Honolulu Star-Advertiser
Editorial / Island Voices
December 22, 2019
By Rick Bernstein, Tim Guard and Doorae Shin
DENNIS ODA / NOV. 8, 2018
This Waikiki War Memorial Natatorium is in a state of disrepair and ruin as a result of age and neglect.
Imagine a peaceful, respectful and cost-effective solution to the Waikiki War Memorial Natatorium conundrum. We propose the following idea for consideration.
Fort DeRussy is a United States military reservation in the west end of Waikiki, under jurisdiction of the U.S. Army. Unfenced and largely open to the public, it consists mainly of landscaped green space. The former Battery Randolph is now home to the U.S. Army Museum of Hawaii, which is open to the public; the Hale Koa Hotel, which serves as the Armed Forces Recreation Center and is exclusive to a military clientele; and the Daniel K. Inouye Asia/Pacific Center for Security Studies.
The Hale Koa Hotel recently completed a grand swimming complex for its military guests. The pool is located on the Diamond Head side of the hotel complex and there is a wide open area between the pool and the museum. The area is graced with grassy lawns and shade trees, and offers views of the ocean, which lies less than 100 yards away.
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This economical plan would respect the intent of the memorial builders by removing it from a place of conflict, Kaimana Beach and Kapiolani Park, and re-placing it in an appropriate military location in Waikiki with a new and functional swimming pool nearby. Further, it is next to the ocean and volleyball courts. Amazingly, this is the same tract of land that legendary Duke Kahanamoku, swimming star of the Natatorium, was born and raised on. Fort DeRussy is the spiritually pono resting place for this war memorial monument in so many ways.
If this sensible solution were embraced by our neighbors at Fort DeRussy, the city and the state, we could finally remove the long-suffering, dangerous and dilapidated natatorium structure and swimming pool from the beautiful Diamond Head/Waikiki oceanfront. This would open the view plane and create a stable sand beach with proper groinage that would protect it and Kaimana Beach from future erosion. This plan also removes any threat of a public-private partnership (PPP), which could saddle the entire beach and Fort De Russy park area with commercialization for the forseeable future.
Any PPP represents a major loss of access at the popular and much-used Kaimana Beach due to loss of parking and influx of increased tourism. Further, the beach plan in the city’s environmental impact statement proposes placing a parking lot directly in front of Kaimana Beach, right next to the Kaimana Beach Hotel. This is a terrible idea and an unpopular solution due to the loss of 33 parking spaces in the natatorium “pit” parking area. A less-impactful and reasonable solution lies on the mauka side of the grassy, tree-lined island dividing Kalakaua Avenue. Between the driveway into Kaimana Beach and the Waikiki Aquarium, is grassy open space that could easily be converted into 53 diagonal parking spaces to mirror current stalls on the mauka side of Kalakaua.
Former Mayor Mufi Hannemann’s 2010 Waikiki Natatorium Task Force voted to remove the natatorium and create a beach. We, as former members, today support the mayor, governor and Army in working together to make this respectful, safe and cost-effective solution a reality.
Edgar Hamasu, 89, another former task force member and former state Land Department deputy director, recently said of the natatorium: “It was a fun place when I was a kid in the ‘30s, but it fell into disrepair for good reason and should have been demolished years ago. I think Fort DeRussy would be a good and honorable solution.”
Rick Bernstein and Tim Guard were members of the 2010 Waikiki Natatorium Task Force; Doorae Shin is coordinator of the Surfrider Foundation-Oahu Chapter.
