One year ago, local used-car dealer Bob Emami was elated when the city was authorized to forcefully acquire eight streets in Kakaako where two brothers who claim ownership have made their own roadside parking rules. But the degree of progress is frustrating Emami now.

The owner of The Car Store on Kawaiahao Street complained in a September letter to Mayor Kirk Caldwell that his administration was failing to carry out a City Council resolution to condemn the streets that largely surround 10 blocks and include a portion of Queen Street, a major thoroughfare.

Emami also contended in his letter that he met with Robert Kroning, director of the city Department of Design and Construction, and that Kroning told him there was administration opposition to condemnation and that no progress had been made.

Caldwell wrote back in September to say that Kroning’s department had begun work on “pre-condemnation fact gathering.”

It’s not clear what specific work has been done in the last year.

In a written statement Friday, Kroning said work began in July on pre-condemnation requirements including conducting a survey of the roads, preparing property maps and descriptions, conducting title searches and appraising the value of the roads.

City spokesman Andrew Pereira said none of the pre-condemnation work has been completed.

Emami remains unconvinced that the city is moving to take over the eight streets, which he said last week is even more important given the struggles with state legislative efforts to deal with the issue and a lawsuit filed in 2014 challenging the private ownership of the streets.

“It doesn’t look good,” Emami said in an email. “The only hope now we have is the (condemnation).”

The City Council adopted Resolution 16-213 on Dec. 1, 2016, authorizing and encouraging the city to acquire portions of eight streets through condemnation, or eminent domain.

The property to be acquired is whole or partial segments of Queen, Kawaiahao, Ilaniwai, Waimanu, Curtis, Dreier, Cummins and Kamakee streets claimed by Kakaako Land Co., a company owned by Calvert and Cedric Chun.

Kroning last year told the City Council that he estimated it could take a little more than 2-1/2 years to complete the condemnation process. Despite the long timetable, Emami and others expected a solution was coming.

Condemnation is a process whereby the city can force landowners to sell their property for a public purpose, and it can involve contested litigation. An amicable sale agreement also is possible.

Previously, the Chun brothers indicated they were willing to consider offers to buy the eight streets. The city has not made an offer, Pereira said.

The Chuns contend they bought the streets in 1985 from the last remaining heir of Charles S. Desky, a man who subdivided sections of Kakaako more than 100 years ago.

The brothers paid the heir $5,000 plus returns equal to 25 percent of rental income from the streets, and in return they recorded a quitclaim deed. Such deeds aren’t uncommon for Hawaii property transactions, but they don’t offer warranties against there being other ownership interests in the property.

In 2010, Kakaako Land began reserving and charging for street parking that had long been free, including spaces fronting many small businesses. Area businesses and residents complained about the restrictive parking, about streets not being maintained and about other safety issues, including parking in areas that the city once prohibited.

Seven small businesses sued Kakaako Land in 2014, challenging its ownership claim. The complaint argues that Desky abandoned his interest after five years of no ownership acts; that the streets were automatically dedicated to the public when Desky sold subdivided lots; and that others obtained parking areas through “adverse possession” by consistently occupying the space.

The lawsuit also claims that Desky dedicated the streets to the Territory of Hawaii, as evidenced by a 1903 joint territorial House and Senate resolution directing the superintendent of public works to accept a deed for eight streets from a willing Desky at no charge. However, there is no evidence a deed was ever conveyed to the territory.

A trial on the ownership issue is scheduled for July.

On Tuesday, the city announced that it had been dismissed as a defendant in the case, and that Circuit Judge Jeffrey Crabtree denied a motion by the plaintiffs to declare the state the owner of the streets.

State lawmakers have made their own attempts at prying the streets from Kakaako Land, but those efforts have largely fizzled.

The Legislature last year passed a law that retroactively declared the 1903 resolution as enough to convey ownership of the streets to the state. But using this law was problematic.

Lawmakers also passed a law last year to form a disputed roads commission that was supposed to find solutions to situations like the one in Kakaako. But the commission was never formed, and a new disputed road resolution process established this year as Act 208 doesn’t appear to apply to roads controlled by Kakaako Land.

So Emami and others will continue to push for condemnation.