The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1906-03-15
Full Text OF OF the Docu-
ment That Will! Be
Presented to Board
of Supervisors and to
the Promotion Com
mittee by the Gentle
man Brought here
to Study the Cily's
scenic Possibilities.
BY CHARLES MULFORD ROBINSON.
IMPROVEMENT OF HONOLULU

To the Honorable The Board of Super
visors, County of Oahu, Hawaii
Territory.
Gentlemen: In accordance with your
request, l have examined the city of
Honolulu and it's Immediately tributary
country, with view to making recon-
mendations and suggestions for its i'm
provement. / understand that in max
ing recommendations which may be
called practicable, l am not restricted
to the immediately possible, but am
asked TO lay down plan for the coun-
ty to work toward in the years to
some. The idea, I take it, is to accom-
plish at once so much as may be, max
ing sure the while that each step, how
ever little, counts in the right direc-
tion, toward the realization of COM
plete and systematic scheme.
The word Improvement / do NOT
interpret as meaning an attempt to en-
hanee the extraordinary natural beauty
that has been spread around you, but
the increase of its accessibility and the
silencing of jarring notes. My errand
is not to ''paint the lily that cam
not successfully be done; but, rather, to
facilitate the enjoyment of it. For
this reason, / find the special emphasis
in my report appearing very naturally
on your parks and drives. But before
coming to specific recommendations,
there are certain general considerations
that / desire to call to your attention
and that are to be regarded as a part
of the report.
GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.
Among these 1 might fttingly, and
pleasantly, include a discussion of the
future of Honolulu, as the playground
of the well-to-do and the popular stop
ping point for the. tourist travel that
is to flow in growing volume across the
Pacific. This, however, seems to have
been pretty fully done by others; and
it is much more necessary for you to
take thought of the means by which
YOU viii command such good fortune,
through proving worthy of it, than to
expend your time and mine in prophecy
as to what will happen if you do make
yourselves so attractive that no one
will want TO pass you by without a
visit and that many will come to see
these islands only. In these consider
ations, also, the appeal is to CONNER
cial motives. 1t should be higher.
When all is said, whatever development
is given to Honolulu and to its sur
rounding country, should be first OF all
for the comfort and enjoyment of its
own citizens. They pay the bills, they
live-instead of visiting-here, and in
suggesting improvements for Honolulu
we have to consider what will improve
it for them, make it better worth living
in. add to tie comfort and the pleasure
in life of it's own citizens. If We make
the city more beautiful to them, adding
TO their contentment and happiness, we
a4t 10
strangers For a town is not like a
picture. simply to be looked at and ad-
mired; it is to be lived in, and loved
and the more lovable it is the more
people will come to it.
The lovable quality is personality.
The home is attractive, however modest
its cost, that expresses personality. So
the town, which is the home of many, .
must have an idividuality in keeping
with its citizens, and must express 1t, |
If it is to please them and to attract
Others. And towns do have individual !
ity. There never have been two cities /,
lust alike, and he would be a ruthless
iconoclast who would try to pattern one
city after another. We must preserve
the individuality of Honolulu, or its
charm will depart. Cut through broad
avenues and boulevards, build a hot
and sunny quay, widen your streets ana
straighten them. spend enough money
in such measures hopelessly to bank
rupt the city, and when the work is !
ali done the winsomeness of Honolulu
will have departed, and it viii always :
be spoken of as the town that was
spoiled. So my first charge is, be true
to Yourselves. Do not dream of what
other cities may have done; but, far
isolated from them. develop your own
individuality, be Hawaiian, be more
beautiful Honolulu. Then you will have
distinction, and only then.
DIVISIONS OF THE REPORT.
Now, in considering the city, we
think of it under the following heads:
The business section: the residence
sereets; the city's entrances, at the
railroad station and the waterfront; the
official center, at Palace or Union
Square; the boulevards and parks, that
are now and that ought to be; the