By James J. Bickerton, Esq. and Douglas A. Codiga, Esq.
Contrary to the Harris administration’s assertions, historic preservation laws would not prevent the creation of a memorial beach along the lines proposed by the Kaimana Beach Coalition. Although the Natatorium is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and Hawaii Register of Historic Places, these designations are not the end of the story.
First, it is important to remember that not every registered historic place is preserved forever. In fact, the Harris administration recently demolished 15 buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Properties as part of the Ewa Villages Redevelopment project because the buildings were no longer viable due to economic and health and safety concerns.
Further examples include Tustin, California, where two World War II blimp hangars listed on the National Register were to be demolished despite being among the largest wooden buildings in the world – because the community wanted to develop a regional park. And in Minnesota, demolition of an historic bridge, also listed on the National Register, was planned because traffic had increased and a new bridge was required.
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Despite the Mayor’s assertions, the administration’s current plans are actually an example of “adaptive re-use” because they propose a modified Natatorium with different features than the original. The Harris plan eliminates a tall diving tower and two large reflecting pools, both of which were prominent features of the original site. Due to Department of Health rules, the Harris plan must include a pool with a hard bottom and cleanable sides (rather than the original sandy bottom). The pool must use large motorized pumps to flush water through the pool (rather than rely on the original passive tidal flushing). These changes add up to “adaptive re-use.”
The Kaimana Beach Coalition’s proposal to create a memorial beach by modifying some of the walls of the pool is simply another type of “adaptive re-use.” It is far superior, however, because it will save the community millions of dollars in construction and upkeep, eliminate threats to public health and safety, reduce commercialization, and bring final resolution to the Natatorium issue.
In short, the Kaimana Beach Coalition believes that a memorial beach would be entirely consistent with the letter and spirit of federal and state historic preservation laws, which allow for the “adaptive re-use” of historic properties to accommodate public health and safety concerns, local economic realities, and evolving community needs and values.
Honolulu Star-Bulletin
Rick Bernstein
Last week’s condemnation of the Kaimana Beach Coalition by engineer Steven Baldridge was mercifully muted by self-promotion and unspoken loyalty to Friends of the Natatorium (“With drop-in pool, Natatorium might live to splash another day,” Gathering Place, Aug. 15).
The Kaimana Beach Coalition became involved in the Natatorium issue for good and legitimate reasons.
In 1997, when Mayor Harris announced his intention to renovate the Natatorium and have nightly “hula shows” to help pay for the construction and maintenance costs, we immediately objected. As beach users, we understood the negative effects of forcing commercialization on this already crowded recreational area.
As swimmers, we wondered what effect the water from a slow circulating and high-use swimming pool would have on our health. We soon found out.
STAR-BULLETIN / 1999
Workmen repair the steps at the Waikiki Natatorium in 1999.
Dr. Bruce Anderson, then deputy director of health for the environment and an epidemiologist, shared our concerns. Testifying at the City Council he said he would not grant a Department of Health permit to the Natatorium unless the Harris administration could scientifically assure the water quality of the swimming pool. It was Anderson’s responsibility to protect the public from outbreaks of staph and other infections.
Because of Anderson’s refusal to grant the permit, the City Council was unable to take action and shelved the bill, which would have appropriated $11.5 million for the renovation and the Special Management Permit to proceed with the work. Mayor Harris chaffed mightily.
The person levitra from canada with platelet dysfunction syndrome, hypodynamic instability, sepsis, chronic infection, metabolic and systematic order is not good candidates for proactive chiropractic care. The feeling of making love or sex will definitely drives people tadalafil canadian pharmacy crazy. There is rampant cialis pill cost crime on the internet it does not require a physician prescribed. One should understand the importance of maintaining a cheapest prices for cialis proper hygiene to avoid urinary infection to let happen. Suddenly, there was a phantom “legal opinion” offered by the state attorney general office under pressure from the mayor. The “opinion” stated that “the Natatorium is not a swimming pool,” but something else, and consequently did not need a DOH approval to proceed. Based on this “legal opinion,” the Council quickly appropriated the money and granted the permit.
After Anderson’s public pronouncement, we were extremely concerned about the health of beach users, especially the youngsters and senior citizens who frequent the calm waters next to the Natatorium where discharge from the heavily used and sometimes uncirculated pool waters would discharge.
Attorney Jim Bickerton, a beach user and father of small children, joined us and challenged the “legal opinion” in court. Judge Gail Nakatani ruled that the “legal opinion” was wrong and that the Natatorium was indeed a swimming pool in need of health and safety rules and a permit from the DOH. She ordered an injunction to stop all work until new rules and safety measures were drafted.
The rule-drafting process was difficult because there are no other untreated or unfiltered saltwater swimming pools in the United States. For health reasons, they were all closed and demolished decades ago. There were no existing rules or standards to use as a guide to draft new regulations. Because of this, a committee of water quality experts, scientists and swimming pool experts was assembled to come up with acceptable health standards. This process took two years.
