To the Forum:Recently, a man told me he was moving to Kaua’i from Maui. He said “There is no aloha left on Maui.” It made we wonder how will we keep what is left of the aloha on Kaua’i? What
To the Forum:Recently, a man told me he was moving to Kaua’i from Maui.
He said “There is no aloha left on Maui.” It made we wonder how will we keep
what is left of the aloha on Kaua’i?
What makes up the spirit of aloha? It
is the history of a native people with big hearts full of love, generosity,
always welcoming to all visitors, with a desire to share whatever they had to
give. It is the spirit of the land, the incredible beauty of nature untouched
by man which speaks to people’s hearts.
This is what draws people to the
North Shore of Kaua’i. What can we, the residents of Kaua’i, do to preserve
this?
In 1980, my husband and I came to Kaua’i for a vacation. I had never
been to Hawai’i before, but had a vision of what I thought it would look like.
As we drove from the Lihu’e airport toward Kapa’a, I silently said to myself,
“This is not Hawai’i!”
I was so extremely disappointed until we passed
Princeville and I looked down over Hanalei Bay. “Yes, this is Hawai’i!” When I
placed my first footstep in the clean warm water, felt the touch of sand like
velvet, and looked up at the sky and the mountains, I fell in love with Kaua’i.
The love grew even deeper when I discovered Ha’ena, Tunnels Beach, Ke’e and the
Na Pali Coast. To me this had to be the most beautiful place in the
world.
Now 20 years later, my family and I have been living in Ha’ena since
1992. We came after Hurricane ‘Iniki to see what we could do to help the people
and the island which had been so generous to us for so many years. Prior to
1992 we came for extended vacations, staying in vacation rentals in
Ha’ena.
Since 1980 1 have seen so much of the North Shore change, the
forests and lands cleared to make way for more homes, more shopping centers,
more restaurants, more people coming to see Kaua’i than ever before.
Just
think about the huge amounts of garbage and waste continuously being generated
on the island right now. Now is the time for us to do something to protect,
maintain, conserve, and preserve what is left of that beautiful Aloha spirit
that we all love about the North Shore and the island of Kaua’i. Now is the
time to speak out about:
1) Planning for the expansion of one of the
few remaining beautiful rural islands left on this earth is a mistake!
Maintenance and preservation are what is needed for the future of Kaua’i. There
are unmaintained roads, unmaintained beach parks, sacred sites uncared for,
cultural preservation programs needed, a need for more Island self sufficiency,
better education programs needed, Native Hawaiian families need affordable
loans so they can keep their lands. With all these present problems needing to
be solved, how can there be plans to expand and build more of what is not
needed for this island’s best interest?
2) Moratoriums on any more
commercial building in Hanalei. It has become too congested. It is spoiling a
very charming small town.
3) Designated sinqIe family homes to remain so
and not be allowed to condominimize. Limiting the amount of single family homes
vacation renting so residents can continue to live here. Many of the vacation
rentals that are single family homes have begun to operate like hotels, renting
to 15 or more people at a time. This has a major impact on local residents,
myself included.
4) Mandatory recycling program for all waste whether
profitable or not. Have part of the tax money cover the cost of recycling. The
island cannot afford more waste in the land fills. If tourism is the main
income for this island all vacation rentals, hotels, and visitor facilities
must have recycle programs. There is a 10 percent hotel tax charged to all
visitors, have part of this money cover the recycling, or increase the tax for
this purpose.
It was explained to me that recycling programs for plastic
and junk mail are discontinued because they are not profitable. The island
cannot afford to not have recycling. I was told garbage was being thrown in
recycing bins, making it even less affordable.
Each recycle location needs
full time employees to oversee the proper distribution of recyclable material.
Can’t afford it — then taxes should cover it, a tax for the purpose of
recycling.
(I have been sending my plastic in suitcases to the Mainland to
be recycled for years — we can only recycle #2 plastic here — “not profitable
enough.” I have one bag of compacted garbage every two weeks because I recycle
cans, plastic, bottles, newspaper, cardboard, and all junk mail. Now I can’t
recycle the largest problem-junk mail)
5) Conservation zones need to be
maintained. The amount of trash at Ke’e beach alone is unbelievable. Tourists
are feeding reef fish Kentucky fried chicken. I have seen this myself. They
feed the chickens like pets, The chickens are multiplying into a mass of pests.
This is on sacred grounds, in precious clean waters, this is our beautiful
island.
Most of the rest of the world has polluted oceans that you cannot
even swim in. What can we do? We need volunteer programs to raise funds for the
continual maintenance and preservation: If the state cannot provide this, the
county of Kaua’i should.
If the idea is to make a large parking lot at
Ke’e so more people can come there than now, what will become of it without the
care and the maintenance that it needs?
The answer to the island of Kauai’s
future lies in us; the residents, to make sure that the county and its
government, the mayor, and the state know that what we want is to see the
preservation and maintenance of the beauty of the island as it is now, and not
the plans to expand, enlarge, increase, and develop it, or it will become just
another concrete jungle and then Kaua’i will no longer be the Kaua’i we know
now. The aloha will be gone.
Karen Silberman
Ha’ena
