Plans to rename Sandy Beach after President Barack Obama are being dropped by Honolulu City Council members after the idea met with a lukewarm public response.
"We’ve heard a number of concerns from members of the community," said Councilman Stanley Chang, who introduced Resolution 14-237 last week with Council Chairman Ernie Martin. "Given the facts we received, we don’t think it’s necessary to move forward."
The resolution was originally expected to be heard before the Council Parks Committee next week.
"Since public reaction to the proposal has raised the issue of historical and cultural sensitivity, the measure will be re-referred back to the chair’s office and not be considered by the Parks Committee," Martin said in a statement. "There may be other public facilities that would be more appropriate to honor our president."
When it was announced late last week, the resolution received national media attention. Obama has spoken of his fondness of bodysurfing at the beach, making it an appropriate location for a tribute to the Hawaii-born president, Chang and Martin said in their resolution.
They said funding was already set aside in this year’s budget for a plaque dedicated to Obama’s love of bodysurfing.
Greg Knudsen, chairman of the Hawaii Kai Neighborhood Board and coordinator of the Maunalua-Makapuu State Scenic Byway, has pushed to have monuments celebrating Obama’s achievements and local ties at both Lanai Lookout (where Obama scattered the ashes of his mother and grandmother) and a vacant lot at Kuliouou Road and Kalanianaole Highway (near the address where he first lived after he was born).
But Knudsen said naming all of Sandy Beach after the Hawaii-born president is "a little bit too much." Sandys is iconic to East Honolulu residents who have long resisted any kind of change there.
"People would just continue to call it Sandy Beach or Sandys," he said.
In a related matter, Chang and Martin are proceeding with Bill 60, which would allow the Council to "approve the naming of parks, sites and facilities for exceptional persons as deemed worthy by the Council." Bill 60 would have had to have been approved before the Obama-Sandy Beach resolution could have advanced.
Current law typically allows all or part of a park, site or facility to be named only after deceased people except under extraordinary circumstances. And even in those circumstances, only a portion of a park may be named, and only after a person who has contributed 50 or more years of service to the community.
Chang said he and Martin still want the Council to be able to name a park after any person, living or dead.
