Fix It: ‘Tis The Season For … Busted Public Bathrooms?
The early results of our Fix It! initiative are in, and there’s an emerging pattern.
Fix It! is a reader-driven column focused on solving everyday obstacles — the inoperable and the inefficient amenity, the mundane and major facility fail that escapes the attention of government agencies, but affects our quality of life.
Man oh man. Some of you readers are real killjoys.
It’s supposed to be the holiday season in the Aloha State, a time when residents and visitors can revel in Hawaii’s natural wonders and beautiful parks and beaches.
But anyone looking to enjoy their time outdoors should carry plenty of fresh drinking water, a flashlight, an extra spare vehicle tire and — hear me out — maybe even a portable camping toilet.
And you probably want to update your tetanus shot.
That’s because Hawaii’s public recreation areas and comfort stations are a heck of a mess.
That’s the conclusion from the tips three dozen Civil Beat readers sent after Civil Beat launched an initiative called Fix It!
Fix It! aims to identify and lobby for the repair or replacement of public amenities and infrastructure.
And there’s a pattern that quickly emerged.
Parks, Pools, Public Courts Under Pressure
Faults and breakages in our public parks, play courts, pools, and the restrooms and drinking fountains you try to use when you’re there, make up nearly 60% of the tips so far.
An example: Anthony Chang has been waiting three years for the lights at the basketball and volleyball courts at Kauluwela Community Park in Honolulu to get fixed.
“This creates a safety issue for park users at night whom I see playing basketball and pickleball on the volleyball court,” Chang said. “Sometimes these park users bring their own portable lighting to make up for the lack of proper park lighting.”
Stay tuned in the coming weeks as we run down reports one by one and seek answers to the burning question: When will this be fixed?
(A reminder: We won’t publish your personal information without asking your permission first. Anthony Chang gave us his permission.)
Chang raised the issues at Kauluwela Community Park in a 2022 email exchange Keith Nishimura of Honolulu’s Department of Parks and Recreation. Nishimura responded that a fault in one of the light bases required they all be removed for safety reasons, but there were no plans to reinstall them.
Civil Beat has asked department spokesman Nate Serota for a more recent update, but so far nothing new to report.
Another tipster took issue with breakages and faults at three of Oahu’s municipal pools and “trash all over our roads and parks and highways.”
And lest you think we’re beating up on the counties, state facilities also come in for plenty of criticism.
Two readers from the Big Island both reported the same problem there – the broken restrooms at the Old Kona Airport State Recreation Area, one of the most popular family beaches on that side of Hawaii island.
A state block of land in Hilo has been unmowed since July, according to another tip accompanied by a photo, which we encourage tipsters to include.
Illegal Junkyards And Pedestrian Jeopardy
Unsurprisingly, issues with all roads and local sidewalks make up another 20% of the total and for the balance readers tipped Civil Beat off to issues with waste disposal, recycling and other concerns. One tipster said they had regularly complained about illegal junkyards in Ocean View to Hawaii County which said they just didn’t have the power to investigate them all.
But let’s also acknowledge that our public facilities take a lot of punishment and even when repairs are made, those fixes don’t always last.
That seems to be the case with the drinking fountains at Kapiolani Community College near the area of the Farmer’s Market. One reader said they had been recently repaired, but were only functioning for a few months before they were out of commission again.
But in many cases readers reported that issues had gone unsresolved for “YEARS,” “At least five years that I know of,” “About three years,” “Forever,” “Too long.”
You get the picture.
So let’s see if we can unstick some of these longstanding problems and Fix It!
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You can send us an email at news@civilbeat.org. Put “Fix It” in the subject line so it doesn’t get lost.
You can send a letter to the newsroom at P.O. Box 10857, Honolulu, HI 96816.
We won’t use your name without your permission but, if we pursue your fix, we will get back to you with what we find.
Note: Ian Scheuring, Deputy Communications Director for the City and County of Honolulu sent an email urging us to remind Oahu readers about the that allows residents to report everything from roadkill to abandoned vehicles, broken street lights and illegal dumping. Oahu residents can also report potholes on the .
