Tales of a dark Kauai

SUBHEAD: It seams like our "leaders" want to fit us all in a suburban mold of "home and a car" protected the US military.

By Juan Wilson on 23 May 2014 for Island Breath -
(http://islandbreath.blogspot.com/2014/05/tales-of-dark-kauai.html)


Image above: Lines were long all day on 10/16/06  at the grand opening of the Lihue Costco. Costco acquired the 15 acre parcel from Grove Farms. It used to be a public park and music venue. From (http://archives.starbulletin.com/2006/10/18/business/story04.html).

Three articles in the Garden Island News today tell a lot about our leaders and where they want to take Kauai... and it is not a very nice place.

The first article is about the rousting of homeless people in Anahola. As in other places, authorities play a game of pretending there are no problems in order to avoid facing the necessity of a solution. Every once in a while they get their undcerwear in a bunch and take it out on people with nowhere to go:
Some people who left the site are actually just hiding nearby because they still need to be near the bus and restroom facilities. She said the only real answer would be for the state or the county to designate an area for the homeless to park and live with a bathroom and shower facility.

The second article describes a $120 million dollar highway boondoggle bypass road mauka of the current highway between Puhi and Hanamaulu. I won't happen for a very long time but it will be the backbone for more development, more traffic and a loss of important agland.
Kanani Durant, whose family has lived in the Hanamaulu area for generations and relies on subsistence farming, said she is concerned that the road would traverse across five ahupuaas, wedged-shaped land sections that run from the mountain to the ocean, and is worried about what impacts it will have on her family. “It directly relates to my ability to put food on my table — it’s my freedom and my liberty to be able to do that,” Durant said.
The third article describes the upcoming RIMPAC war games beginning in June that will be played out across the Pacific Ocean led by the US Navy and 22 other country's navies in an seeming effort to practice destroying all life on Earth. Here's a quote from the bozo in charge of the PMRF:
“In between all the other cool stuff, like rockets and balloons and all the other stuff, you’re going to see a steady drum beat of our brothers and sisters in arms coming here to Kauai,” he said. “It’s a good thing for Kauai and it’s a good thing for PMRF, or IPRF (Inouye Pacific Range Facility).”

Forget America for a minute. By that I mean what comes with the mass media and Asian imports. Forget about the NFL on satellite TV and black-jacked Toyota Tundra 4x4 and think about this island and how we will live here when all that stuff is moldering into the ground and the signals are fading on their way out of the solar system. How will we live here then - and what are you going to do about it.



Homeless Campers Evicted

By Tom LaVenture on 23 May for the Garden Island -

(http://thegardenisland.com/news/local/homeless-campers-evicted/article_b59d7fc4-e255-11e3-a5ae-0019bb2963f4.html



Image above: Claire Coller (L) of Voices of Kauai talks with a Department of Hawaiian Homelands officer (R) issued evictions citations to campers. From original article.

Campers at Anahola Beach Park were told to vacate or face arrest on Thursday.

Anahola Beach Park is divided by county park land to the north, and the state and Department of Hawaiian Home Lands to the south and west. Whenever there is enforcement on one property, or to clear out for Thursday maintenance, the homeless groups simply dragged their tents to the section not being enforced that day.

That worked until the bulk of the long-term squatters were cleared out in a sweep late last year. Since then, around 25 people remain, according to Napuanani McKeague, founder of the Voices of Kauai network. The group includes two families with several children between them, and the rest are couples and individuals who say they are treated the same as the partiers and delinquents that frequent the area and cause trouble day and night stealing gas and leaving rubbish all over the site.

“We live a guilt by association life because we have to camp by a lot of these people,” she said.

McKeague said some people who left the site are actually just hiding nearby because they still need to be near the bus and restroom facilities. She said the only real answer would be for the state or the county to designate an area for the homeless to park and live with a bathroom and shower facility.

McKeague said Voices of Kauai has been working since 2006 to observe and report harassment and non-response to homeless complaints on Kauai. She was in Anahola on Thursday when four campsites were ordered to move.

“No one was arrested,” said Claire Collar, a Voices of Kauai member and one-time camp resident. “The land agents were very formal and polite and it was all handled very professionally and nice.”

The DHHL Kauai Land Agent Kaipo Duncan was present with four land management enforcement officers. A DHHL spokesperson said the campers were first-time offenders and told they were trespassing and given a verbal warning to break the tents down and clear the site by 4:30 p.m.

DHHL officers do not have arresting powers. They call police when they encounter repeat violators or when they have a confrontation with an individual.

The DHHL Congressional mandate since 1920 is to process lease applications for a 99-year homestead to people with 50 percent or more Native Hawaiian ethnicity. DHHL improves the infrastructure and maintains the roads, but does not build the homes.

There are three types of DHHL homesteads for 203,000 acres of managed land around the state. The residential leases and the Native Hawaiian pastoral lease land for livestock and agriculture are the first two, and the commercial leases to non-Hawaiians for projects like the Anahola Solar provide revenue to develop the homestead sites and roads.

The DHHL does not provide park lands, the spokesperson said. Camping on the land is not an option.

The problem is the homeless campers have nowhere to go, McKeague said. Some of them even have a HUD Section 8 certificates but can’t find a private owner who will take it.

“There is not enough public housing,” she said.

Voices of Kauai works to bring credibility to the working homeless and the families that have nowhere to go. Volunteer members listen to the stories of people who talk about being harassed by fellow campers or when the authorities don’t listen to their side of the story, she said.

The goal is to provide a unified voice on the condition of the homeless and present ideas on alternative camping sites or hushing if possible, she added.

