Mounting crime and increased homelessness in Waikiki have prompted the nonprofit Pacific Island Beach Boys to pull out of a concession at one of the four Kuhio Beach pavilions, which the city has used for the past several years as a tool to increase safety in the district.

Pacific Island Beach Boys, which has been successfully providing beach services at Pavilion No. 3 and the “Blue Box” at Walls that include surfing lessons and rentals for water activities, began a contract Dec. 18 that also included city Pavilion No. 4 on the Diamond Head side of Kuhio Beach.

A little over six months later, concessionaire David Carvalho is invoking his right to give back Pavilion No. 4 due to challenges with vandalism, crime and homelessness.

“When we first got (Pavilion) No. 3 and Walls, we made it ours. We’re beachboys, we’ll move people out. We’ll clean it out. For the first two weeks, it was a little tough. As we stayed and showed consistency, it got better,” Carvalho said. “But the negative presence (at Pavilion No. 4) was too much for us to handle.”

Carvalho, who also operates Big Wave Dave Surf and Coffee inside the Embassy Suites Waikiki Beach, theorizes that the challenges at the No. 4 concession are linked to the earlier part of COVID-19 when the pavilions along Kalakaua Avenue were closed to the public. With fewer people in Waikiki, homeless people and people who didn’t care about the rules were free to take over the space.

Ian Scheuring, a spokesman for Honolulu Mayor Rick Blan­giardi’s administration, said in an email that the city’s latest contract with Pacific Island Beach Boys started Dec. 17. The concession fee for the contract, which allowed the use of Pavilion No. 3 and Beach Stand No. 3 and included Pavilion No. 4, was 7% and 30% of gross receipts, depending on the type of service being sold.

Scheuring said the city’s contract with Pacific Island Beach Boys is still active through Dec. 17, though Pavilion No. 4 was withdrawn from the agreement following the nonprofit’s official notification June 30 that it did not want to continue to operate there.

He said Friday that from Dec. 18 to now, Pacific Island Beach Boys has paid the city about $100,000 for the use of Pavilion No. 3, Pavilion No. 4 and Beach Stand No. 3. Pacific Island Beach Boys does not owe the city any outstanding fees for vacating Pavilion No. 4, Scheuring said.

Homelessness is not a new issue for Waikiki, nor are problems at the pavilions.

“Concessionaires have in the past reported vandalism and the presence of volatile individuals in the area. The houseless crisis is an island-wide concern, not just in Waikiki or at these pavilions,” Scheuring said. “For this specific area, the more relevant issue is crime- related activity. It is not illegal to be houseless, and some of the criminal activity experienced in this area should not just be attributed to that demographic. Providing safe and functioning park facilities for all park users is a top priority for the city.”

Still, statistics show that homelessness in Waikiki is increasing, along with the perception that the latest vacancy at Pavilion No. 4 will make homelessness worse despite the city’s other efforts.

Scheuring said for the past month the city’s Crisis Outreach Response and Engagement program has been providing services to the homeless in Waikiki on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Their effort combined with the Waikiki Business Improvement District, the Institute for Human Services and the Honolulu Police Department’s Community Policing Team are connecting homeless people to programs and services daily, he said.

CORE’s push into Waikiki came as a shift in homeless people from downtown to East Honolulu has contributed to a 71% increase in the district’s share of Oahu’s unsheltered population since 2019. That figure has state, city, government and tourism officials and nonprofits leveraging resources to get more people off the streets, while reducing harms like increased crime and unsightliness that are associated with rises in unsheltered homelessness.

The 2022 Point-in-Time count, an annual one-night snapshot of the number of people experiencing homelessness who are on the street or in shelters, conducted March 10, showed that East Honolulu had experienced the highest percentage increase of unsheltered homeless of any district on Oahu.

Waikiki resident John Deutzman characterized the loss of occupancy at Pavilion No. 4 as a “huge setback in the community’s collective efforts to take back the beach.”