The new rules call for a cleanable, hard-bottom pool instead of the planned sand bottom, which had the potential to build up bacteria. Unlike the planned and unreliable tidal flushing system, electrical pumps are now required to guarantee circulation of the pool water. This is critical to maintain uniform water quality, assuring the safety of swimmers and neighboring ocean users.
Had it not been for the actions of the Kaimana Beach Coalition, these measures would not be in place today.
I urge people to call their City Council member and let them know how you feel about spending another $6 million on the Natatorium, only to have it locked and gated once again.
Rick Bernstein is a member of the Kaimana Beach Coalition.
“He was too polite to say so, but it became very clear that Duke just didn’t want to swim in the Natatorium.”
John Titchen
The Natatorium in 1967, by John Titchen. Used with permission.
In 1967, long-time staff photographer for the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, John Titchen, received a call from the Editor of Sports Illustrated and Titchen was retained to “shoot a photo of Duke swimming in the Natatorium,” ostensibly for the cover of the renowned magazine. Titchen had moved to Honolulu in 1959 and had enjoyed a professional relationship with “the Duke.”
On the morning of the shoot, John picked up the Duke and they drove to Queens surf. John remembers parking by the old Queen’s Surf Nightclub and the two of them walking along the beach to the Ewa end of Natatorium. Titchen said, “Duke was too polite to say so, but even after a lot of subtle encouragement, it became very clear that Duke just didn’t want to swim in the Natatorium. He instead went into water in front of old aquarium and I took some shots of Duke doing a backstroke, and later, several others of him twirling his hair between his fingers as he used to do. Because my assignment had been to photograph Duke in the Natatorium, I sent in my shots but just figured I had probably lost the assignment to another photographer.” But they indeed did use John’s work. He didn’t get the cover, but here is that page from the September, 11, 1967 issue of Sports Illustrated with the John Titchen photo of the Duke.
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Photo by John Titchen. Used with permission.
I asked Titchen what it was like to actually swim in the Natatorium and he related this story: He recalls from the early 1960’s, his wife and two daughters returning home after a day at the Natatorium and the two young girls were crying. “I asked my wife what was the matter and she asked me if I had ever swam there. I actually hadn’t, and so one day I went down to see for myself. Now I’m a fairly good swimmer and it was very foreboding. I couldn’t touch bottom, and what was the most frightening, the water level was too far below the deck and so I couldn’t grab hold of anything. And the water was very dirty and dark. Hawai’i has a tide differential of less than a foot and it’s just not enough to flush it out. It just never worked right.”
I later asked Titchen, a veteran and now over 80, what he thought of the Natatorium as a war memorial. Titchen related, “In 1919, that whole 6.4 acres section of coastline from the William Irwin estate was originally designated as ‘the World I War Memorial Park’ and there was no mention of a swimming pool. The facade and this pool weren’t built until 1927 and it’s been a problem ever since. I maintain that they’re wasting their time because nature is going to take care of it and I just hate to see them spend any more money on it. None of it should have ever been built that close, right in the ocean, in the first place. And the Natatorium pool was a freak from the beginning. As far as the politicians arguing that it’s a hallowed war memorial, I’ve been going to the Natatorium on November 11th, Veteran’s Day, every year since the early 1960’s and the flags have never flown there, even since the recent restoration.” So much for politicians’ talk. Titchen also noted that former Mayors Neil Blaisdell and Frank Fasi both supported tearing the Natatorium completely down. “Anyway, at this point I think it ought to be put on the ballot and let the public decide the fate of the Natatorium. I bet they would vote to demolish it,” Titchen noted.
Incidentally, the 101 names of the World War I Hawai’i casualties are commemorated on a plaque mounted on a large rock facing the Natatorium arch. Titchen notes, “Every November 11th for as long as I have been going, 22 leis are laid on the stone by somebody. I don’t know the significance of the 22.”
Honolulu Advertiser
EDITORIAL
The one thing that can be said with certainty about the Waikiki Natatorium is that no one will be happy with the ultimate solution to this aging, crumbling war memorial.
There are those who would see the Natatorium restored to its 1927 glory as a memorial to those who served in World War I and as a nod to Hawai’i’s impressive aquatic history.
There are those who say the Natatorium has served its time, and the best thing to do is tear it down and restore the beach to its natural condition, as much as that is possible.
The third option would be to maintain the facade of the Natatorium, which is indeed the physical face of the memorial for those who approach from land, while returning to the sea the crumbling pool and other oceanfront facilities.
That third option appears to make the most sense. Efforts to come up with a common-sense solution have, unhappily, been hampered by state-city conflict, delays on rule-making, environmental assessments and the like. And while officials dithered, the structure continued to deteriorate.
There has been some progress. The facade has been restored, and new restrooms and other facilities have been installed.
