Citing public safety and department policy, the county Department of Parks and Recreation is enforcing the removal of signs from the premises of Lincoln Park in downtown Hilo.
Citing public safety and department policy, the county Department of Parks and Recreation is enforcing the removal of signs from the premises of Lincoln Park in downtown Hilo.
The signs in question were put up by James Borden, who first began displaying signs containing anti-Islam, anti-President Barack Obama and anti-homosexuality messages from his pickup truck outside the park about five years ago.
In the past year, the signs displayed more anti-abortion rhetoric, a decision Borden has said was prompted by a calling from the Holy Ghost. Borden also began affixing signs and a large cross to the fence around Lincoln Park, and placing signs and pennants inside the park grounds.
The signs have drawn criticism from residents since they were first put on display. Last spring, a group of parents and residents called Take Back Lincoln Park began counter-protesting, objecting to the graphic nature of the anti-abortion signs and their location at a park intended for children.
Parks and Recreation Director Clayton Honma said Tuesday the decision was made last week to enforce a policy that requires people to have permits before posting signage or banners at park facilities.
“We’ve enforced it, and everybody’s responded and been cooperative,” he said. “Mr. Borden has cooperated with us so far.”
“It just doesn’t belong at a kids’ park,” said Pepe Romero of the group Aloha Na Keiki, which picked up on the Take Back Lincoln Park effort in the winter. Romero, a Hilo sound engineer and event promoter, led a Dec. 30 counter-protest and removed the signage himself from Lincoln Park’s fence.
He said that he had been prepared to be arrested for taking the signs down.
“The signage got so out of hand, and he was using PVC piping,” Romero said. “Even the small signs that were embedded in the grass — can you imagine if a kid falls?”
Romero said he met with Mayor Billy Kenoi and a county attorney the Monday after the December protest to discuss the signs.
“I had the momentum, so I wanted to keep pushing,” he said.
“It was basically a parks administration ruling,” said Char Shigemura, an executive assistant for Kenoi. “The mayor is aware of the situation … the bottom line is it was a public safety issue.”
“We had some public complaints, as well as meetings with Pepe’s group,” Honma said. “He (Romero) had a separate meeting with the mayor — for us, it’s an administrative action that we try to enforce at all of our parks.”
Honma said the department has previously removed banners from soccer fields that were not in compliance with the code.
“We’ve done it everywhere,” he said.
Reached on Tuesday, Borden said he been prompted by the Holy Ghost to remove the signs the week before the parks department and two police officers approached him.
“Let me make something really clear,” he said. “I decided to take the signs down before they asked me to take them down … I told them that my point was made.”
Borden said that for the “foreseeable future” he would continue to park his truck outside the park and display one white cross and one banner on the vehicle. He said he had “no complaints” about county government.
Romero called the enforcement decision a good start.
“It doesn’t take away his (Borden’s) First Amendment rights, and it gets the ugly signs out of there,” he said.
Email Ivy Ashe at iashe@hawaiitribune-herald.com.