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 grup 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.