Typically, it works by preventing the action buy cialis online http://amerikabulteni.com/2016/12/06/amerikan-universitelerinde-ogrencilere-en-cok-okutulan-10-kitap/ of a bodily chemical known as phosphodiesterase type 5. If the drug is taken with a nitrate canada cialis generic medication it can be the cause of fainting, dizziness or in some cases even before the actual intercourse. Symptoms of a heart attack may include chest, shoulder, neck, or jaw pain; numbness of an arm or leg, one-sided weakness, prolonged, painful erection, red, swollen, blistered, or peeling skin, ringing in the ears, seizures, severe or persistent back or generic viagra sildenafil muscle pain, severe or persistent dizziness, severe or persistent vision changes, sudden decrease or loss of hearing, sudden decrease or loss of vision or hearing (sometimes. In addition to the above mentioned therapies, she offers purchase tadalafil india Personal Transformation Intensive (PTI) Workshops, Psycho Educational Workshops, Dream Therapy, Breath Work and Breath Therapy etc. But continued structural damage to the pool and surrounding structures makes it increasingly difficult to conclude the entire facility can be saved.
Now, there’s a proposal to spend some $6 million not to restore the pool but simply to stop the process of deterioration under way. Getting to the point where the pool is once again safe for swimming would cost millions more and would pose substantial engineering challenges.
There is no wrong and no right in this matter. Surely we would wish to preserve the Natatorium as originally built in deference to those it was meant to honor.
But it is equally clear that those who are honored by the Natatorium would not accept pouring good money after bad in an effort to save that which may not be salvageable.
We have long argued that the best of a bad situation would be to preserve the memorial arch that is the face of the Natatorium as one approaches the beach. Beyond that, options include filling in the one-time swimming pool as a beachfront volleyball venue or — perhaps most sensibly — restoring the beach to its original condition, including the construction of new seawalls to protect the facade and adjoining Kaimana Beach.
That would be a form of “adaptive reuse,” a concept often used to preserve historic structures once their original purpose has been lost.
Since the Natatorium was erected, scores of swimming pools have been built in Hawai’i, many of Olympic quality. The need for venues where people can swim with dreams of matching the late, great Duke Kahanamoku has been met.
We now recognize that every inch of beachfront is precious. Why not restore the beachfront there, where every visitor will pass first through an archway that reminds us of the sacrifices of those who fought and died to protect the freedoms we now enjoy?
Honolulu Advertiser
By Gordon Y.K. Pang
Advertiser Capitol Bureau
Most City Council members object to Mayor Jeremy Harris’ $6 million plan to make emergency repairs at the Waikiki War Memorial Natatorium, but whether they have the authority to halt the action remains to be seen.
Mayor Jeremy Harris wants to spend $6 million to fix the natatorium; many City Council members prefer that the administration tear down the pool portion, leaving just the facade that fronts Kalakaua Avenue.
Advertiser library photo
Meanwhile, an attorney for the Kaimana Beach Coalition that has opposed restoration of the structure said he will take the city to court if the council does not stop the mayor.
The Harris administration this week said the structure, built in 1927 to honor World War I veterans from Hawai’i, is so badly deteriorated that emergency repairs are required to shore up the natatorium pool and deck structure. Ignoring the problem, according to two separate engineering reports commissioned by the city, could lead to the collapse of the entire complex.
Six of the nine council members told The Advertiser this week they would prefer the administration tear down the pool portion, leaving simply the famous facade that fronts Kalakaua Avenue.
Budget Chairwoman Ann Kobayashi said she’s prepared to introduce a resolution to that effect. She said that the project proposed by the administration only repairs the walls of the pool and would not include installation of a filter system required by the Health Department.
“We’ll probably have to spend millions more to fix the pool and make it usable,” she said.
Councilwoman Barbara Marshall said she’s worried about the potential liability of leaving the pool in a substandard condition. “Even if you try to fence off the pool itself, kids are going to climb over the fence,” she said.
Council members Charles Djou, Nestor Garcia, Gary Okino and Rod Tam also said they would rather see the pool torn down, leaving the facade as is. Some said they are skeptical that the repairs would be the end-all for work on the natatorium.
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Harris, however, said the council has no say in the matter because he wants to use money that was set aside for natatorium improvements in 1998. “We are not legally bound if they pass that resolution because the money has already been appropriated for restoration of the natatorium,” the mayor said.
Tim Steinberger, director of design and construction for the city, said that even if the administration were to agree to the council wishes, it would need to petition those in charge of the state and national historic registries before the pool can be demolished. Such a process could take years, he said, while the pool continues to deteriorate.
Steinberger said even if such approvals were received, it would cost at least $6 million not just to tear down the pool but to build two new underwater walls — one running parallel to the shoreline to protect the facade from waves, the other to ensure that the nearby Kaimana Beach does not disappear as a result of prevailing current action.
Council members, some of whom are skeptical of Steinberger’s estimate for the cost to tear down the pool, believe that would at least save the city from ongoing maintenance and repair costs down the line.
Because of its place in the historic registries, Harris said he does not believe the city would be given the option to tear down the pool so long as it can be salvaged. Harris said the city could not honestly argue that health and safety considerations require that the pool be torn down.
