Some of Waikiki’s best unobstructed sunset views — think piña coladas and local musicians under strings of lights — used to come from the seating area outside Barefoot Beach Cafe.

Now, customers look over a 100-foot stretch of sidewalk surrounded by a chainlink fence, barricading hunks of concrete that recently collapsed after years of erosion into the beach below.

When the fencing went up earlier this year, customers would ask employees at Barefoot Beach Cafe how long it would be until things would be fixed. “Now, they kind of like, maybe get used to it,” shift lead Mitzi White said.

And the cafe staff don’t have an answer when asked how long it’ll be until the sidewalk can be fixed.

The sidewalk, along Queen’s Beach, is city property. The city doesn’t know the answer either. 

Its contractor, Sea Engineering Inc., is working on a repair plan for the seawall and sidewalk for the Department of Parks and Recreation and the Department of Design and Construction, parks spokesperson Nate Serota said.

The plan, however, needs a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which is required whenever the city wants to perform work in the water, city spokesperson Ian Scheuring said. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers did not respond to a request for comment.

In the meantime, cafegoers will continue to watch the sunset through the chainlink fence.

Who Is Responsible

Honolulu parks director Laura Thielen, (808) 768-3003, and city construction director Haku Milles, (808) 768-8480.

Civil Beat will check back in the near future.

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Fix It!

Fix It! is a reader-driven column focused on solving everyday obstacles — the inoperable and the inefficient amenity, the mundane and major facility fail that escapes the attention of government agencies, but affects our quality of life.

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