Chinatown 96817     

It’s 3:50 am, awake way too early once again. Was thinking about an earlier post of joking about the Ala Wai (PPP). Almost removed it because it’s a futile attempt at humor of a situation so dire one becomes possessed with trying to fathom the possibilities. My heart goes out to those that live in the area. I fear going INTO Waikiki, imagine living there. 

Will we need to remove all the sand from Waikiki? In Honolulu Weekly’s April 12-18, 2006 Vol.16, #15 issue, the first letter to the Editor is titled “Gross Negligence”  (read it here) 

Imagine the contrast….the land Waikiki was built on was acquired by Eminent Domain under the guise of removing a health risk. Bizarre idea that it would be now be shut down because that’s what it became. Talk about a full circle…….wow.

Dare I say the “k” word?                                         

Easiest solution to the sewage spill is to rename everything and everybody in the Waikiki area.

I’ve already suggested we start renaming everyone in Waikiki, “Bob”. In the context of the fella who at the time was having his arms and legs whacked to stave off the flesh eating bacteria that eventually took his life. For those that don’t know the joke:

“What do you call a guy in a pool who has no arms or legs?…….Bob.”

Here is my letter to the Editor of the Honolulu weekly published yesterday in the April 12-18, 2006 Volume 16, # 15:

“Fortunately the Ala Wai Canal had just been dredged. Otherwise think of all the contaminated material that would need to be removed. The Ala Wai and all connecting canals/streams and the Harbor need to be flushed out. At the beginning of the Ala Wai clean ocean water needs to be pumped in by the zillions of gallons. While this is happening the bottom of the Canal needs to be “sprayed” to loosen up all material so it can be flushed out. This also needs to be done to the entire Harbor. Of course the material being flushed needs to be channeled far out to sea which will require a retaining device, a channel created with flexible material extending far out to sea to keep it herded away from the surrounding coastline. Either that or start changing everybody’s name to Bob. “What do you call a guy in a pool?”

…..and Honolulu Weekly used my pic of the sewer lid on the back inside of the same issue! ”Honolulu Sewers 1899″   I’m just skyrocketing to the upper stratospheres of investigative journalism!    

Now the latest renaming,

“Pinkham’s Poo Puddle” for Ala Wai Canal . It speaks volumes. The more I ponder Pinkham’s poo puddle the more I’m plunged into perplexity. The deeper I wade into the Ala Wai…oops…Pinkham’s poo puddle (PPP)  the more questions that arise as to why it was really built. I’m not ready to believe that “oh triple pee” was a result of a need for landfill. Could it be something else? Pinkham stated that Waikik was insanitary and acted on the Board of Healths Act 61 approved on the 8th day of June, A. D. 1896 by Sanford B. Dole President of the Republic of Hawaii, which in short allowed the future poo puddle to be taken under Eminent Domain and sold to the highest bidder. The paper trail has ballooned like a body invaded by flesh eating bacteria. I gotta go……(no pun intended)

 In Pinkhams February 21, 1906 report to the Board of Health I found this on page 1….

Section 1025 Revised Laws of the Territory of Hawaii mandates: 

“Whenever in the opinion of the Board of Health any tract or parcel of land situated in the District of Honolulu, Island of Oahu, shall be deleterious to the public health in consequence of being low, and at times covered or partly covered by water, or of being situated between high or low water mark, or of being improperly drained or incapable by reasonable expenditure of effectual drainage, or for other reason in an unsanitary or dangerous condition, it shall be the duty of the Board of Health to report such fact to the Superintendent of Public Works together with a brief recommendation of the operation deemed advisable to improve such land.”

Further down on page 1: “The President of the Board of Health (Pinkham) recommends that the Government , by its right of eminent domain, shall in an equitable and just manner acquire such ownership and rights in said district as shall enable it to transform it into an absolute sanitary, beautiful and unique district. One that will add immensely to the reputation of Honolulu at home and abroad.”

  Soil was needed to fill in the duck ponds, rice paddies and banana patches of Waikiki. 

 Page 7: “In order to secure filling material a great lagoon would as a consequence be formed.”

The map published in Pinkham’s Board of Health Report Feb. 21, 1906 for the proposed lagoon shows a 250′ wide walled channel running far out to sea, on one end. On the other end were to be two 50′ wide channels to deep water. One became Kapahulu Ave. the other would have run through the center of Kapiolani Park. Why were the two 50′ wide channels not built? When and why did the lagoon become known as the Ala Wai Canal?

…the Chinatown area was known as a “U.S. Reservation”?

Anyone got any ideas what that means? I’ll post a pic of the map in HSGallery.

Last couple days have been wondering….Why was the Ala Wai built?

So today I went to the Archives and digitally recorded the:

“Report of President of the Board of Health to the Board of Health, with maps, profiles etc concerning the reclamation of certain low lands at Waikiki.” Feb. 21,1906 -L. E. Pinkham President of the Board of Health

 There were also original letters from the Chief Clerk dating May 13, 1907 informing the following of their commision as a member of the Waikiki Reclamation Committee:

L.E. Pinkham, Esq.       Gen. Edward Davis     William W. North, Esq.      

These names mean anything to anyone? Feel free to submit your knowledge. 

There’s even a list of who owned how much land that was being reclaimed and it’s worth.

Will also post three pics of what the area looked like before the Ala Wai was built, and the reports in the Hawaii Stories Gallery.

I hear Barry Nakamura’s Master Thesis “The Story of Waikiki and the “Reclamation” Project” is a good source of information. I’ll check it out. It’s in the UH Manoa Library Hawaiian Collection on the 5th floor.

George Robert Carver was Governor,  Nov. 23, 1903-Aug 15, 1907.

L.E. Pinkham was the President of the Board of Health.