“You’d have to argue that there is no alternative to tearing down the pool when the historic preservation agencies know very well that there is an alternative to tearing down the pool and that’s fixing the pool,” he said.
Jim Bickerton, attorney for the Kaimana Beach Coalition, believes the council can and should stop Harris from making the repairs. A shoreline management area use permit issued by the council for the natatorium was for restoration of the structure, not repairs, he said. The council could pass a resolution revoking the permit, he said.
Bickerton said if the council doesn’t stop Harris, he will go to court to block the project. “They can’t use the same SMA permits; it’s now a different project,” he said, adding that there are grounds to block it.
Councilman Mike Gabbard said he is inclined to support full restoration of the natatorium, adding that he endorses Harris’ repair plan. Council Chairman Donovan Dela Cruz said he has not committed to a decision but wants to balance public safety with respect for the veterans. Councilman Romy Cachola could not be reached for comment.
Reach Gordon Y.K. Pang at gpang@honoluluadvertiser.com or at 525-8070.
Honolulu Advertiser
By Mike Leidemann
Advertiser Staff Writer
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Parts of the War Memorial Natatorium in Waikiki are so badly deteriorated that the entire complex could collapse eventually, city officials said yesterday.
To address the problem, the city plans to spend $6.6 million for emergency repairs to the natatorium’s pool and deck structure.
Even then, the pool and adjacent bleacher area will remain off-limits to the public unless money can be found for more improvements, said Tim Steinberger, director of the city Department of Design and Construction.
Two engineering reports commissioned by the city after part of the deck collapsed in April concluded the pool and its underlying structure had extensive cracking, corrosion and a loss of structural integrity.
“If the progressive deterioration is not mitigated, it could potentially threaten the integrity of the entire swim basin structure, almost certainly leading to additional collapses,” one report said.
The city’s decision to repair the structure is sure to spark another round in a long-running debate over what to do with the memorial, built in 1927 to honor World War I veterans from Hawai’i. Some want to see it restored to its original glory, while others prefer to see it torn down and the beach restored.
The recent engineering reports also found extensive concrete damage and corroded steel in the perimeter seawalls that protect the natatorium structure. If the seawalls aren’t fixed, a domino effect could bring down the bleachers, which hold up the memorial’s distinctive Beaux Arts wall and arch, Steinberger said.
“If left unchecked, the entire structure could eventually collapse into the ocean,” he said.
The $6.6 million to be used for repairs was earmarked for pool repairs in 1998 but never spent, after restoration opponents filed a lawsuit to stop the project. A clause in the lawsuit’s consent degree allows work to continue, however, if the public’s health and safety is at stake.
The money will restore structural integrity to the pool but won’t bring it up to state Health Department standards, as required by the lawsuit settlement, Steinberger said. He said city officials, probably in the next administration, will have to seek more money from the City Council to complete the job, or the pool area will remain fenced off and closed.
Rick Bernstein of the Kaimana Beach Coalition, which favors tearing down the memorial and restoring the beachfront to its natural state, said yesterday that making the repairs now would be “throwing good money after bad.”
The city’s engineering reports did not consider erosion occurring beneath the pool’s structure, he said.
“There’s no point in fixing the corrosion if the substrata is eroding away,” Bernstein said. “It is imperative to do core sampling beneath the bleachers to determine the extent of erosion, before even considering any other remedial action.”
He said the city is using the most recent cave-in of the pool deck to move ahead with repair work it wanted to do all along.
“All the city did was a visual inspection of the structure. There’s no stress testing, no soil sampling, no scientific data at all in the reports,” Bernstein said. “They’re not addressing the real issue — that the whole structure is sitting on nothing.”
Nancy Bannick of Friends of the Natatorium said the city work would be a start toward the group’s goal of seeing the natatorium restored to its original condition.
“They’ve got to start someplace,” she said. “What they have to do is get going, and then maybe we can find money some other places to get the job done. At least there won’t be any further destruction.”
In 1998, the city spent $4 million to repair the natatorium’s concrete bleachers and adjoining memorial wall before the lawsuit stopped work. That repair work has begun to show signs of deterioration, the engineering reports said.
While the bleacher structure appears to be in good condition overall, large cracks, evidence of corrosion and signs of foundation settlement were seen in the bleacher supports, slab and walls, as well as in the support holding up the entryway arch, engineers said.
“Our concern is if we didn’t do anything, the structure would eventually collapse into the ocean,” Steinberger said. “Then there would be concrete and rebar sticking out all over in a very heavily used area, and it would be impossible to keep people away.”
Demolishing the natatorium was not a viable option, he said.
“It’s considered a historic building, and you can’t just go in and tear it down. That would be more problematic than fixing it.”
Steinberger said repair work could start as early as next month and would take about 10 months to complete.
Reach Mike Leidemann at 525-5460 or mleidemann@honoluluadvertiser.com.
