Saying nightly closings of Ala Moana Regional Park are popular and are supported by most people in the community, Mayor Mufi Hannemann yesterday announced the closures will be permanent.

Ala Moana is "a much safer, a much cleaner, a much more pleasant park to enjoy for our families," he said yesterday.

Hannemann was immediately criticized by some advocates for the homeless for closing the park without tackling the larger social problem of where some 200 homeless people who had been staying in the park would go. After an outcry from those displaced from the park and their supporters, the state stepped in and opened a temporary shelter at a former storage facility in Kaka'ako.

But Hannemann has been praised by many in the community for his action. He said the homeless are welcome during daylight hours, as are all park goers, but must clear out at night.

"The park is for everyone, not just one segment of the population," Hannemann said.

He said city officials will continue to look to the state to lead on this issue but will partner to help with homeless issues.

The city began closing the park on March 27 to make renovations and repairs. Officials then announced the arrangement might become permanent, however, based on positive community reaction.

Advocate Darlene Hein, of the Waikiki Health Center, said the city's action did not come as a surprise.

"But it's sad that the answer to homelessness is to close parks instead of working on a real solution," she said.

And Utu Langi, who manages the temporary state shelter where many of the displaced homeless went, said he expects to find out within the next week whether others who might have been waiting elsewhere for the park to reopen now would be seeking shelter.

"But we are maxed out," he said. "We cannot take any more people."

Langi said his state contract to run the shelter lapses sometime next spring.

Gov. Linda Lingle was on Maui yesterday, and her spokesman, Russell Pang, said she would have no comment on a city decision to close a city park.

Lingle, however, won praise from advocates for the homeless when the state opened the Next Step project to help those displaced from Ala Moana Park and other homeless in a 36,000-square-foot Kaka'ako warehouse.

Pang said the Next Step shelter is at capacity, with about 300 people, and it can't accommodate any more individuals now.

Pang said there is no deadline on when the state's temporary shelter will close.

Besides wide community support, Hannemann said, the park closing won the support of the Ala Moana-Kaka'ako Neighborhood Board and the city Board of Parks and Recreation.

City Parks Director Lester Chang said the 119-acre park and the park road will be closed to the public from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. nightly. That will end up extending by two hours the hours of the Magic Island parking lot, which for years routinely closed at 8 p.m., he said.

Chang said there will be one exception to the nightly closure of the park: July 3, when thousands of people who traditionally stake out a space for the Fourth of July fireworks show can arrive early.

Honolulu Councilman Charles Djou, who represents the Waikiki-East Honolulu district, praised Hannemann's decision to permanently close Ala Moana Park during the late-evening and early-morning hours.

"The night park closure helps keep Ala Moana Park safe and beautiful," Djou said. "This park should be welcoming to all families to enjoy, and the evening park closures helps further this goal."

Reach Robbie Dingeman at rdingeman@honoluluadvertiser.com.