The area getting the renovation is in Chinatown at the Sun Yat-sen Mall between Vineyard Boulevard and Beretania Street on both sides of Nuuanu Stream.

The folks at Royal Kitchen work hard but they had seen enough.

"Just yesterday I was having lunch here and in just 10 minutes I saw two drug transactions go down," said Liana Benn, Royal Kitchen Manager.

She and other businesses told the city about the drugs, gambling and an even more disgusting problem from the people that hang around.

"They urinate in the stream, they make the hard thing in the stream, they spit in the stream," said Rod Tam, Honolulu City Councilmember who represents Chinatown.

All things people don't want to see or smell when they go to lunch. The city decided to remove the trellises and overhanging structures over the picnic tables.

"We believe this will open this place up and make it easier to monitor," said Mufi Hannemann, Honolulu Mayor.

While we were there several people were sitting at the tables under the shelters. Some were playing games others were playing cards. They don't agree with the city's decision.

"It's going to take away the shade you know, and people spend all the tax money for it, to build it and now they're taking it down. It's a waste," said Lisa, who hangs out in the area but didn’t want to give her last name.

The question is…

"Where would they go now? Nobody wants to sit in the sun," said Lisa.

"Like anything else people find areas to hang out and that's fine as long as it doesn't affect the community in general," said Danny Young, United Chinese Society of Hawaii.

The majority of those in Chinatown think the area around them is a direct reflection of the business itself. So they agree the shelters should come down to clean the area up.

"I think it will make a big difference, a positive difference. We wanted a family environment here but people are hesitant to come down to Chinatown because of all the illegal activity going on," said Benn.

Royal Kitchen hopes the change out front will bring more money in.

There are no public restrooms in the area which is part of the reason people were going in the stream. The city is looking into adding portable toilets in the area to relieve that problem.

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