopes the city can attract more national and international competitions that can help pay the bills as well as nurture more community support by working with park users.

Baker thinks luring competitions can help. He said state business officials estimated that a 2003 six-day soccer competition generated more than $10 million in revenue.

Chang also is looking to special fees rather than an admission fee to walk into a park.

He believes overall maintenance is adequate. He doesn't expect fees to make the parks self-supporting but said they could help ease the financial drain, especially at the big parks. "There's no way taxpayers can support the high level of field maintenance that park users want," he said.

Today, Chang will see the dedication of the newest jewel at Central O'ahu Regional Park, an impressive aquatic complex complete with diving boards, state-of-the-art scoreboard, locker rooms and even some seating.

He said he expects the first organized event to be a swim meet around the Thanksgiving weekend, with the opening of lap swimming soon after. No private operator has come forward but Chang expects significant community interest in the competition-quality pool.

The pool is located a short distance from a series of baseball and softball fields that already have loyal fans, some willing to pay a little more for the superior quality of the playing fields there. Some senior slow-pitch softball players who play weekly at the sprawling Central O'ahu park said they're willing to pay more, within reason.

Some members of Na Koa Express team stopped to talk over lunch after a game. Ben Kam, of Makakilo, questioned the idea of charging longtime residents to use public parks.

"We've been paying taxes all our lives," Kam said.

But Ronald Medeiros of Kane'ohe remembered when team members spent a lot of time doing the field maintenance themselves so they could play in town at Ala Wai and Cartwright fields.

Keoki Kuamoo of 'Aiea knows that the big parks come with a cost but said they've got real value for residents.

"This is the best thing that Mayor Harris did," Kuamoo said.

Medeiros said his league has talked about possibly paying the city a $20-a-person annual fee to help with maintenance. And he'd prefer paying something to going back to the older fields.

"I would rather come over here," he said.

On the other side of Central O'ahu park, Tom Sugita, chairman of the Honolulu Tennis Advisory Council, has been frustrated by some of the upkeep at the tennis complex.

He finds fault with landscaping marred by bare ground, the planting of shower trees that send debris into the courts and red-dirt buildup on the courts.

"The net posts are rusting," Sugita said. "It's only three years old and it looks like it's 10 years old."

But the city is basically happy with the private contract operator of the complex. Chang said the Hawaii Pacific Tennis Foundation recently caught up with some back rent and is running the facility well.

Kane'ohe residents Gil and Judy Wong like the $10.8 million tennis facility so much, they regularly drive past public courts near their home to go to the park on the other side of the island.

They like the playing surfaces, the professional look, good light and the large number of courts. "It's very clean," Judy Wong said. And on a weekday, "you can play all day."

LEARN MORE

For more information on O'ahu parks, go to www.co.honolulu.hi.us/menu/kamaaina/recreation/index.htm.

Reach Robbie Dingeman at rdingeman@honoluluadvertiser.com.