Deutzman said problems at the pavilions also have been exacerbated by the justice system, which continues to release many of those accused of committing crimes in Waikiki on their own recognizance.

“They don’t come back to court, but they do come back to Waikiki,” he said.

Despite all the meetings and promises, Deutzman said the “the area between the wall and the police substation is an embarrassment and disaster.”

“In my opinion, we are still running an outdoor psychiatric center, an outdoor jail, and it’s right in the heart of the tourist district,” he said. “Pavilion No. 4 pulled out because he couldn’t take it anymore. People are defecating, fighting, drinking, dealing drugs right there every day.”

It wasn’t always that way. The city pavilions in Kuhio Beach park on Kalakaua Avenue were built so local residents and tourists could pause awhile to bask in the beauty of Waikiki’s sandy shores and aquamarine waters.

Years ago local residents would gather at the pavilions for impromptu music concerts or to play chess or checkers. The shaded shelters were part of the charm of old Waikiki — a place for all people to come and share their cultures and their talents.

By Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell’s administration, Waikiki’s pavilions were better known as places for criminal activity and homelessness. Waikiki residents and businesses, even visitors, regularly complained about the lack of safety and security at the pavilions.

Caldwell’s administration worked on putting concessionaires in the pavilions. He noted previously that the city’s 2017 decision to add a concession to Kuhio Beach public pavilion No. 1 transformed it from a daytime hangout for homeless into a beach eatery called the Kuhio Grill.

His team also spent $248,000 on custom-built caged enclosures installed in the summer of 2020 so that the city as well as its businesses and nonprofit partners could lock the pavilions at night.

Scheuring said recent vandalism to these gates and the pavilions includes bent bars, damage to the gates, littering and graffiti. He added, “It is not certain whether the vandalism caused at the pavilions is the result of the houseless.”

City staff have provided temporary gate repairs, but Scheuring said they were “custom-made, so replacement parts have been an issue as they are expensive and need to be imported from the manufacturer.”

On Sunday there were obvious holes at Pavilion No. 4 that were large enough to allow a human to squeeze into the space.

Scheuring said the city is considering reactivating Pavilion No. 4. A city agency may be able to fill the pavilion quickly, while a concession contract might take up to several months, he said.

“Anytime we can activate park spaces with programs that benefit the general public, it is a plus. This activation is just one of the tools in the effort to reduce crime in this area,” he said. “The collaboration with the police, parks, enterprise services and facility maintenance departments helps to ensure that when new challenges arise, like the need for a new occupant in Pavilion No. 4, they can be addressed.”

Deutzman and Carvalho suggest that the city consider turning Pavilion No. 4 into another police substation to expand police presence in Waikiki.

It was just June when city leaders gathered to bless The Queen’s Arbor, which at the time meant all four Kuhio Beach Pavilions had concessions.

The Queen’s Arbor, which is on Kalakaua Avenue between Liliuokalani and Kealohilani Avenues, features an oceanfront breakfast from 8:30 to 10 a.m. Friday to Sunday. Breakfast comes with a cultural storytelling experience, highlighting the rich history of Waikiki and the legacy of Hawaii’s last reigning monarch, Queen Lili‘uokalani, as well as her love for her summer retreat, called Hamohamo, with cottages that sat just opposite of Kuhio Beach.

Laura H. Thielen, director of the city Department of Parks and Recreation, said in a statement to mark the opening of The Queen’s Arbor: “We are very fortunate to have a variety of partners and activities to fill and help maintain the pavilions along Kuhio Beach with recreational and dining opportunities for locals and visitors.

“Activation of the areas will be a tremendous benefit to the public, and we hope these new, temporary concessions will help us to determine longer-term solutions for the area.”

The Grass Shack Bistro, which features cold refreshments like shave ice and a signature pineapple drink, also continues to operate in the first city pavilion on the Ewa end of Kuhio Beach. Scheuring said the city’s current contract for that space is with SSA Group and runs through May 31.