Barber's Point Beach Park

About once a year I take the kids (or one of the kids) with me to work.  For various reasons today, March 1, turned out to be a good time for this.  Last night I asked M and T if they would like to come with me today and they were eager to come along.  It was going to be a long day so I decided to first take them by a new (to us) park in the morning for a bit.  We went to Barber's Point Beach Park.  It happens to be in a very industrial part of Oahu, with oil refineries, etc.  There is also a lighthouse there that I think it is named after.

Here is the lighthouse (white) in the background with some radio towers off to the right.

When we pulled into the parking lot a steel recycling plant was visible right next to the park.  There was a huge pile of metal and a "claw" picking up pieces and putting them on a belt.  I thought it was a interesting juxtaposition, an industrial plant with twisted rusted metal next to a park with picnic tables and the beach.  So I took a picture of the kids with the plant in the background and talked to them about how they were recycling metal to use again. 

M has her ears plugged because it was noisy (and both the kids complained that it smelled funny). This is not the best picture in the world, and normally I probably would not have posted it. 

Then we started walking toward the beach.

Part way there (seconds after the walk to the beach picture above) a truck pulled up quickly in the parking lot, parked diagonally across two spaces, and a man jumped out and came toward us.  He shouted "stop" half way to us as we were walking to the beach.  I stopped, looked at him, and said "yes?"  The kids sensed he was being aggressive and moved behind me.  He was wearing jeans and a fluorescent shirt that looked like it could be a work outfit.  He walked right up in front of us, blocking the direction we were going (the beach) and said we were not allowed to take pictures of "the plant."  I said OK, don't worry, we're going over to the beach.  He said he needed me to delete the pictures.  I asked why and he repeated we were not allowed to take pictures.  I said this is a public park and he said he needed to see me delete the pictures while glancing down at my camera.  I wrapped up my camera, put it in my bag, clipped it shut and told him I was not deleting my pictures.  All this time he is inching closer to me with an aggressive stance and is right in my face.  He said "who are you with?"  "What" I ask perplexed and he says "tell me who you're with." I say "I am with my kids."  He says, you have to delete those pictures and I need to see you do it.  (He keeps cutting me off and saying things before I complete my sentences.)  I try to diffuse the situation by telling him to calm down; we're not doing anything wrong; I am at a public park with my kids.  He is a very big guy that is obviously trying to intimidate me.  He doesn't back down and it is getting worse so I tell the kids, "go to the car" and turn to walk quickly behind them back to our van.  He follows on my heels saying something but I don't stop to turn around.  To the kids credit they do exactly as I say immediately without argument.  They are in the van buckled to go as I get in.  The crazy employee jumps back in his truck and pulls to the end of the drive to the park and pauses there, just out in the road, watching us.  (I wonder if he is going to try to block us in.)  He waits until I back the van up to turn around; then he pulls away back toward the recycling plant.  Then we leave.  (Perhaps he was waiting to harass us more if we didn't leave--from a public park that we had every right to be in.)  This is essentially the first real negative interaction I have had with anyone in Hawai'i. 

(Before this the worst was overhearing "Haole" (Hawaiian derogatory term for white/European people) as I walked by, but I had no idea if it was directed at me and it is easy to shrug off since I have put up with that kind of thing before in other places.  Also, I've only heard this a couple times over six months.)

By the way, there is a lot of information available about the legal rights of photographers in public places with references to exactly this type of situation.  Here is a link, and here. 

After this incident I look them up.  Below is a map of the park from a google earth screenshot.  

On the far left you can see the white lighthouse.  In the middle is the park.  To the right is the steel recycling plant.  It is Schnitzer Steel Hawaii Corp.  They have a website (http://www.hawaiimetalrecycling.com/).  This is a local branch owned by Schnitzer Steel Industries, Inc. (http://www.schnitzersteel.com/).  They have public outreach plans for Earth Day 2012 (link) and local company history (link).  On the main website there is info for investors and even a list of "values" of the company.  I wonder if the executives know that their employees are harassing families at the park next door? 

It might be fun if a flash mob of people showed up to take pictures of the plant from the park.  Any suggestions on a date and time?

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Update: If anyone is interested there are much better pictures of the plant taken by other people and available online.  Here are a few:

 By Jimmy Havok at Panoramio. 

By Amy at her blog. 

At the state Department of Enviromental Services. 

Also at the state DES. 

Also, I came across this article.  It turns out that this Schnitzer Steel scrap yard get a yearly $1.9 million dollar subsidy from the city of Honolulu and that it is using the subsidy to undercut competitors like Paragon Metals and maintain a monopoly on the island.  (Also see here for unfair advantages given to this company over competitors.)  In reading more about this company, it is clear they are working hard to improve their public image by doing recycling outreach to the community, cutting up discarded fishing nets, recycling tires, etc.  And recycling is vitally important in general (I was trying to talk to my kids about recycling using the steel scrap piles as an example when this all started).  However, I found out they have also been taken to court for allegedly dumping recyclables into the city landfill.  And here is an article where a court injunction is being sought to stop them from dumping mercury into an Oahu landfill to save money (and their competitors who do not do this are being penalized, link).  Despite this unfair advantage, stock rating companies have noted that Schnizter Steel (SCHN) has low cash flow and dividends, which makes it unattractive from an investment perspective compared to rivals.  It appears that there is quite a bit of intrigue going on with this company.  It is also ironic that their actions to avoid attention (harassing us in the park) has led to me being more curious about what is going on over there.  If they repeat this with enough people and other organizations Schnitzer Steel may come to understand what Oogway meant in Kung Fu Panda, "One often meets his destiny on the road he takes to avoid it."