The Anahola homestead community resembled a warzone on Saturday as piles of rusted, broken-down cars and trash littered driveways and the sides of roads. This weekend, Anahola community members, local businesses, the County of Kaua‘i and the Department of Hawaiian
The Anahola homestead community resembled a warzone on Saturday as piles of rusted, broken-down cars and trash littered driveways and the sides of roads. This weekend, Anahola community members, local businesses, the County of Kaua‘i and the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands have been undertaking a massive community cleanup to rid the town of opala.
Planning for the cleanup began four months ago and has involved many volunteers from community businesses and residents. Mayor Bryan Baptiste authorized the use of crews and equipment from the Department of Public Works, along with assistance from the Kaua‘i County Parks Division.
“Everyone here is helping — from cleaning up to preparing food for the workers,” Micah Kane, Hawaiian Home Lands director, said.
Kane noted that the success of this event is critical and that it can serve as an example to other homestead communities.
“We don’t want a community to be depicted in a bad way,” Kane said. “Hopefully, this clean up will help people recognize the bad behavior of others and make them accountable for their actions.”
But making a dent in clearing the trash hinges on the support of the community.
“It is a great feeling to see the them come out and take responsibility and show pride in their community,” said Hawaiian Home Lands Administrator Lloyd Yonenaka.
Community leader Jimmy Torio has been preparing for this cleanup all week long by donating his time — and his forklift for the heavy lifting.
“This administration did the right thing and started to clean up the lots,” Torio said. “I think the community needs to take pride in their land.”
Torio thinks there are two main reasons why the junk problem is so bad in Anahola: Residents don’t want to pay the fees to throw away their rubbish, and they don’t have the means to do it, he said. Torio also believes that neighboring communities have used Anahola as a dump site. He claims he has caught people trying to toss their garbage, but he made them put the junk back in their truck.
A cleanup of this scale has not taken place for about 20 years, according to Torio. Since then, trash has been piling up in residential and agricultural lots, not to mention in nooks and crannies all around the area.
Anahola resident Mitchell Pa spent the day stockpiling old cars in an empty lot to be taken to Abe’s Recycling.
“I think this cleanup will make the people more proud of their land,” Pa said. “We need to get the junk out so we can get more homes for Hawaiians.”
As for all the rubbish collected this weekend, it will be taken to one lot to be organized. Some of it will be recycled, and the rest will be discarded properly. Yesterday alone, about 350 cars were found and readied for recycling.
“For the most part, we have a good start,” Torio said. “In order to get this done the community needs to rise to the challenge. It’s all about Anahola Pride.”
• Rachel Gehrlein, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 225) or rgehrlein@kauaipubco.com.
