Dismantling Haʻikū Stairs Is Urgent Safety Issue, City Says In Court Filing

By Ben Angarone / February 26, 2025

Honolulu is using a viral video of trespassers throwing a section of Haʻikū Stairs from the hike’s summit to try and get an expedited court ruling on whether the city can dismantle the stairs.

The dramatic act of vandalism took place after the city stopped providing 24/7 security around the closed illegal trail for financial and staffing reasons. The city spent almost $2 million in overtime for police officers guarding the stairs between June and December, according to a Wednesday court filing by the City and County of Honolulu.

The city started dismantling the hike, a scenic World War II-era installation rising more than 2,000 feet above Kāneʻohe, in 2024, but was forced to pause the effort amid an ongoing legal battle.

The current legal drama around Haʻikū Stairs has lasted about a year and a half, with two lawsuits by Friends of Haʻikū Stairs challenging the city’s dismantling of them. The first lawsuit is related to environmental protection and the second focuses on historic preservation.

Friends of Haʻikū Stairs asked a judge to halt the city’s dismantling of the stairs, but its requests were denied in both cases. The group appealed the denial of its environmental protection lawsuit, and in June the Intermediate Court of Appeals forced the city to stop removing the stairs while it contemplated the appeal.

Many of the stairs remain. That poses a public safety hazard, the city argues, because it means people still want to hike the trail despite many sections already being dismantled.

To stop trespassers, the city positioned police officers on both the Kāneʻohe side of the ridge and on the Moanalua side, where a different trail — which is now also closed — had served as the legal backway to the same summit as Haʻikū Stairs, known across social media as Stairway to Heaven. Police made over 120 arrests between June and December, according to the court filing.

But the city has a shortage of more than 400 police officers and providing a round-the-clock police presence required more than 22,000 personnel hours and almost $2 million in overtime, Aaron Takasaki-Young, an Assistant Chief of the Honolulu Police Department, said in a court document. 

“Given its current staffing shortage, HPD simply cannot continue to allocate thousands of personnel hours every month to secure the Stairs,” Takasaki-Young said. 

The appeals court’s June decision to halt dismantling was based on a specific question: Did the lower circuit court commit procedural error while ruling on the environmental protection lawsuit? 

It weighed Friends of Haʻikū Stairs’ chance of success on the procedural claim, deciding the chance is high enough to halt dismantling until the court makes a full ruling.

If the appeals court expedites the case, it may uphold the lower court’s decision — which was in the city’s favor — or it may require the lower court to reevaluate the merits of the Friends’ original claim, which argues that the city’s decision to dismantle the stairs violates environmental protection laws.

Remanding the case to the lower court could mean a faster ruling since the circuit court tends to move quicker than the appeals court, though the final ruling could still halt the city’s dismantling of the stairs.

If the lower court rules against the city, it could hire a private security firm until a new environmental impact statement is completed. Then it could resume dismantling the stairs.

“The Haʻikū Stairs remain extraordinarily dangerous for anyone found to be risking arrest and prosecution by trespassing in the area,” spokesperson Ian Scheuring said in a statement.

Justin Scorza, vice president of Friends of Haiku Stairs, said in a text message that the city has been “recklessly spending” tax dollars on police to run up the costs of the stairs.

“They think this makes their case look better in court,” Scorza wrote, but the irony is it would cost zero dollars to re-open the stairs under our managed access proposal and our proposal would solve the trespassing problem too.”

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