Kaimuki Tree Won’t Shine This Christmas

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After 25 years of perching atop Pu’u-o-Kaimuki, the iconic Christmas tree adored by so many in the community will not shine this year.

Kaimuki residents were informed recently that the city will not return to the Top of the Hill to decorate the tree as the cost for the crew for several hours would be approximately $10,000 - a figure of which no one in the community seems to know the source.

Without the city’s help, the parts for the 30-foot tree cannot be hoisted up the 45- to-50-foot pole to be installed. Traditionally, the tree-lighting ceremony has been the grand finale of the annual Kaimuki Christmas Parade. This year, the parade likely will start without a lighted tree at 6 p.m. Dec. 3 on the Chaminade campus, then move up Waialae Avenue to Koko Head and end near the fire station.

“The problem is that the tree has always been on city park land, and recently they (city officials) said they just couldn’t help anymore,” explained Ginny Meade, Kaimuki Neighborhood Board member and community facilitator.“At our (Oct. 21) meeting, Jay Ishibashi from the mayor’s office said basically that these are tough times and that they don’t think they can afford to help out this year.”

Whether or not the tree will be erected on the hill is still up in the air, as no definitive answer had come from the city at press time.

Over the years the community has brought in new lights, fought corrosion on the pipes, contributed money and kept up overall maintenance on the tree, which is a public-private partnership. In the past two years alone, the community has spent nearly $4,000 in upkeep for the structure.

“For many years we’ve used regular outdoor Christmas lights on the tree, but several years ago we decided to make it a little easier and more energy-efficient, so we got together and put rope lights up and they lasted about six years,” Meade said. “The community also has voiced its willingness to chip in money to get this done; we just need a cherry picker to put this thing up - that’s all!”

Many residents were unaware of the news until the board meeting, Meade said. “They were very dismayed; apparently there was a blurb about it on TV. It ended up being the biggest turnout at a board meeting that we’ve had in years! It certainly brought the community together again and showed how distressed the people are to not have the tree put up after a 25-year run.

“Leonard Tam has been trying to work with the city workmen, and they seemed ready to do this,” she added. “It’s actually almost up now and they only needed to take one more trip up the hill to finish it. That’s when the administration put the brakes on the whole thing.”

Tam, a lifelong Kaimuki resident, said that the issues surrounding the tree have been a concern ever since he got on board with the project in 2001.

“Since the summer of 2008 we’ve been asking to have the tree inspected, and it wasn’t inspected until October 2008,” said Tam, who’s also on the neighborhood board. “At that point, the city decided it wasn’t in good shape so it had to come down. It took only three hours to take it down in February of this year, and I’ve worked on the corrosion control and all the things we could salvage from it since then. We purchased new cables and new hardware and bought new equipment so it would be easier to put it up and take down, and we’ve been asking the city to put it up this entire summer.

“We wanted it up by the end of October, but every once in a while a representative from the mayor’s office would pop in to one of our board meetings and just tell us they can’t do it.

“The mayor has his position, and we have ours. Most of the people felt that the city should put it up, because from what we understand, it’s a city tree on city land that the community pays to maintain, but he feels that it is a private tree, so he says the city can’t help. It only takes about five or six people four hours to put the tree up, plus trucks. Where the mayor got that $10,000 figure no one knows.”

Despite the setback with the city, Tam and others have not given up on the Kaimuki tree. “Hawaiian Electric Company offered to see if they could get enough volunteers to help us do it. They helped us change the lights in 2004 and donated money to help buy the lights back then. They really saved us then, and now they’re going to try again. If not,“he said,“there are a couple other people who’ve volunteered their services and time.”

“It’s really a neat thing to bring this community together,” Meade added, “and Kaimuki is a special place that truly deserves something special like this.”

Letters and phone calls to the mayor’s office about the tree would be greatly appreciated. The next neighborhood board meeting is at 7:15 p.m. Nov. 18 at Liliuokalani Elementary School. For more information, call Meade at 391-4154 or the Neighborhood Commission Office at 768-3710.