LIHU’E – Inside La Bamba Mexican Restaurant on Rice Street during lunch hours last week, it seemed to be business as usual. Ana Munoz, co-owner and manager, was busy servicing the restaurant’s nine tables, half of which were occupied. But
LIHU’E – Inside La Bamba Mexican Restaurant on Rice Street during lunch hours last week, it seemed to be business as usual.
Ana Munoz, co-owner and manager, was busy servicing the restaurant’s nine tables, half of which were occupied.
But with the elimination of on-street parking due to the Rice Street renovation construction has also gone around half of the restaurant’s business, forcing La Bamba to move to the Kukui Grove location formerly occupied by Rampy’s.
The move will take place next month, precipitated by a loss of $200 a day in business Munoz said she has suffered since the construction started and she lost cherished on-street parking.
“We used to be full for lunch every day,” and since the construction, business has dropped off by half, something she cannot continue to endure and survive.
“People don’t have time to be stuck in traffic during their lunch hour,” she said. Lunch is the meal that drives the business, and now with parking difficult to impossible to find, business has slowed to a trickle, Munoz said.
The construction is expected to continue for about another year, and after it’s done, some on-street parking formerly available in front of the restaurant will be available daily except for periods before 8 a.m., and between 3:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. The business used that parking to unload produce and supplies as well, she said.
Compounding her frustration is the apparent run-around she has been getting in her quest for support if not financial relief.
Mayor Maryanne Kusaka, she said, is “ignoring me.”
“I wrote to her, I faxed her, I e-mailed her, at the meetings she’s like ‘Oh, we support all businesses, give me a call if you need any help.’ I called, and she’s like ignoring me,” Munoz said.
“And the same with (County Council Chair) Ron Kouchi. I said, ‘you know, I need some type of compensation because you guys are really hurting our business,’ and Kouchi told me to talk to the county attorney,” Munoz continued.
“The county attorney turned around and said, ‘No, you have to talk to (general contractor) Goodfellow (Brothers), because they are the ones you have to deal with,'” she continued.
“So everybody’s just like turning their backs to me.”
Kusaka has been promoting La Bamba and other Rice Street businesses during radio addresses, and Munoz has not asked the mayor’s office for compensation, said Beth Tokioka, county public information officer.
Tokioka said she probably should have written Munoz a letter acknowledging receipt of her e-mail, but didn’t.
There is a procedure in the Rice Street construction contract between the county and Goodfellow for filing of claims for economic loss, but only if there is negligence on the general contractor’s part.
If Munoz filed a claim for economic loss with Goodfellow as a result of the diminishing revenues associated with the construction, “We’ll deny the claim,” said Myles Mizokami, Goodfellow project manager.
Her next step would be to try to make her case at the county level, Tokioka said.
Business Editor Paul C. Curtis can be reached at mailto:pcurtis@pulitzer.net or 245-3681 (ext. 224).