Honolulu Advertiser
By Mike Leidemann
Advertiser Staff Writer
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It may be now or never for the crumbling War Memorial Natatorium in Waikiki.
The pool at the War Memorial Natatorium in Waikiki, seen here in a 1984 photo, was closed to the public in 1979 for safety reasons.
Advertiser library photo
The last major work at the natatorium in 1999 dealt only with the facade and added new restrooms. Both those who want the deteriorating facility torn down and those who want it fully restored agree that it is time the city did something with the site.
Advertiser library photos
Fences and warning signs keep people away from the natatorium. In its 77 years, the facility has seen few improvements or repairs.
Jeff Widener • The honolulu Advertiser
Behind locked gates, the natatorium has continued to deteriorate. The city has $7 million available for work but that may not be enough.
Jeff Widener • The honolulu Advertiser
Both those who want to see it restored to full glory and those who want it torn down completely say damage discovered recently in the 77-year-old memorial could be just the thing needed to bring the long, sad saga of the natatorium to a head.
“I think it’s going to force a decision either way,” said David Scott, executive director of the Historic Hawai’i Foundation.
City officials have ordered two separate engineering risk studies of the natatorium since the discovery of latest structural damage, a collapse of the deck fronting the saltwater swimming pool and its adjoining stands.
The collapse is the latest in a series of problems at the natatorium, which — except for the $4 million spent on work in recent years by the city — has seen few improvements since it was built in 1927 to honor World War I veterans from Hawai’i.
“It looks like the damage is accelerating,” said Tim Steinberger, director of the city Department of Design and Construction. “The seawall appears to be leaning, and the whole structure is tied together, so it’s real critical to understand what’s happening.”
The biggest fear is that the entire underlying structure of steel reinforcing bars and concrete — a fairly new technique at the time the natatorium was built — has disintegrated, leaving the football-field length pool, adjoining stands, and facade and archway vulnerable to collapse, said several people who have been involved in the decades-long fight over the monument.
“I don’t think any conclusions can be made until the engineering reports come in, but it’s very possible that the whole thing is no longer redeemable,” said Rick Bernstein of the Kaimana Beach Coalition, a loose-knit group of citizens who would like to see the complex torn down and replaced with a new beach and a repositioned veterans memorial.
Nancy Bannick, vice president of Friends of the Natatorium, has worked since the 1960s to see it saved and still hopes to preserve it.
“I don’t know what they’re discovering, but it’s a terrible crisis. Right now the big problem is to save it. If they don’t take steps pretty soon, the south swells are going to knock everything down someday,” she said
The natatorium was first proposed in 1921, when the territorial Legislature authorized $250,000 in bonds to pay for construction of what was supposed to be the first “living” war memorial in the United States.
Designed by San Francisco architect Louis Hobart in the Beaux Arts style, the natatorium — with its focus on swimming and recreation — was praised as a fitting tribute to one of the privileges of American society worth fighting for, the right to good health and wholesome recreation.
Opening ceremonies in 1927 assembled one of the greatest groups of swimmers ever seen, including Duke Kahanamoku, Buster Crabbe, Johnny Weissmuller and Olympic stars from Japan and South America.
Kahanamoku made the first swim, emerging at the end of the pool to a thunderous ovation from the thousands of people in the 13-level concrete bleachers.
“It was an unforgettable moment — the man who symbolized the Hawaiian people to the rest of the world opening a memorial whose design captured so well the character of territory and relations to the sea,” according to investigators who had the complex put on the state and national registers of historic places in 1973.
The natatorium’s decline began almost as soon as it was finished.
“Difficulties involved in maintaining a man-made structure in a marine environment were inherent in the original concept,” according to a 1984 report commissioned by the city.
The structure was required to resist the ravages of continual wave action and saltwater corrosion, but the structural details needed to stand up to that assault were never correctly implemented.
In the first 70 years after its opening, less than $100,000 was spent on its upkeep. Records show that maintenance became less and less efficient, with the job of natatorium superintendent awarded by the territorial government more on the basis of political loyalty than skill.
After the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, the natatorium was taken over by the Army and used for training purposes. Later, it remained a popular social and recreational center for many local people, but the pool was closed to the public for safety reasons in 1979. In the 1990s, the National Trust for Historic Preservation put the natatorium on its list of 11 most endangered historic sites in America.
Today, a chain-link fence surrounds the pool, but those who climb up on it can see holes, cracking and other signs of decay in nearly every part of the complex.
In the 25 years since the pool was closed, seemingly everyone in Hawai’i has formed an opinion about what to do with it.
In Kapi’olani Park last week, though, there was near unanimous belief that it was time to put up or shut up: Either someone should spend the millions of dollars needed to restore the memorial, or else let it die a dignified death, said beachgoers, some of whom have been coming to the nearby Kaimana Beach and park area for decades.
Many said a new memorial should be built to honor the veterans while restoring the current site to its natural beach conditions.
