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Home My WebLink AboutCOM 0138.027 2000-2002 ~ Apr i 1 3 , 2 0 01 ~ir~e-------- , By-.._~..~.. ~:r. ? ~~~.1 ADDENDUM TO OUR PREVIOUS LET'1"E ~ - Hawai'i County Council and the Department of Parks and Recreation: Please review our previous letter. For your Cori enience we attach a copy. Here are some new observations. On March 26, we again visited Liliuokalani P rk. This day was a holiday, so we could expect more people to be at he park. There were more people, but there were few adults @- lest han a dozen. There Caere perhaps thirty children on bicycles, skate oards and scooters. (There were too many to count while in motion.) ~€a ever, they Caere all on the sidewalks and walkways. None were using L~i~ wai Street. On Sunday an editorial in the Hawaii Tri~la-e-Herald supported keeping the street closed. In this editorial are s me statements which cannot be supported by facts. The editorial uggested that the bayfront highway (which is alsp partly closed for traffic) gives access to view the bay. This is a bit misleading - the view from the bayfront is out to sea, not across the bay, so one cannot see the beautiful reflections at night that we could see rom Lihiwai Street, nor can one see the view of Mauna Kea over the to'6~ by day. Another misleading statement in the editori 1 is that "Lihiwai Street is not really a public street at all so issues of public access don't really apply." With due respect tNO the Tribune-Herald, the statement is blatantly false. It is a part of public park; it is not private property, nor is it restricted ~ rk property, like maintenance sheds or dangerous cliffs. Public a case to our public parks is a valid issue. The only thing differen bout Lihiwai Street is that it is in the juristiction of the ep't of Parks and Recreation, not in that of the Public Works Dep~Y ant. It is still a public street. The editorial's complaint, "Must there be ve i le access to every nook and cranny of Hilo?" is misleading at t e least. We are not talking about opening up a new t°nook and cranny", ut the reopening of a street that has had public vehicular acces or at least eighty years. Why close a road which people have e j yed driving on for decades? The park is quiet. It is a huge park, and the p sing of cars along Lihiwai Street has never been a noise proble We repeat here our observation that fewer people are visiting the a k now than when the street was open to traffic. If the park is c~uie a than in years past it may be simply because fewer people are visit n it. Ts this a good reason to close the street? Our main concern continues to be that of c ess for the handi- capped. On March 26 we read a letter in th ribune-Herald from Comm. No. ~ 3 8 ' ~ 7 File No. ~ Ref. To:^., Cos~~. Nsa, 2 ~ f, APR 3 Adrienne S. Dey, community access monitor for h State of Massachu-~ setts, who stated that "the excellent renova i n of the park was undertaken as a part of a consent agreement a ween the County of Hawaii and a federal judge who has requir d that all parks and recreation facilities be made accessible, far 'n excess of what the ADA [Americans with Disabilities Act] regal e~." Like his. Dey, we are concerned that the County will be in vio a ion of the consent agreement and in contempt of court if it closes t e road permanently. It may therefore be involved in an expensive co r action if the road is not reopened. I~ot only will the county be in o tempt of court, but county officials, including the County Council a d the director of the Department of Parks and Recreation, possibly ma a cited in contempt of court. We do not wish this to happen. We request that Lihiwai Street be reopened to v hicular traffic. Thank you. ~ ~~~~%~~f1~ Roger E. Baldwin A,vl,~,e. ~ . G,+~ Anne E. Baldwin i ~-G~- is ~ - Elizabeth Ni. Baldwin cc. County Council, Dept of Parks and Recrea i n, Hawaii Tribune- Herald. 2 March 20, 2001 Hawaii County Council: The improvements to Lili'uokalani Gardens a e been thoughtfully and beautifully done. It was originally planned t at Lihiwai Street be reopened when the improvements were done. In a t, signs still say that the street is temporarily closed while 'm rovements are being made. Since the work has already been done, it i 1 not cost anything to reopen the street. We respectfully request t a this original plan be carried out so that Lihiwai Street will agai a open to traffic. We have been observing the park for some t'm Before the street was closed the park was frequently being used y so many people that it was impossible to count them. We would see le spreading cloths on the grass and having lunch or dinner there. (T ere were few tables then.) Many people would be walking around the a k. In the past month we have observed the park several times. On wee d'ys we saw perhaps a dozen people in the park, and some of these w re the maintenance crews. On a Sunday there were only about 20 peo 1 in the park. At no time did we see anyone eating, either at the pi n'c tables provided or on the grass. This doesn't mean that nobody eve icnics there, but we did not see anyone doing so, and it certainly s not as common as it was two or three years ago. Lihiwai Street is very accessible for ha c'~ capped people. The sidewalks slope to street level by the handicap p rking spaces and the sidewalks themselves are broad, making it easy o handicapped people to walk or to ride in wheelchairs. However, Lih'w i Street will not be really accessible until and unless the street i opened so cars may park in the handicap spaces. It should be r membered that most handicapped people are restricted by distanc ore than any other factor. This applies to people with arthritis, a rt trouble, balance disorders, and muscular disorders. Thus, if i iwai Street is not open, most handicapped people will not have ac e s to it, regardless of any other accommodations made there. Lihiwai Street, as it passes Lili'uokalani G rdens, is the only place where we can admire the view of Hilo day a we drive along. In the daytime, we have the wonderful view of ou beautiful bay, with Mauna Kea in the background. At night, we can e j y the lights across the bay as they reflect on the water. This is a lly a great tourist attraction, with the kind of view that man visitors expect of Hawaii. People with impaired balance, like n e, and people with impaired night vision, find it impossible to wa k there at night. Many people would hesitate to walk there at night fo afety reasons. This means that for a large number of our people he beautiful views across the bay at night are not available as o g as the street is closed. Many of our visitors would not have t e opportunity to walk along the street, but they could drive by both a ely and easily. We understand that the police would like t e street closed to prevent speeding there. Closing streets does n t stop speeders it simply makes them speed somewhere else. (Aka a Road is a nightly favorite. We live a block away from that road, n we frequently hear the speeders.) Closing would also prevent eas access of emergency vehicles to the park. Closing is not a sol t'on to the speeding problem and it complicates emergency access. If the Council wishes to find out what the p ogle of this County and in Hilo wish regarding this issue, we sug est that a telephone poll be taken. Letters (like this one), inform t've as they might be about issues, are not good indicators of popula references. Until a month or so ago, all indications were that Li i ai Street would be reopened after the park improvements were made. ( igns still say that the street is tem orarily closed.) Therefore, nobody who favored reopening sent any letters because they assume hat reopening would occur. (To support this statement, we ask h many people wrote letters requesting that Komohana Street be reop n d after the November flood. We're sure you agree that opinion was u a imous for reopening Komohana Street.) A much more accurate way to d t rmine public opinion is to run a telephone poll . ( Phone polls ensur reater accuracy and more responses than written polls because many a ple don't bother to answer written ones.) The poll needs only one si le question: "Do you favor reopening of Lihiwai Street by Lili'uokal ni Gardens?" We have had numerous calls and comments s p orting our opinion after we wrote letters to the Council and the a itor of the Hawaii Tribune-Herald in February. We request that Lihiwai Street be reopened t hicular traffic. Thank you. ~'2 R~og-e_r E . Baldwin Anne E. Baldwin Elizabeth M. Baldwin