Letters for Friday, December 14, 2007
• More support for the trees
• Save the trees(br) • Against removal of the trees
• Once the trees are gone…
• To you who even think of cutting the Koloa trees:
• KoloaSpeak for the trees
More support for the trees
Trees are a resource for many invisible reasons as well. It takes years to replace such important protectors for the ‘aina here. Who speaks up for the ‘aina? Tourists come for the quality here and you are removing the very reason the tourists will buy here. What are you thinking? Please be responsible to the real reason Kaua‘i is popular. Trees and buildings need to co-exist … trees within our urban forest improve our air, protect our water, save energy, and improve economic sustainability.
Trees are on the job 24 hours every day working for all of us to improve our environment and quality of life.
From an essay by Kathleen Alexander:
The Superferry may not be a good idea but can be stopped in the future. Once the trees are gone, it is too late.
The people of Kaua‘i will not trade trees for T-shirt shops.
Would Michigan cut trees in a historic district?
Koloa’s $6 million dollar trees are about to be chain-sawed.
The cutting down of an old tree can not be reversed; it is final.
This is the last Christmas for the monkeypods of Koloa.
Bette Midler was fined for cutting down trees.
You can not replace something that has taken years to produce.
The trustee of the Knudsen estate refuses to meet with the commuity to answer any questions about the trees.
The trees are a living record of all that has occurred here. If they could talk….they have lived through it all and can live on beyond us.
Save Koloa’s historic monkeypod trees.
Killing a healthy historic tree to make a building, when we have plenty of room, is invasive.
Koloa was the first of two places in Hawai‘i to plant a monkeypod tree (the two trees were brought in from South America).
Ann Marie Holmes
Koloa
Save the trees
Please, please, please do not let the developer cut down our beloved monkey pod trees. They are part of what makes Koloa a lovely “old-fashioned” town. I’m sure with creativity the buildings could be built to accommodate these beautiful specimens and this would in turn beautify the development. I’m surprised that the developers do not realize this. Is it possible that they are in this for the short term and don’t care what happens to Koloa?
Ellie Snyder
Lawai
Against removal of the trees
As residents of Po‘ipu we would like to have our voices heard loud and clear that we’re against removal of the monkeypod trees in Koloa around the post office and adjacent property for the new shopping center.
Taking out all or even some of the trees is not acceptable to us, but we were willing to accept that just a few were going to be removed the last we heard a few months ago. Now it seems that the plans have changed. We’re hoping that the developers will come to their senses and see the importance of preserving those long-lived, beautiful trees not only for the aesthetics and charm of Old Koloa Town, but also as goodwill to the residents of the Koloa/Po‘ipu area.
Thank you for your attention to our “voices” on this matter.
Allan and Charlotte Beall
Koloa
Once the trees are gone…
Attn: Mayor Baptiste, County Council
I have been keeping up with the developments that are planned for the beautiful South Shore area of Kaua‘i. I strongly believe that it is absolutely not in keeping with traditional Hawaiian values of preserving this beautiful paradise and it’s history if the many large monkeypod trees in Koloa were to be removed. The trees are priceless and are very meaningful to the Hawaiians and their heritage. They are a very large part of attracting tourists to share in the beauty of the island.
There must be an alternative plan somehow, somewhere which would satisfy the contractors and preserve the legacy of the Hawaiian nation.
We have already seen multiple rainbow shower trees ripped out of the ground on the bypass road — are we trying to destroy the entire ambiance of the area?
Please take this matter into careful reconsideration and then take action to seek a new answer. Once they’re gone, I’m afraid that we all will regret it … sooner or later.
Mary Linda Paul, M.D.
To you who even think of cutting the Koloa trees:
In the same e-mail that alerted me to plans which would amputate Koloa’s unique, irreplaceable trees, was a referral to a YouTube video called Indigenous Native American Prophecy (Elders Speak part I). In the video, a Hopi elder states:
“Our DNA is made of the same DNA as the trees. The tree breathes what we exhale. When the tree exhales, we need what the tree exhales. So we have a common destiny with the tree.”
To you who would dare cut the trees: committing murder and suicide is taboo in virtually every religion and social structure. Don’t do it.
Nola Ann Conn
KoloaSpeak for the trees
I can’t believe that our age-old monkeypod trees in Koloa will be cut down. Please stop this. I would take the shade of any of these incredible age-old trees to the storefront of a new store. These trees cannot be replaced.
Let’s face it, in the town of Koloa, it gets hot. Do you know what a great calming and cooling feeling it is to go to the Koloa Post Office and just relax under one of these special trees … especially in the summer, not to mention the true Kauaian beauty they add to our Koloa town.
Already we have an eyesore across the street from the post office. Several old plantation homes (which my husband and I have loved to include in our oil paintings) have been vacated and fenced in, due to another developer who doesn’t know about the beauty of Kaua‘i and Koloa town. And where have these inhabitants been forced to move to?
Is greed our means of progress? Or are we really looking at what brings tourists to our island — our natural garden beauty. And what has kept us living here? … the incredible greens that surround us.
Are we willing to allow developers, who just drop in on our island to build and reap money (then leave) to take over and destroy our Garden Island? For all who are in charge of Kaua‘i’s building and planning, as well as our councilmen/women, please take note and stop this onslaught of destruction. Save our trees and save the beauty of Kaua‘i.
Rebecca DeRoos
Koloa