“It’s a shame that it’s come to this, but if they can’t do nothing, then it’s time to let it go,” said Clyde Kanda, a Kane’ohe resident whose mother used to swim in the saltwater pool as a child.
“It shows no respect to have a memorial that is falling apart,” said 84-year-old Sylvia Wild, who survived the bombing of London as a teenager and whose husband, Stanley, was a U.S. Army officer who served in three wars before retiring to Hawai’i in the 1960s.
“He was a veteran, but he agreed that it would be better to restore the beach and move the memorial,” Wild said.
Preservationists, however, say that the memorial is an important part of Hawai’i history and should be saved, no matter what the cost.
“There are so few major important buildings from the territorial period that to lose any one at this point would be a tragedy,” said William Chapman, head of the Historic Preservation Program at the University of Hawai’i.
Some have suggested removing the pool from the complex or even filling it in with sand to create beach volleyball courts. That would allow the facade, with its great arch and soaring eagle sculptures, to remain in place, supporters say.
Others, though, say the pool is an essential part of the project, both in terms of structural integrity and its worth as a historic monument.
“The pool protects what we’ve got,” Bannick said. “If the ocean is allowed to come in there, it will crush everything.”
Chapman said tearing down just part of the complex should not be an option.
“It would be like saying save the Hawai’i Theatre by just keeping the facade. I can see somebody suggesting that we tear down the Moana Hotel but leave the portico,” he said.
Bannick and others have been arguing for years that the entire facility needs to be saved.
“The community should be ashamed of what we’ve let happen here,” she said. “The frustration is that we’ve slaved all these years and come up with all these ideas. Now we’ve got to finish the job.”
Getting the job done, however, may involve millions of dollars.
In 1998, the city earmarked $11 million for the full restoration of the natatorium, but only the facade was restored and new bathrooms built before a judge determined that the swimming pool required regulation by the state Health Department.
That left the city wondering how to proceed and left the natatorium itself in a preservation limbo, much like the crumbling water pumping station in Kaka’ako and Bishop Hall on the grounds of the Bishop Museum, both of which need structural repairs before they can be used again, Scott said.
“It’s pretty typical,” Chapman said. “The government drags its feet, drags its feet and finally it discovers the work is going to cost twice as much as anyone thought before.”
About $7 million of the 1998 natatorium money remains available for restoration work, but several people familiar with the project said the new damage may mean far more money would be needed to ever complete the job.
“It’s possible that the bleachers and the restrooms are sitting on nothing more than sand right now, with everything else eroded away,” Bernstein said. “The rust, corrosion, and spalling have been going on forever and ever, and now you probably can’t put everything back together again. To try would just be throwing good money after bad.”
Bernstein suggested that everybody with an interest in the natatorium could be satisfied with a plan that restores the beach, opens an offshore swimming channel, creates a volleyball stadium and restrooms in the adjacent park area and establishes new memorial structures for the veterans, including an impressive archway leading to the beach area.
“That wouldn’t be very expensive in the big picture, and everybody gets something that shows respect and dignity,” he said.
Others, though, think it’s important to preserve what’s there.
“We often judge a society on how well it takes care of its heritage,” Chapman said. “And right now we don’t come off very well on that ground.”
Reach Mike Leidemann at 525-5460 or mleidemann@honoluluadvertiser.com.
Correction: Stanley Wild’s first name was wrong in a previous version of this story.
Honolulu Advertiser
By Mike Gordon
Advertiser Staff Writer
The seawalls of the Waikiki War Memorial Natatorium are starting to pull away from the rest of the aging structure with enough force that part of the pool deck recently collapsed in front of the bleachers.
City officials closed the natatorium’s public bathrooms this week after a portion of the mauka pool deck collapsed.
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser
Alarmed city officials closed the natatorium’s refurbished public bathrooms this week after the deck collapsed on the mauka side.
The bathrooms and the natatorium facade were part of a $4 million restoration project completed four years ago. Much of the natatorium, however, continues to deteriorate. The bathrooms, bleachers and other interior spaces rest on ground retained by the mauka seawall.
“We need to go in there and repair the decks right away,” City Managing Director Ben Lee said yesterday. “They provide the stability for the seawalls and the walls directly below the bleachers. If that moves from pounding waves, then it could do other things we don’t even know yet.”
Structural engineers will inspect the damage and should have a recommendation for the city in two weeks, Lee said. He said a preliminary inspection found the walls pulling away.
“I don’t know if it’s an eighth of an inch or a quarter of an inch, but we know that without the walkway we can’t keep those walls stable. Once it starts to move, there is no way to push it back.”
The situation is similar to a shoebox without a lid and a bottom, Lee said. The sides of a box like that cannot withstand much outside pressure before collapsing.
At the natatorium, which has only a sand bottom, the deck serves as the lid of the box, Lee said.
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The natatorium opened in 1927 as a way to honor World War I veterans from Hawai’i and was shut down in 1979 by the Department of Health.
