Dateline

Ala Wai dredging over after 14 months

WAIKIKI, Oct. 8, 2003 -- Ala Wai Canal dredging is finally over. The $7.4 million job was the first time in 25 years that the canal dividing Waikiki from the rest of Honolulu had been dredged. Deepening the canal was expected to help control flooding, reduce pollution and improve water quality and recreational uses.

A total of 185,801 cubic yards of accumulated muck have been scooped off the canal bottom since August 2002. Most of it was taken by barge and disposed of at an Environmental Protection Agency-approved deep-ocean site.

A final 1,650 cubic yards were mixed with cement and buried in a 130-square-foot, 3 1/2-foot-deep lined hole adjacent to the runway. Soil will cover it and airport emergency vehicles may occasionally drive on it, said Eric Hirano, engineering chief for the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.

That material was given different treatment because it didn't meet EPA qualifications for ocean disposal.

American Marine Corp. did the work under contract with the state and  has asked the state for additional payment because of down time this summer while waiting for permits regarding material from the Kapahulu end of the canal. The state plans to deny the request. http://starbulletin.com/2003/10/08/news/index2.html

Real estate hui purchases Waikiki properties

WAIKIKI, August 11 -- The Shidler Group, Watumull Properties and Bill Mills Development Co. partnered to acquire for approximately $10.6 million retail properties at 2150 Kalakaua Ave.

The site consist three retail properties totaling 11,000 square feet on Kalakaua Avenue and four parcels, totaling 21,000 square feet, on Lauula Street, which is currently being used as a parking lot. The Kalakaua properties once housed Kyotaru restaurant; its parent company went bankrupt several years ago and the property has been vacant since.

http://pacific.bizjournals.com/pacific/stories/2003/08/11/daily60.html

Marc Resorts renovates four Oahu properties

WAIKIKI, August 4 -- Marc Resorts Hawaii will spend $4 million to renovate four of the properties it manages on Oahu. The upgrades have started at the Diamond Head Beach Hotel, Island Colony-A Marc Suite, Marc Suites Waikiki and Waikiki Royal Suites.

The renovations are expected to be complete in 2004. Most of the $4 million will go toward two hotels. Diamond Head Beach Hotel will complete a $1 million exterior renovation in October and Island Colony will complete a $2 million renovation in spring 2004.

http://www.bizjournals.com/pacific/stories/2003/08/04/daily85.html

Police start riding Waikiki buses

WAIKIKI, July 16 – For the first time in memory, police officers in Waikiki have begun riding TheBus to stop pickpockets, discourage vandalism and keep passengers safe.

The number of city bus riders in Waikiki increases during the summer as more tourists and residents travel to and from the state's top visitor destination, but along with more people comes more crime, police say. Waikiki is second out of the eight Honolulu police districts in overall number of thefts. Just fewer than 20,000 live in Waikiki and another 30,000 workers and 87,000 tourists use the area every day.

"We've had problems with pickpockets on city buses," said officer Leland Cadoy, coordinator for the Waikiki Community Area of Responsibility. "We found out the times when incidents are occurring and started putting officers from the bike detail on the bus."

"Criminals are looking for an opportunity," Nitta said. "Sometimes people sleep on the bus or they are busy doing something or have some kind of distraction that might open that door of opportunity."

Ten officers from the bike patrol are part of the program, which was launched about a month ago. The uniformed officers put their bicycles on the bus racks before boarding, but so far haven't made any arrests. That is expected to change once plainclothes officers begin taking the routes, Nitta said.

Using uniformed and then plainclothes officers will keep the criminals guessing, Cadoy said. "We want to do something active," he said. "We want to make an arrest on the bus. The goal is to let criminals think we are on all the buses and keep them off."
Nitta said the program will likely only be used during the busy summer months.

http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2003/Jul/16/ln/ln11a.html

Waikiki park takes another step forward

WAIKIKI, July 8 -- The city has taken possession of a property which could become the first city park in residential Waikiki. The action comes after years of planning and a grassroots effort by residents.

In April, the city filed a lawsuit to condemn a vacant 33,000-square-foot property at Seaside Avenue and Aloha Drive, one block mauka of Kuhio Avenue.

Property owner Ernest Nowell, whose plans for a senior facility on the site were rejected by the community, is making a last-ditch effort to keep the property by proposing a smaller senior project and giving free land to the city for a park. But some see this as a ploy to up the price for the property.
William Sweatt, who lives at the nearby Royal Kuhio high-rise, helped collect 700 signatures in a petition drive to stop the apartment building and support the park.

"Within 300 feet of that little park there are 10 condominiums and about 3,500 residents," Sweatt said. "We need open space rather than having another building put in here. There is a need for additional parking. The design they have come up with will provide both."

Waikiki has 20,000 inhabitants in the high-rises, two- and three-story rental buildings and the few remaining single-family homes situated between Kuhio Avenue and Ala Wai Boulevard and from McCully Street to Kapahulu Avenue, but there is not a single public park.

Larger Waikiki is encircled by public places with Kapi'olani and Ala Moana parks on either end, and the beach and Ala Wai canal running the length of both sides.

Eric Crispin, the city director of planning and permitting, is also the facilitator for the Waikiki/Diamond Head Vision district and said the park is just part of the improvements planned for residential Waikiki.

Crispin said an $800,000 vision team project is about to get started to beautify residential streets by placing trees in planter boxes to provide shade, create an environment that is more pedestrian friendly and will help absorb noise.

Other vision projects include building a bath house near the Waikiki Public Library for canoe paddlers and creating a landscaped gateway into Waikiki at Kapahulu Avenue.

The city is also managing the federally financed Waikiki Livable Community Project that focuses on a range of transportation issues concerning residents and businesses: shuttle-bus operations; bicycle and pedestrian uses; access for the disabled, tour buses and delivery trucks; loading zones; and refuse collection.

http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2003/Jul/08/ln/ln30a.html

Ala Wai dredging more than thought

The state’s $7.4 million dredging of the Ala Wai canal has removed 190,690 cubic yards of sediment in 705 trips of a dump scow, far exceeding the predredging estimate. The contract with American Marine called for removal of 170,000 cubic yards of sediment and deepening of the canal to a depth of six to 12 feet.

The contractor used a barge mounted crane and a hydraulic clam basket to dredge the canal. “The project has progressed smoothly,l with few complaints about noise, odor or use of the canal,” said Andrew Monden, chief of the project planning and management branch of the Hawaii state Department of Land and Natural Resources.

The project is currently on hold pending approvals to remove sediment from the Kapahulu end of the canal. The material must be treated for pollutants in conformance with EPA standards and will hopefully be used as structural land fill at Honolulu International Airport. Building Industry Magazine, June 2003.

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