HONOLULU - John Aiwohi relishes playing volleyball on the white sands of world-famous Waikiki Beach every day.


Security checkpoints, barricades and street closures planned for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference are unprecedented for Waikiki, a tourist haven better known for surfers and mai tais.



"Did they really have to pick Waikiki to come for APEC?" Aiwohi asked during a break before going back on the sand court for a two-on-two game. "It's going to be a hassle. I understand what they're trying to do with this thing, convention and all, but really? Right here?"

Aiwohi, 38, knows people living in Waikiki who are planning to move in with relatives and friends during the meeting to avoid the congestion caused by the 24-hour roadblocks and presidential motorcades.

The conference is hosted by a different member nation or economy each year. Last year, it was in Yokohama, Japan. The last time it was in the U.S, in 1993, President Bill Clinton had it on Blake Island near Seattle.

Officials point out APEC is expected to bring in millions in revenues into this cash-strapped state and priceless attention.



"Even though we live in Hawaii, where the sun is shining and it's beautiful, there are some people who grumble every day," Carlisle said in an interview Friday.

The conference will put Honolulu on the world stage and allow the city to show it's the "Geneva of the Pacific" - or a place where government officials come for face-to-face meetings, he said.




No boats or swimmers will be allowed in the water in front of a half-mile stretch of Waikiki on Nov. 12, the day of the leaders' reception and dinner. That area of the beach is in front of the sprawling 3,543-room Hilton Hawaiian Village - the state's biggest hotel - and Hale Koa Hotel, where Obama is hosting the leaders' diner.



"How are you going to showcase that when you've kicked everybody else out? It's like, 'Where's the surfers, where's the swimmers, where's the paddle boarders?'" said Tadish during a break from a ukulele lesson at a Waikiki park one recent afternoon.



Shirley Cornish, a retiree who was visiting Waikiki with her husband, said people will just have to put up with inconvenience. Their hometown - Sydney, Australia - hosted APEC in 2007, but the couple managed to avoid the leaders because they happened to be vacationing in Waikiki at the time.

They hope the meeting helps the city and the state.
