Finally! After three decades, a resolution on the Haiku Stairway to Heaven… actually, what we got was a resolution that will possibly lead to a resolution. Yes, once again, the well-known “kick the can down the road” mentality prevailed, as the City’s Water Department (which never should have held jurisdiction over a scenic landmark on/adjacent to city and state property) turned over its operation (ha!) of the Stairway to Heaven to the City of Honolulu- who has carefully avoided dealing with these steps for 33 years- and who now has 18-months to decide what to do! Because three decades of uncertainty and trespassing is apparently not enough…
Yes, after poring over details, we get a poor non-decision… again. 18-months, enough time for the new mayor and new City Council to issue a call for a referendum, form a subcommittee, hire a research group, coordinate a team of ecological experts, ask for more community testimony… and then we’ll see the inevitable lawsuit(s). After that, we’re off to see the wizard! Or head to an appellate court case. It’ll be 2025… with nighttime ninjas still creeping up there in the wee hours for the cool view. The city was going to buy the stairs in 2002- never happened.
The only thing missing from this latest dereliction of duty was that no one’s (yet) suggested installing a telescope on top of the stairs to explore the universe. You cannot make this stuff up. The Board of Water Supply tosses the Stairway to Heaven over to the City of Honolulu- a 3,922 step hot potato. After decades of negotiations, neighborhood complaints, illegal trespassing by thousands, environmental studies, politician site visits, etc., does the City really need 18-months to decide what to do?!
Experiential gazers traipse up the pathway in pre-dawn hours to see a glorious sunrise. Got it. Security cops get there too late, or people figure out a way around them, and taxpayers pay $250,000 annually for private security. Would it be different if people were charged for such a spectacular view, as some are proposing? Frustrated neighbors, tired of their lawns and hoses being used, say scofflaws will avoid paying. “Ho-hum” say those enchanted by this surreal stairway to the stars… until someone falls off, or slips off the rope swing, when we’ll have a legal Haiku Stairway to Bedlam. Local decision-making- an oxymoron far too often.
Think About It…
“Think About It: Ideas And Inspiration For Today’s Hawai`i”, my new book, is now available to order online from Watermark Publishing locally (including FREE shipping) at: https://www.bookshawaii.net and is also available at many local bookstores