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In October 2025, Honolulu residents living near Mau'umae Nature Park were surprised to learn (from newspaper and TV reports) that the City had agreed to let a private organization build a Kyudo (Japanese archery) dojo in the park.  At first many of us were intrigued by the idea, but as we examined the ramifications of the project, as well as the rather suspect process that led to it, we gradually unified against it.

At this writing there are over 1000 signatures on a petition opposing this kyudojo, and a recent survey by City Council chair Tommy Waters shows 78% of the local residents oppose it.

Here are some of the issues:

• The project will give control over a substantial part of a public park to a small private organization (while liability will remain with the City).
• A substantial fraction of the flat area of this park will be fenced off from general use.
• The proposal is antithetical to the historical mission of the park as a "nature park", formed from a gift of conservation land from the State to the City and developed using local volunteer labor. The park's master plan in 2002 soundly rejected a similar (but far less obtrusive) proposal because it was not consistent with the spirit of the park.
• The project has been agreed without an Environmental Impact Statement. Concerns about safety, flooding and traffic, casually dismissed by the proposers, will not be addressed by an independent third party.
• The process has been exceptionally opaque.  The agreement was signed in May 2025, it didn't come before the Neighborhood Board until October 2025, and most residents of the immediate vicinity were never made aware of it either by the City, the Board, or the proposers.
• The proposers have repeatedly misrepresented the degree to which the public will be able to use the facility.
• Nobody involved in the project has any connection to the neighborhood.

Neighbors of Mau'umae Nature Park would love to see the park developed to its full potential as a public Nature Park, serving residents from all over the island.  We do not believe that public greenspace, increasingly rare on the island, should be paved over, built on, fenced in, and handed over to private interests for boutique uses.  And we are disappointed that until the Waters survey there was no serious effort to gauge the feelings of the community, and perplexed that---now that it is known that the community is so strongly opposed---anyone would still want to proceed with it. 

If you agree, there is a petition you can sign.

At this website we will continue to collect public documents concerning the project, and try to elaborate on some of the issues detailed above.