The city is adding three new parks this month, but unless you live nearby, it is unlikely you will ever see them.

They are "pocket parks," tiny public playgrounds squeezed into vacant lots in crowded urban areas to give residents a place to escape their apartment buildings and sit outside in the open air.

And while the new facilities will raise the number of public parks to 293 — covering a total of 5,275 acres — none has baseball or soccer fields or comfort stations, and only one, the Smith-Beretania Park, has parking. (And that's only because it was built above a municipal lot.)

None would exist today without the dedication of local residents who fought for years for their small stretch of green space.

"People say, 'What is the purpose?'" said Les Chang, City Parks and Recreation director. "We are not really looking at people spending an extended time there. We are looking at people coming by, especially in urban areas, just to have a place to walk that is not on the street. Where you don't have to dodge cars, have some greenery, a bench or two to sit on and a place to gather with their families."

Ron Lockwood, who lives near Kalo Place park and is chairman of the McCully/Mo'ili'ili Neighborhood Board, said the process to get their pocket park started seven years ago, when his daughter came home crying one day because she and her friends had no place outside to play.

"They just had no place to play except in the culvert next to the freeway," Lockwood said. "Myself and four or five other like-minded people decided we needed a park in the area."

A one-acre property that had been used for gas storage tanks on Kalo Place and owned by Kamehameha Schools was being looked at for a 20-story dormitory, and the residents saw an opportunity. The city agreed and acquired the property.

"Seven years of meetings and beating our heads against the wall, but it was worth it," he said.

The park has picnic benches, a pathway, grassy areas and a water fountain.

"The whole concept was for a place to sit and enjoy," Lockwood said. "People are reading and having fun. Nothing is better than seeing seven or eight sixth-graders out playing football with dads."

INVOLVED COMMUNITY

Karl Kim, a professor and chairman of urban and regional planning at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa, said community involvement and stewardship are critical to the success of a pocket park.

"That's an important part," Kim said. "Because they are small, they are sometimes difficult for the city to maintain and keep up."

Kim said the tiny parks have proved successful in urban areas on the Mainland and in Europe.

Parks director Chang said the city has developed dozens of mini-parks in urban Honolulu, where there is an open space and the need. Roving crews and neighborhood volunteers take care of the maintenance.

"Every neighborhood could say we want our pocket park, but not every neighborhood has the land availability," he said. "A lot of things have to fall into place. I personally would rather have the larger parks. You can have a lot more flexibility and activities. From our mini neighborhood parks to our regional parks, there are parks for everybody. That is why they are important. It is a part of the picture."

The city has plans for another pocket park on Aloha Drive in Waikiki, but it is being used as a construction baseyard.

YEARS IN THE MAKING

Pele Street park is the smallest of the three new pocket parks, but is perhaps the most needed.

The park is on a 5,583-square-foot parcel at the end of Pele Street next to H-1 Freeway. It was owned by the state Department of Transportation and was used to park vehicles during construction projects.

Residents on the makai slopes of Punchbowl have worked for more than four years to bring a park to their neighborhood so children don't have to play in the streets.

"For years, the keiki in the neighborhood have been playing in the street, particularly at the corner of Lusitana Street and Pele Street," said Karl Rhoads, a Downtown Neighborhood Board member who had championed the project. "They have no equipment to play on, but more importantly it is dangerous for them to play in the street. Pele Street park will give them a safe and convenient place to play, and will provide playground equipment."

Several children have been hit by cars in the three-block patchwork of older houses and small apartments within the triangle formed by Vineyard Boulevard, Punchbowl Street and H-1 Freeway. In the worst accident, a 3-year-old boy suffered a broken leg in 2001 when a vehicle hit him while he was playing in the street.

Downtown residents have waited for more than 20 years for the Smith-Beretania park to be built.

The unfinished park opened on Oct. 31, 2003, and a blessing on Wednesday celebrated the completion of the final element, the children's play apparatus.

"Smith-Beretania Park has been a huge success," Rhoads said. "If you go over in the evening, the kupuna are doing their exercises, the small-kine keiki are playing on the playground equipment, and the older kids are shooting hoops. It has provided a place for families to go together close to their homes, and Pele Street Park will do the same thing for that neighborhood."

Lynne Matusow, chairwoman of the Downtown Neighborhood Board, said residents do have concerns about drug activity outside Smith-Beretania Park along Pauahi Street, but added that increased police foot patrols in the area has helped stem the problem.

Rhoads said the need for green space in Downtown/Chinatown is growing, with a population of 14,570 people in 2000 and only 8.26 acres of park in the area.

"Every new condo tower that goes up brings in hundreds of new residents and we are already short of park space," he said. "The city's long-range plan for parks indicates that the goal is two acres of park per 1,000 residents. Thus, the downtown board area should have approximately 30 acres of park space."

Reach James Gonser at jgonser@honoluluadvertiser.com.