Friends of Kewalo Invites the Public to its Mahalo Rally

Kaka’ako Gateway Park at the Corner of Ala Moana Blvd. and Cooke St. March 8th, 2025,  9 am – 12 pm

News release from Friends of Kewalo, March 5, 2025

(Honolulu, Hawai’i) Friends of Kewalo invites the public to its Mahalo Rally on Saturday March 8 th from 9 am to 12 pm at Kaka’ako Gateway Park at the corner of Ala Moana Blvd and Cooke Street. Hundreds of Kewalo Basin Parkgoers and community members will gather to celebrate the death of bill SB 534 for this legislative session. This bill would have changed the law to allow residential development up to 400 ft tall in Kaka’ako Makai. All our efforts have paid off to retain the law and Protect Open Spaces for Hawaii's Future Generations. We will continue to stay diligent for the next one. We ask that the attending community members wear their red shirts, bring a hat, sunglasses, and their own water bottles as this is a plastic free event. We will also be making MAHALO signs on site.

The issue: protecting open spaces for Hawaii’s future generations by preserving the law that bans residential development in Kaka’ako Makai. OHA introduced three bills SB534, HB605, and SB211 this legislative session. A 2006 Hawaii State Law protects the land from residential development. Friends of Kewalo, a 501 (c)(3) grassroots non-profit, along with partner community organizations lobbied for the passage of the law. “The Kaka‘ako Makai area has a lot of complex environmental concerns due to its history as a garbage incinerator and dump site. The fact that the EPA has labeled it a “Brownfield” already indicates potential contamination. Without a proper Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), it is hard to assess the long-term risks that development might pose to both the local environment and community health,” says Friends of Kewalos Board Member, Darren Tanaka. For full petition, see >>> "protect-open-spaces-for-future-generations" <<<.

Friends of Kewalo is a non-profit organization formed by and comprised of recreational users of the Kewalo Basin Park “Kewalos” area. Its mission is to Protect, Preserve, and Malama Kewalo Basin Park and the surrounding shoreline and ocean, to ensure that the recreational user will continue to have access and the ability to enjoy the area for future generations to come. For more information visit www.friendsofkewalos.org.

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Mar 4, 2025: OHA Scam Fails Again: Senators kill bill lifting residential ban on Kakaʻako Makai