Hilo Parks Are Improved Under Woman’s Direction

What a woman park superintendent can do in three weeks is shown by the improvements in local parks accomplished by Mrs. Anna Lai Hipp, member of the park commission for four years, who has been substituting as park superintendent during the past three weeks during the vacation leave of the superintendent, Manuel Tavares. Mrs. Lai Hipp’s duties as acting superintendent end today.

An inspection tour of all the local parks Friday showed definite improvement during the three weeks’ period under Mrs. Lai Hipp.

And the best part of it all is that Mrs. Lai Hipp brought about the improvements with the same group of men who are always kept at work in the parks and with the same amount of money allotted for the work.

Perhaps the best piece of improvement work done by Mrs. Lai Hipp was Reeds bay park where in one day she had the men haul large rocks from Keaukaha which were placed on the boundary lines of the park area. Due to bad weather these stones had not been painted white, but when painted, they will be an added attraction on the park grounds as well as being practical.

“The park commission wants to protect the grass in this park, especially near the Yacht club. Many motorists have built roads on the grass by continually going over it,” Mrs. Lai Hipp said.

Plants in Bloom

At Liliuokalani park the tall weeds and bushes which had almost obstructed the view of the Japanese house from the main road were hauled away. Care has been given the azalea plants and now over 50 plants are in bloom.

On Coconut island scores of full-grown coconut palms have been planted in the places where trees were scarce. The planting was done entirely under Mrs. Lai Hipp’s supervision.

Mooheau park, parts of which were an eyesore, had been Mrs. Lai Hipp’s worry for sometime. Large stumps of trees at the Puna end of the park, which had rotted at the roots, were dug up by wedges and sledge hammers and the holes filled with dirt. Grass will be planted there are a nice lawn will be the result. Large stacks of pipes, rubbish and odds and ends clotted up the entire Puna end toward the beach, and these were hauled away. California grass, “honohono” grass and rubbish were hauled away by the truckloads.

The lovely palm trees lining Kamehameha Ave. in the Shinmachi district in front of the Royal theater were kept in good shape and old leaves trimmed under Mrs. Lai Hipp’s direction. The trees in the Puna end of this small park belong to the Hawaii Consolidated Railway and the Hilo Iron Works and should be taken care of by them, Mrs. Lai Hipp said.

Another piece of good work done by Mrs. Lai Hipp is at Rainbow Falls park where two trees which were too close to the Hilo Memorial hospital nurses’ cottage were cut down and truckloads of grass were taken away. Weeds had covered the lovely stone walks in the park and Mrs. Lai Hipp saw to it that they were pulled out.

For the past three weeks Mrs. Lai Hipp has visited and superintended the work in all the local parks at least twice a day. Hedges have been trimmed, grass pulled out, rubbish hauled away and new tree planted—all during the short space of three weeks along with the routine work the park workers do in lawnmowing the grass and picking up rubbish.

(Hoku o Hawaii, 3/24/1937, p. 1)

Ka Hoku o Hawaii, Volume XXXI, Number 48, Aoao 1. Maraki 24, 1937.