I don’t see how limiting free speech by permits to a chosen few solves the problem of sidewalk congestion on the mauka side of Kalakaua Avenue — because even one can create a bottleneck, and is more likely to occur if they’re not dispersed among different venues.
It seems like it is time to move all that free entertainment and enterprises to the other side of the street after dark — to that area beginning with the police station all the way on down as far as they want to go — which is underutilized at that time. Victoria, B.C., Canada does that — creates a whole free zone of expression and activity by the waterfront, so that the rent-paying businesses won’t be obstructed and interfered with. They have rights too, you know — and they pay a lot for them, and the city can provide a free zone that hasn’t existed before, for basically no charge, that can accommodate all the speech and expression one wants to. That is a wonderful opportunity waiting to be realized.
The mayor’s solution, as I understand it, does not solve anything — which pleases the ACLU.
”’Mike Hu is a resident of Honolulu and can be reached via email at:”’ mailto:humikhu@aol.com