Things are looking up for Downtown Honolulu, after suffering a pronounced slump during and after the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown. Private investors and developers are stepping up to bet on a lively — and more definitively residential — character for the district. More new projects are coming, near and around Fort Street Mall, and at the adjacent downtown Union Mall, including a highly anticipated new residential and commercial venue at the site of downtown’s former Walmart.
With transformation at hand, it’s high time for businesses lining the Fort Street and Union pedestrian malls to join in the move for improvements, and re-envision the experience visitors to their addresses encounter. This could improve users’ experiences and improve safety while also boosting commerce, strengthening downtown’s viability as a “live-work-play” mixed-use neighborhood.
The City Council’s new Resolution 203 is a welcome move to facilitate that. It calls for placing the city’s Department of Transportation Services (DTS) in charge of permits for using the walkways, rather than the current authority, the city Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR).
The resolution, introduced by City Councilmember Tyler Dos Santos-Tam last week with the backing of the Fort Street Mall Business Improvement District Association (BIDA), calls on Mayor Rick Blangiardi to start the ball rolling, as his executive authority allows. This initiative squares closely with the mayor’s oft-pledged support for an invigorated Downtown and Chinatown, and Blangiardi should work with the Council and city departments to get this done.
At present, uses allowed by DPR are far more restrictive than can be permitted for public streets under DTS authority. “Fort Street Mall and Union Mall are subject to restrictions … such as limitations on outdoor dining, sidewalk sales, and the number and frequency of events, that may hamper the development of business promotion activities … and the revitalization of downtown Honolulu,” the resolution says — and that is largely correct, though understated.
DPR restrictions clearly hamper creative “activations” that bring interest and energy to a block, such as sidewalk seating, kiosks — even if temporary — or street fair-like events that could serve to draw new potential customers and even residents, because they are deemed commercial activities. Dos Santos-Tam argues, correctly, that these restrictions make sense in Honolulu’s parks, but not along a commercial strip.
“The only regular activity that happens on top of the activity from the restaurants and shops along Fort Street Mall is the twice-weekly farmers market,” Dos Santos-Tam told the Star-Advertiser.
BIDA Executive Director Ed Korybski said Resolution 203 lays the groundwork for economic revitalization, calling Fort Street Mall “a place with huge potential — to be a hub for things like lunch breaks and weekend brunch spots.”
Korybski also suggests that opening Fort Street up again to limited vehicle traffic could benefit merchants. “Case studies from across America” show pedestrian malls like Fort Street Mall, built in the ’60s and ’70s, have ditched their no-cars rules, he said: “It just means more vibrancy and it’s better for retail, and you can do pickup and delivery.”
Any such details on what’s allowed on these corridors, including transportation options, would be “hashed out in the legislative process and rulemaking,” Dos Santos-
Tam said.
Resolution 203 is a fledgling step toward positive change, and it also addresses Dos Santos-Tam’s pledge to eliminate overregulation, which can throttle not only growth, but also the development of sorely needed additional housing. “It takes two places with a lot of potential — Fort Street and Union malls — and unsticks them from overregulation,” he stated. “The change could have a number of positive impacts.”
Mayor Blangiardi and the Council can benefit the area by running with it.
