A Kaua‘i County Council proposal requesting the county close off ‘Eiwa Street will only exacerbate traffic congestion in Lihu‘e — the island’s economic and social hub, council members were told yesterday. The one-block street between the historic County Building and
A Kaua‘i County Council proposal requesting the county close off ‘Eiwa Street will only exacerbate traffic congestion in Lihu‘e — the island’s economic and social hub, council members were told yesterday.
The one-block street between the historic County Building and the Lihu‘e Civic Center offers motorists another way to get around traffic during peak commute hours.
“I am kind of in a state of shock,” said East Kaua‘i resident Charles Trembath during a meeting of the council’s Parks and Public Works Committee at the historic County Building. “We have roads to move traffic. If you block off roads, you take away from the people.”
Trembath spoke in response to a proposed council resolution asking Mayor Bryan Baptiste’s administration to close the street. The committee deferred action to study the matter further.
The county had considered closing the block during the previous mayoral administrations of JoAnn Yukimura and Maryanne Kusaka, but the proposal went away partly because of lack of interest.
The newest proposal is part of a larger plan to reduce traffic congestion around Lihu‘e town and to make it more user-friendly to pedestrians.
Lihu‘e business leaders see the plan as a way to lure more business back to the town core, even as more businesses have moved into the Kukui Grove Shopping Center, the island’s largest shopping complex, and surrounding areas. Costco, which opens this month, is a case in point.
Trembath said cultural and holiday season parades have ended on that street for years and closing it will wreck a tradition.
“The area is very nice for ho‘olaule‘a (party) and when they have parades,” Trembath said.
Councilwoman JoAnn Yukimura said the council’s concern is “not so much about moving traffic as much as it is about moving people.”
Should the street be closed, people can park their vehicles elsewhere and can be shuttled by bus to the civic center, Yukimura said.
She said the master plan calls for a walkway from the Kaua‘i War Memorial Convention Hall to the civic center.
“We have to be open to some new ways of redesigning our town,” Yukimura said.
According to Yukimura the implementation of the plan will create more areas with greenery and a walkway. Trembath said closing the street would be a mistake.
He said the county Public Works Department has trouble maintaining roads and parks now and would be hard-pressed to maintain another street. The new area would be maintained by Public Works.
“We can’t even take care of the stuff we have,” Trembath said.
Public Works officials have said in the past, however, roads and public structures are routinely maintained and repaired.
Trembath also voiced concerns the council may have already decided to close the street. In a conversation, Trembath said council chairman Kaipo Asing told him that it was a “done deal.”
Asing denied uttering such words. “I didn’t make any statements to that effect,” he said. “I did not say to you it is a done deal.”
Trembath also voiced objections to another proposal in the larger plan for a roundabout at the intersection of Hardy and Umi streets.
Fast-moving traffic through the roundabout could pose a danger to students who are dropped off at Wilcox School in the morning by parents and are picked up in the afternoon, Trembath said.
A safer option would be to install signal lights at the intersection, he said.
“Push the button when you want to cross the street,” Trembath said. “To go through the roundabout seems like a nightmare to me.”
In other council matters, Kaua‘i residents Glenn Mickens and Ken Taylor objected to a proposal in the 2007 Kaua‘i County legislative package for a $11.7 million General Obligation Bond for improvements to the Lihu‘e Civic Center, with the state paying half the cost.
“If we had a money tree with unlimited funds on it, I would have no problem with using almost $12 million to renovate or cosmetically improve the Lihu‘e Civic Center,” Mickens read from a statement.
But Mickens said the county has to prioritize projects because funding is finite.
Asing said Mickens is wrong if he thinks the funds are for cosmetic work only.
“It is not cosmetics we are looking at,” Asing said. “We are looking at providing services to our people.”
Many citizens want access to services at the county planning department, the county public works department and other departments, and they haven’t always been able to due to the lack of parking, Asing said.
“They don’t have places to park to get in there,” Asing said.
Mickens said, however, he couldn’t recall a time when people haven’t been able to find parking to get to a meeting in the county buildings.
Parking for 600 state and county employees isn’t the only issue, Asing said, as a draft master plan by PBR Hawaii has proposed improvements to the county lawn and building of sidewalks meeting Americans with Disabilities Act requirements.
Wording in the proposed resolution suggests businesses will benefit as well because the walkways and improvements will allow customers easier access to stores.
But Taylor said experiences elsewhere in the Mainland show that such a plan will only work if thousands more people move to Lihu‘e.
Mickens said the county should also use some of the funds to build a true recreational center at the Vidinha Stadium.
Yukimura said the facility would benefit Kauaians, but so would proposed improvements at the civic center, which she called the “heart of Lihu‘e.”
She agreed funds are limited, and the county can consider public improvements later. Yukimura also said the state should cover some costs because state employees working around the civic center and county building will benefit from the improvements.
• Lester Chang, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 225) or lchang@kauaipubco.com.
