SMA 2.2.24 - One-Acre Playground Private-Public Funded

Build a Playground (aka One-acre “World Class” playground) (SMA 2.2.14)
  • Playground location and design was determined in private meeting between the Mayor and “nonprofit”. The Public has been excluded from decisions affecting them.  No other bidders or designs considered.
  • Turning over one acre of Public land for private purpose sets a precedent. Much of the park is already occupied by structures or artificial aesthetic features like ponds, lagoons, parking lots, tennis courts, McCoy Pavilion, the Lawn bowling green, volley ball courts, exercise spaces, concessions, bathrooms, roadways, sidewalks, etc.   Will other space in park be labeled  “underutilized” and offered to other private interests?
  • Loss of open green space used by other park goers on a daily basis is significant. Playground will reduce “permit use” space (Zone 8 and 9) for special events like birthday parties, reunions, annual gathering effects families, clubs, schools, etc.  People count on the large spaces to stage their events.  Heavy use of these areas is documented. 
  • Maintaining the nonprofit’s “gift” will far outweigh the cost to build the Playground. The Nonprofit wants the right to manage but not maintain the playground, against rules stated in the City’s Sponsorship agreement forms. 
  • Nonprofit expects City to hire a vendor who will clean the bathroom every hour. If a vendor cannot be secured will the City be required to provide staff to clean the bathroom once an hour?
  • Who will supervise the children getting on the ziplines? Nonprofit suggests police or rangers will remove people who don’t follow the rules. Who makes up the rules? Will there be a dedicated ranger for the park?
  • Insufficient impact study on sewer with the addition of a bathroom, water feature, and concession. The Park has problems with sewer back up in current bathrooms.  Water in the special water feature will need staff to test more than once daily for health and safety reasons. 
  • Playground equipment will be subjected to salt air, resulting in more maintenance and equipment repair.
  • Maintaining the fence surrounding the playground and lighting at night will increase costs.
  • The nonpermeable surface required to be under the equipment will be nearly the size of a football field and will make the area more likely to flooding during heavy rain or sea level rise.
  • No consideration of impact of 500-person capacity playground on debris entering the ocean and adversely impacting the ecosystem
  • More space may be needed to provide more handicapped parking near to the entrance of the playground.
  • How will the traffic and regular parking be affected with the increase in people in the playground?

 

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Public viewpoints

“World-class beach is already a Playground”

-Lee Cataluna-

“We’re not opposed to that playground being open to everybody. It’s the placement and location of that playground. It’s the scale of that playground. … It has no place in Ala Moana Beach Park.”

-Diane Choy Fujimura-

“The glitzy playground with zip lines and splash pads is simply a terrible fit in a historic beach park prized for its beaches and green open space.

If the condo developers truly intend their grand playground as a gift to all of Oahu’s children, they should be open to working with the city and community to find a more suitable location.

If the only location they’ll accept is a big piece of our most precious public real estate smack dab across the street from their development, it starts to look more like a Trojan horse than a gift.

-David Shapiro-

Consider gift of kids’ park for Kakaako. The developers propose to buy us some equipment, put it on our public land and allow us to use it. A gift with many strings attached is not a gift; it is an obligation.

-Salvatore Lanzilotti-