Former Kaua‘i County Councilman Jesse Fukushima and his neighbors want Mayor Bryan Baptiste to consider an alternate site for an alcohol and drug treatment center proposed at the former Wong’s Care home in Kapa‘a. Fukushima, who lives near the old
Former Kaua‘i County Councilman Jesse Fukushima and his neighbors want Mayor Bryan Baptiste to consider an alternate site for an alcohol and drug treatment center proposed at the former Wong’s Care home in Kapa‘a.
Fukushima, who lives near the old care home site, said he and others plan to meet with Baptiste Tuesday at the home of Harold and Norma Jean Brown, who are neighbors of Fukushima. The Brown’s home abuts the proposed project.
Proponents of the HanaMana HealingCenter are proposing to convert and renovate the facility located at the end of Kawaihau Road.
Critics have voiced fears that the project, if approved by the County of Kaua‘i, could create safety problems and could jeopardize the safety of 40 households in the area.
But proponents of the project say their fears are unfounded and that proper security will be implemented.
“But it seems like too much ado about past fears and problems we will not present,” HanaMana Executive Director Hans Tangelder told The Garden Island.
Tangelder said he had yet to be invited to the meeting involving Baptiste.
In an interview with The Garden Island, Fukushima said “We want to work with the council and the mayor to solutionalize the situation.”
Fukushima served on the council from 1980 to 1996, ending his political career prior to the 1998 election to spend more time with his family.
Baptiste has come out in support of the project.
In a letter, Baptiste has told Tangelder that “Kaua‘i is in need of such a facility,” considering widespread use of drugs and the growing use of “ice.” Other community groups on Kaua‘i like United Way have supported the HanaMana proposal.
Baptiste also has said that Kaua’i has been without a residential drug-treatment center since Hurricane Iniki in 1992 damaged Serenity House on grounds of Mahelona Hospital and the facility closed.
Fukushima said he understands the need for such a facility on Kaua‘i and supports the mayor’s war on drug use.
But Fukushima said he wants the mayor and other government officials to sit down together to help forge a solution that will support the county’s war on drugs and be acceptable to the community.
“He (Baptiste) is one of the important people to address this,” Fukushima.
Fukushima also said the state and county can help, but noted “Too many times, money is made available and locations (for treatment centers and care facilities) are decided, and many times they are put in neighborhoods where they are not desired.”
Situations like that create hostilities in communities and affect property values, Fukushima said.
Fukushima said neighbors didn’t complain when people periodically ran away from Wong’s Care home when it operated “because they wanted to be good neighbors.”
But at other times, neighbors risked injury when they confronted runaways and “told them to go back to where they came from, the care home,” Fukushima said.
The owners of the former care home — April K. Wong-Warling, her husband, Thomas, and her mother and father — were praised by the community for having provided much-needed services for about 30 years before the home closed in recent years.
Related to the newest proposal, Fukushima said he and other neighbors have looked at creating an association to help find a solution.
The association also will support a council bill that proposes to address the proper placement of such faculties like the HanaMana Center through the amendment of the county’s general plan and island district development plans, Fukushima said.
Administration staffers said Baptiste had a grueling schedule last month and had taken the day off on Friday, and therefore was not available for comment on the upcoming meeting.
Gary Heu, Baptiste’s administrative assistant, said Baptiste is “very sensitive to the concerns of the community. “He is trying to create a balance between the tremendous need we have for treatment facilities and the welfare of the community,” Heu said.
In his faxed message, Tangelder said he hopes his project will be an asset to the community.
“And, the neighbors … well, God bless em. Virtually everyone knows we need this,” Tangelder wrote.
He also noted that “We are in the right place, in the right building, in the right, wide-open, rural neighborhood.”
The Kaua‘i County Planing Commission is scheduled to resume a public hearing on Jan. 13 to take comments on the proposal. The meeting is scheduled to be held at the Lihu‘e Civic Center.
Proponents of the project are seeking various permits, including a use permit and a Class IV zoning permit.
If the renovation work is done, the facility could accommodate up to 35 patients, with four existing one-bedroom apartments set aside for their use, county officials have said.
Plans also call for the renovation of a recreation room for group meetings and use by patients.
The project, if approved, will not have the devastating impact critics claim, Tangelder wrote.
“For goodness sake, we are only planning to open with eight beds and staff, with safety, security and protected privacy for all,” Tangelder wrote. “We are a healing center.”
Representatives from HanaMana have scheduled a public meeting between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. on Jan. 10 at the Kapa‘a Neighborhood Center to answer questions about the project.
Staff writer Lester Chang can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 225) and mailto:lchang@pulitzer.net
