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Mayor Kirk Caldwell on Wednesday hailed the completion of key renovations at Ala Moana Regional Park and took aim at critics of his park plans. Read more

Mayor Kirk Caldwell on Thursday hailed the completion of key renovations at Ala Moana Regional Park and took aim at critics of his far-ranging master plan for Oahu’s most popular recreational stop, calling the critics “a very small group of people.”

But Caldwell also gave mixed signals when asked about the status of two of the most controversial parts of his renovation plan: a dog park and a privately funded “inclusive” playground. The Honolulu City Council recently adopted a resolution calling on the administration to retain the existing areas as much as possible and to hold off on the dog park and playground.

Caldwell said the resolutions do not carry the force of law and that his administration would follow only what is legally binding by ordinance. But the mayor, whose term ends at the end of 2020, also hinted he might leave it up to future mayors and Council members to decide whether to move forward with some master plan improvements as outlined in the park’s recently completed final environmental impact statement.

“We call (Ala Moana) the people’s park because it has 4 million visit the beach alone every year,” Caldwell told reporters. “And for decades and decades and decades, mayors and City Councils have come and gone and neglected this park. They’ve done some of the basic stuff … cut the grass when need be … emptied the trash cans when they overflowed, dealt with very oogie kind of bathrooms, but basically didn’t put in a lot of care and love.”

Caldwell spoke to reporters in front of the recently renovated Ewa bathhouse structure. Starcom Builders Inc., through an $883,000 contract, replaced the structure’s roofing and gutter system, installed new bathroom fixtures and skylights to improve natural lighting, added gates and screens as well as a new water fountain, and conducted extensive exterior painting and repairs, and re-tiled and cleaned the interior.

Bathhouse improvements on the Diamond Head end of the park were completed in May 2018.

Repaving of the entire length of Ala Moana Park Drive, at a cost of just over $1 million, is expected to be completed soon, while installation of a new air-conditioning system in McCoy Pavilion will be done in the winter.

“We are repaving a road that hasn’t been paved in a very, very long time,” Caldwell said.

The mayor said opponents to his master plan have wrongly criticized him of tearing down trees when he’s in the process of planting 96 new trees, including 42 monkeypods along Ala Moana Boulevard. Opponents have also complained that he’s planted trees on the makai side of Ala Moana Park Drive “because they’re saying, ‘Where you planted the tree is where I park my car every single day.’”

A “very small group of people” has raised objections to the improvements because they only want what suits their needs. “‘While it’s the people’s park, it’s not for all the people; it’s just for some of the people, and we’re those people,’” Caldwell said. “This park is for everybody.”

Sharlene Chun-Lum, of the group Save Ala Moana Beach Park Hui, disagreed that most people back some of the more controversial proposed improvements. Her group collected 1,700 signatures in three weeks for a petition that opposed a dog park, a makai shared-use path, perpendicular parking, sand nourishment and the playground, she said.

A majority of the letters to the editor also appear to oppose the playground, Chun-Lum said.

Additionally, Councilman Tommy Waters said at a recent Council meeting that everyone he’s spoken to about the park appears to oppose the playground.

Chun-Lum said the bathhouse and road repaving projects account for only a small amount compared with the additional $133 million for 17 projects that Caldwell wants to spend at the park.

Caldwell stressed that “an EIS is not a decision-making document; it’s an impacts document.

Ultimately, which projects move forward “comes down to money,” the mayor said. “As we go forward, we’ll see which ones we do and won’t do. But the EIS gives us the ability to do a lot of things.”

In May the Council voted 8-0 to approve Resolution 19-92, urging the administration to reconsider the makai pathway widening, the dog park, the playground and sand replenishment with additional material from nearby shorelines.

Asked whether his administration would abide by the sentiments of the resolution, Caldwell said, “We are going to make sure we follow any ordinances that are enacted.”

As for Council resolutions, “They pass a lot of resolutions. I pay attention to them. It doesn’t mean they have the force of law or that we’ll comply with any resolutions passed.”

Caldwell said once a 60-day comment and challenge period of the final EIS is completed, he will need to sit down with Council members and the community on which portions of the plan move forward. “After that we’ll proceed … looking at what the impacts are, looking at the money we have and looking at the time we have, which ones can we do and which ones do we leave for someone else to undertake.”

The mayor also disputed the contention that the city, under his direction, has concentrated on fixing up parks in urban Honolulu. “We’re everywhere on this island taking care of parks that have been neglected because if we’re going to look better, we need to have our parks up to standard.”

He noted recent projects being undertaken at Oneula Beach Park in Ewa Beach and Haleiwa Beach Park on the North Shore. To say the city is neglecting other areas of the island “is a misstatement of fact that is incorrect,” Caldwell said.

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly listed Wednesday as the day when Mayor Kirk Caldwell held his press conference on Ala Moana Regional Park. The press conference took place Thursday.