MEDIA RELEASE

Hawai‘i County Department of Parks and Recreation is informing the public that the women’s restroom at Ainaola Park will be closed until further notice due to vandalism that occurred in the early morning hours of October 2, 2019.

“Unfortunately, someone started a fire in the women’s bathroom at Ainaola Park, rendering it unusable.  We have activities scheduled in the park this weekend, so in an attempt to minimize disruption of services to the public, our in-house carpenters will work on a temporary fix to get the bathroom up and running by Friday,” said Maurice Messina, Deputy Director of Parks and Recreation.

“When we have to pull our crews from other projects to tackle issues related to vandalism, it puts us behind schedule and the park users are the ones who suffer.  Regrettably, vandalism and property damage at County park facilities has increased and we share the public’s frustration at the lack of community pride and consideration of others when something like this happens.  Our preliminary estimates for damage is approximately $1,000.  If you have any information about who could have done this, please contact the Police Department,” Messina said.

To report information about this incident, please contact the Police non-emergency number at 935-3311.

If property damage or vandalism is found at any of your parks and beaches, please inform Parks and Recreation as soon as possible at (808) 961-8311.