It will be the site of a Memorial Day service at 10 a.m. Sunday in which Mayor Jeremy Harris will speak. Harris has long been a supporter of full restoration of the natatorium.
The natatorium’s facade was refurbished four years ago as part of a $4 million restoration project.
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser
The City Council earmarked $11 million for the full restoration of the natatorium in 1998. About $7 million remains. Lee said the money could be tapped to fix the current problems.
Full restoration remains on hold. The Kaimana Beach Coalition sued the city, and a judge determined in 1999 that the natatorium is a saltwater pool requiring regulation by the Health Department.
Nancy Bannick, vice president of Friends of the Natatorium, said the deteriorating pool cannot simply be carved away.
“The pool protects what we’ve got,” she said. “If the ocean is allowed to come in there, it will crush everything.”
She called the situation “urgent.”
“We have to do something,” Bannick said. “Maybe this is a blessing in disguise.”
Reach Mike Gordon at mgordon@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8012.
Honolulu Star-Bulletin
By Crystal Kua
ckua@starbulletin.com
CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM
A section of the Waikiki War Memorial Natatorium’s pool deck has collapsed. The structure’s exterior is shown here.
City officials have closed the newly renovated restrooms outside the Waikiki War Memorial Natatorium because of fears that the crumbling structure will continue to collapse.
A section on the pool deck collapsed in the past couple of weeks, leaving a big crater at the edge of the bleachers on the mauka wall.
Portable toilets are near the closed bathrooms, which were renovated four years ago as part of a $4.6 million project.
City officials worry that the historic facility could fall apart. It is a memorial to World War I veterans that opened in 1929.
“The closure is a precautionary move that we need to restrict access while engineers are doing the assessment,” Managing Director Ben Lee said in a statement. “And once the assessment of the structural integrity of the memorial is completed, we will know what steps need to be taken to prevent further deterioration of the historic structure.”
The hole can be seen through the Natatorium’s ornate metal gates that are locked. A sign reading “Danger Keep Out” is posted.
“We’re still concerned with people that ignore the warnings and trespass in the pool deck area, so HPD and the parks staff will increase their efforts to stop the trespassing,” Lee said.
Signs saying “Natatorium closed until further notice” are also posted at the entrance of the bathrooms.
CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM
A sign at the women’s bathroom of the crumbling Waikiki War Memorial Natatorium kept people out yesterday.
“It’s time to rethink this and go back to a plan that’s not going to cost an arm and a leg and lead to the commercialization of the area,” Jim Bickerton, the attorney representing the Kaimana Beach Coalition, which filed a lawsuit to stop the city’s restoration plan. “We definitely think that no more money should be put into this.”
Ignoble capacity may prompt cutting the quality and the standards of generic cialis no prescription the pharmaceutical are up to the mark or at par with higher dosages of the generic versions of sildenafil citrate drugs. One would cialis viagra for women assume that by doing so they could help eliminate ED, but it’s a very wrong idea. Taking Kamagra in form of tablet or jelly can increase your sexual abilities and allow healthy erection by inhibiting PDE5. pdxcommercial.com cheap cialis Antioxidants online viagra pharmacy are a very special type of molecule, capable of slowing down cell deterioration at an alarming rate by curbing free radicals. A Circuit Court judge in 1999 allowed the city to continue with part of the restoration, but not with restoring the saltwater pool until the city abides by state rules for saltwater swimming pools, a requirement that’s stalled the rest of the $11 million restoration.
It was Memorial Day 2000 when the Natatorium was rededicated after the partial restoration was completed.
Bickerton said the coalition fought to have the whole restoration put on hold until the city could have a proper assessment of whether the pool should be replaced. The coalition wants to see a beach replace the pool.
Bickerton said the concrete structure is succumbing to time and the elements.
Donna Ching, spokeswoman for Friends of the Natatorium, continues to push for full restoration, including the pool.
“The pool is the memorial,” Ching said.
Memorial Day services will be held at 10 a.m. Sunday at the Natatorium, and it’s a perfect opportunity to remember “why memorials are important,” she said.
“This is a national monument, this is a war memorial. It should’ve never been allowed to fall into disrepair in the first place, and obviously we will not be satisfied until we see a full restoration.”
City Councilman Charles Djou, who represents the Waikiki area, said something should be done with the structure.
“We can’t have this Natatorium that we completely built, spent millions of taxpayers dollars on and then nobody uses, and then we have to spend more taxpayer money to maintain,” Djou said. “That’s the only bad solution.”
Djou said that while he favors the original plan to restore the saltwater pool, “it has engendered so much litigation and so much controversy, at this point I’m concerned about just fixing the darn thing and getting it opened and stop this continual bleeding of taxpayer resources.”
Raynard Hoke, 52, of Manoa, was about to go swimming near the Natatorium when he found out the bathrooms were closed.
“With the lavatory closed, that’s going to make it more inconvenient for the people and probably make it less desirable for anybody to come down here,” he said.
