In 1945, my father was a Navy lieutenant quartered in bachelor officer’s quarters at the Moana Hotel. From the pictures in his scrapbooks and from what he told me, he spent a fair amount of his off-duty time with the Hawaiians living in the Waikiki Jungle.

In 1990, I was a member of the Downtown Neighborhood Board and was approached by a friend of mine in the city’s parks department to recommend a beautification project for Chinatown. Remembering my dad’s photos of the beautiful bougainvillea bushes that grew along the mauka side of the Ala Wai Canal, I recommended bougainvillea planters be built along the banks of the Nuuanu Stream. My suggestion was accepted and for several years bougainvillea bushes graced both banks of the stream.

Today, all that remains are empty planters, some of them damaged.

The lesson from this is that government likes to spend money to build new things but hates to spend enough money to properly maintain existing facilities. Remember this when the rail starts running.

Andrew Rothstein

Chinatown

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