2016-09-28 BDHRA Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

INOUYE: Okay. I will move on. The automobile circulation, the way it’s under projection is okay, but what about the blighted Banyan Drive street thoroughfare from Ken’s to Suisan itself? The thoroughfare from start to ending is a disgrace. It is where the blight starts and ends on Banyan Drive area peninsula. It is not the buildings causing the blight per se as such; it’s the evasive growth underdrive. The blighted Banyan Drive entrance begins near Ken’s Pancake House. The beautiful royal palm trees lining the streets are highlighted by the unkempt, uncut grass, fronds always on the ground, weeds and evasive trees and other growth on the golf course side of the road, as well as rubbish. As you drive along, the blight continues because of all the banyan trees have evasive growth throughout their branches. These trees all need an arbonist \[sic\] to clean them up, to show their beauty and majestic growth. The golf course beautiful greens are all blocked and hidden from view by all the evasive trees, weeds, and growth as one drives from one end of the drive to the other. Never mind the rubbish or the broken fences. Next one. I have a picture of beloved banyans. To me this is one of the most important features that needs to be handled. Each banyan tree and their legacy on Banyan Drive peninsula must be treated and protected in the same way as buildings on the national register program for historic buildings. How many banyan trees are to be removed because of the redevelopment plan? Is there no need to have any of these trees removed? A plan must be formulated to provide maintenance and promote the legacy for each and every banyan tree on the peninsula. This would include a brochure and a guide to where the location of each tree has been planted by the dignitary. The trees must be attended to by an arborist, which will remove all the evasive growth which will reveal the true beauty and majestic growth of each tree. How can this program be promoted and continued for eternity? That’s a good question. Do you know where is Babe Ruth, Amelia Earhart, President Franklin Roosevelt, President Richard Nixon, Princess Kawānanakoa, Louis Armstrong, or many more dignitary banyan trees are located? The next item which I have that I would like to bring out is the pedestrian circulation. We need a walk-the-walk path on the entire ocean front. In other words, this would‒‒should be on the entire ocean front perimeter in front of all the hotels and our parks on Banyan Drive. You can walk the entire length of Waikīkī Beach and in front of all the hotels, and why not here on Banyan Drive peninsula? Coconut Island bridge is used every day to get to the Coconut Island by tourists and certainly this walk-the-walk path will be used by tourists as well as local visitors as well. To me this will be a beautiful walk to take with the view of all the shoreline, oceanfront, some turtles, sailboats, tugboats, the cruise ships, canoe teams practicing, stand up paddlers, especially a view of the hotels as well. Why not a walk-the-walk path? The next item, which is my final item, which might hit some people in the gut; this is concerning the community and cultural center. To me it should not be constructed for many reasons. It is being built primarily for the community use and will not help to any great degree to help increase the occupancy rate of hotels on Banyan Drive. The cultural Page 3 of 19 Banyan Drive Hawai‘i Redevelopment Agency September 28, 2016, Minutes