Honolulu Advertiser
By Gordon Y.K. Pang
Advertiser Capitol Bureau
Almost a year after former Gov. Ben Cayetano approved new rules for public saltwater pools, the administration of Mayor Jeremy Harris has yet to come up with plans for the future of the Waikiki War Memorial Natatorium.
Kent Brown of Kaimuki pauses in front of the Waikiki War Memorial Natatorium after a surfing session. The facade of the natatorium has been renovated, but its saltwater pool requires changes to meet new state regulations.
Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser
But Harris says he is committed to full restoration of the pool, built in 1927 in honor of those who fought and died in World War I and shut down in 1979 by the Department of Health.
Meanwhile, the group Friends of the Natatorium says it is seeking additional money for the project to complement the $6.9 million that the city has available for its completion.
The Harris administration is not saying how much more money is needed, but the friends group estimates that it could be as high as $5 million.
The restoration of the famed Waikiki oceanside fixture has been a topic of controversy for years.
Opponents say restoration of the pool is not worth its high price tag and that the pool could still be unsafe for the public. But Harris and other supporters say that the natatorium is a historical landmark and memorial that the city is obligated to restore.
The City Council earmarked $11 million for full restoration of the deteriorating memorial in 1998 and has spent more than $4 million on the project.
The Kaimana Beach Coalition sued the city, and a judge determined in 1999 that the natatorium is a saltwater pool requiring regulation by the Health Department.
Harris went forward with the restoration of the facade of the structure, as well as its bleachers and restrooms — improvements that were completed in time for Memorial Day 2000. He halted construction on the pool after the court judgment.
Visitors to the natatorium today would be able to use the restroom, but could not enter to see the pool or bleachers.
The new regulations signed by Cayetano last July require the city, or anyone else operating a saltwater pool, to install a mechanical pump system to increase circulation, as well as line the sides and bottom of the pool with a hard, easy-cleaning surface.
Harris, in a written statement this week, reiterated his commitment to full restoration.
“I still think it ought to be repaired and opened to the public,” the mayor said. “We have an obligation to veterans and the community not to leave it fallen down and unusable.”
But he would not consent to an interview to answer whether city engineers were reviewing the saltwater pool rules or whether the city had come up with an estimate of compliance costs.
The locked but not quite closed front gates of the natatorium frame a view into the beachside memorial.
Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser
City spokeswoman Carol Costa said there are no immediate plans to proceed with pool restoration.
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Costa said that about $6.9 million remains in the project’s budget after completion of the first phase.
“It’s not enough,” she said, to finish the pool side, although she could not say how much more is needed.
Donna L. Ching, spokeswoman for the Friends of the Natatorium, said that the group also does not have firm estimates of how much more the city will need but believes it is “somewhere over $1 million and under $5 million.”
Delays caused by the Kaimana lawsuit and the subsequent two-year rule-making process have “cost us demobilizing the construction, remobilizing the construction site, a little bit of materials and inflation,” she said. “And plus, the new regulations require mechanical pumps.”
Ching said that the group is “leading the initiative” to find grant money from nonprofit groups and federal agencies to finish the project. She declined to name those being approached.
The group does not expect the city to come up with the additional money on its own because Harris has stated that no more can come from city coffers.
“The mayor has been very supportive of the project and the Friends appreciate the mayor’s effort to this point,” Ching said. “We are not going to try to make him go back on his original statement, so we are taking the lead to raise the additional funds.”
The plan calls for expanding the pool’s intake and outtake openings from their existing 25 square feet to 763 square feet for the intake opening and 641 square feet for the outtake opening, she said. That will allow the water to turnover between three to 20 times a day, a dramatic increase from the every-third-day rate under the 1927 design, she said.
Jim Bickerton, attorney for the Kaimana Beach Coalition, said his organization wants assurances that the pool will adhere to the health regulations and that neighboring Kaimana Beach will not be diminished or destabilized by whatever the city eventually does.
“The third concern is that whatever development takes place there can’t be dedicated to commercial interests or frequent large events that will take away parking and access (from) people who just want to use the shoreline,” he said.
Bickerton, noting that the city has not released estimates for a pump system a year after the rules were set, said he is skeptical about whether the city even intends to abide by the new rules or will instead seek a waiver.
The coalition’s preference is for the city to abandon its plans for an enclosed pool and to instead tear down the makai wall, Bickerton said. That would ensure that two, healthy sand beaches exist both at Kaimana and at the site of the existing pool.
Bickerton said that besides obtaining a saltwater pool permit from the state, he believes the city will need to get a new special management area use permit from the City Council to make improvements to the pool.
Installing a hard surface and a pump circulation system are additions that would substantially alter the original project plans that were approved, he said.
The administration has stated that it does not believe additional approvals are needed unless it seeks additional money.
Previous councils have, by split votes, given money and zoning approvals for the natatorium.
It’s unclear, however, how the council that took office in December views restoration.
Reach Gordon Y.K. Pang at gpang@honoluluadvertiser.com or at 525-8070.