Hawaii Chronicles III: World War Two in Hawaii from the Pages of Paradise of the Pacific

Honolulu Looks at Tomorrow

Honolulu Looks at Tomorrow MAYOR LESTER PETRIE E Honolulu, its municipal machinery geared to war and running with amazing rhythm under conditions that might well be expected to cause it to rattle and clank, operated during its second year of global conflict so as to produce public services adequate to supply the community ’s immediate needs and at the same time prepare for the glowing future that is plainly visible on the horizon that is Peace. War is creating a new destiny for the city it has made the focal center of its own tragic activities in the Pacific area. The Honolulu of yesteryear—the city that rested in placid semiisolation two thousand miles off its United States Mainland—disappeared with the first rending crash of a Jap torpedo at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. In its stead has risen a war center, bristling with arms, crowded with fighting men and those who attend them. Yet this is only a transient phase. A new Honolulu lies ahead, for that which war has begun will, because of the creations of war itself, inevitably be carried forward into the structure of the city’s future life in peace. Development of air transport will be one of the major factors in this change. The distance between Hawaii and the Pacific Coast states has become as nothing, a mere overnight hop for travelers and goods. This American Territory has become in fact, as well as in name, an integral unit of the United States. Not only this, but its geographical location, instead of tending toward isolation as it has in the past,makes Honolulu the near neighbor by air of all the Pacific countries, the natural distribution point from which to serve them, or to police them if need be. During the year just closed, these facts have been kept in mind by the mayor and supervisors, and by the personnel who serve the public under their direction and policies. Every move toward the improve150 First published December 1943. ment and expansion of existing public services, or for the development of new governmental activities, has been made with a view to its utility under future requirements. One of the greatest obstacles overcome by the administration was a paucity of funds. Under existing laws the territorial legislature, in which Honolulu, despite its majority population, has a minority voice, controls municipal finances. Territorial and local taxes are collected through a single agency and are dispersed by legislative order. Sometimes it happens, as it did this year, that the legislators show insufficient concern for local needs and leave the municipality in poverty while the territorial treasury bulges with cash from tax revenues. In spite of legislative disregard for the city’s financial needs, the City and County managed to contrive means of getting some major developments under way and planned others to be achieved when the money is available. With Federal assistance, Honolulu acquired two new rubbish incinerators and made ready for their installation, took the preliminary steps for a master plan for a complete sewerage and sewage disposal system, and extended and improved its suburban water system. It reorganized its rubbish and garbage collection system and its machinery for war rent control. It maintained its parks and playgrounds insofar as was possible while much of their areas is devoted to war purposes; repaired, improved, and renovated public school buildings and grounds throughout the Island of Oahu in accordance with a schedule of operations; and made alterations at the City Hall that increased its office capacity materially. Dim-out street light and traffic signal systems were installed and maintained as soon as military regulations permitted. And special attention was devoted to white line street marking in the interests of safety, particularly for night driving, which is especially important in war. Highway maintenance was carried on as far as materials and manpower permitted,and there was some new road and street construction. Most of the highways outside the city proper are the responsibility of the territorial government, but they present a problem that is community wide. Under the terrific pounding of war traffic, these roads, and some of the city streets that are a problem of the municipality, have deteriorated rapidly. Several of them may have to be rebuilt, and the cost will be tremendous. War!—1943 151 Recognizing the gravity of this situation, the municipal administration invited territorial and Army and Navy authorities to...