Deborah Ward, information specialist for Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources, said the DLNR had no involvement in the camping enforcement activities in Anahola on Thursday. She also said there is no work underway to identify a state-run homeless camping area on Kauai.

The nonprofit Kauai Economic Opportunity provides traditional housing programs including the Mana Olana overnight shelter. It also provides a care program with support services for the chronically homeless and those recovering from substance abuse issues.

McKeague complained that too many people are turned away from the shelters for lack of space.

Stephanie Fernandes, director for Homeless and Housing Programs at Kauai Economic Opportunity, said the Mana Olana overnight shelter was approved by the county to support 19 homeless people each night. There is a bay for single men and another for single women, and three rooms for families.

It is a first come, first serve opportunity at 5 p.m. with a meal and check out at 7 a.m., Fernandes said. Some nights they may only have 10 people and on other nights, they fill to capacity and must turn away people.

Not everyone uses the shelter. There are background checks, and persons with convictions of distributing or manufacturing dangerous drugs, or sex offenders are not allowed because of the nearby transitional family housing.

There could be room for more but the limits are based on expected water usage and the size of the septic system, Fernandes said. Others choose the services of the KEO Care-A-Van, which provides food, water and supply services with scheduled stops are spots around the island.

KEO transitional housing includes eight one-bedroom units, and eight two-bedroom units in two separate buildings. There is also a five-bedroom home for individual homeless in Puhi.

KEO owns a five-bedroom home in Kapaa for permanent housing. By the end of the year, Fernandes said KEO plans to complete renovations to two homes with three bedrooms each as transitional housing for large families.

The nonprofit KEO is certified to work with private landlords to administer HUD Section 8 rent subsidy for elderly and the disabled. It also manages a Shelter Plus program for severe mental illness and chronically homeless due to past substance abuse.

KEO is a member of the Kauai Community Alliance and the Continuum of Care Committee to address gaps in the care of the homeless. KEO is also a member of the rural island organization Bridging the Gap with a goal to end homelessness.

“We partner with a lot of volunteers in the community and value our volunteers,” Fernandes said.




Beating the traffic rush

By Darin Marakawi on 23 May for the Garden Island -
(http://thegardenisland.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/beating-the-traffic-rush/article_0a5f1474-e255-11e3-98fd-0019bb2963f4.html)  



Image above: Mike Packard, a traffic engineer with SSFM International fields questions as Kauai Mayor Carvalho looks on.  From original article.

For nearly four decades, a long-term plan for a bypass road located mauka of Lihue and Hanamaulu was spelled out on the county’s books.

But for most of that time, plans for the 5.5-mile roadway, which would traverse across old cane haul roads from Hanamaulu to Lihue, remained buried in a handful of county plans dating back to at least 1976.

That all changed on Thursday, when county officials unveiled their initial plans for the road, which they say would alleviate traffic congestion through one of the island’s most condensed population centers.

“We have talked to the state DOT (Department of Transportation) and we feel that, if the road is built into one, it would probably become one of the most important regional connections and would fit into their description of a regional route,” County of Kauai Engineering Chief Michael Moule said.

The county’s current plans for the road, outlined in a feasibility study conducted by Honolulu-based engineering firm SSFM International, call for the construction of a bypass road that would run from Hanamaulu, across Kuhio Highway from Kauai Beach Resort, to Lihue, along Kaumualii Highway between Nuhou and Kalepa Streets.

Three connection points in between the two points, according to county plans, are also being considered at Nawiliwili Road; Ehiku Street and Ahukini Road; and Maalo Road.

State and county officials, Moule said, are also considering whether there should be either one or two lanes in each direction to address future traffic needs.

A multi-use path for bicyclists and pedestrians and wide shoulders, according to current county plans, are also being proposed to line most, if not all, segments of the road, which is estimated to cost about $90 to $120 million to construct.

Because of the project’s high cost, Moule said, the road would likely be built in phases. Using existing cane haul roads, however, would reduce the potential impacts and costs, he added.

But the chance of it being built any time soon, Moule said, is not very likely since any new road would be subject to “many years of review” by federal, state and county governments, which would be charged with compiling more detailed studies, such as environmental reviews.

Some county officials, however, say the plan is an important step in addressing one of the main symptoms of population growth on Kauai: traffic congestion.

And there may be more coming, some officials hinted, if something is not done soon.

County projections suggest that the population on Kauai is expected to experience a noticeable jump over the next two decades from 69,512 people, according to 2013 U.S. Census Bureau data, to 85,170 people in 2035.

The population in the Lihue area alone is expected to jump from 14,100 people, according to 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data, to 20,700 by 2035, a 47 percent increase.

What’s more, the South Shore area of the island, including Koloa, Poipu and Kalaheo, will also experience a 47 percent jump in population from 11,830 people in 2010 to 17,410 people by 2035.

According to traffic studies conducted in 2007, areas in Lihue with the highest congestion levels, where recorded speed limits were 15 miles per hour or below, included the short stretch of Kuhio Highway between Rice and Hardy Street; the stretch of Kaumualii Highway in front of Kukui Grove Shopping Center and along Nawiliwili Road; and the stretch of Kaumualii Highway between Nuhou Street and Puhi Road.

Constructing the road, some county officials say, would increase safety by avoiding the numerous driveways and local cross-roads encountered along Kuhio Highway; provide an additional route for emergency responders; and improve local evacuation measures in the event of an emergency or disaster.

“If there is an increase in traffic in the area, and currently Kuhio, Kaumualii and Kapule Highways are over capacity areas, people using the bus and their bikes won’t be able get to where they need to go in a sufficient amount of time by using our existing infrastructure system because it’s either not safe ... or it takes too long,” SSFM International Traffic Engineer Mike Packard said.

Some residents, however, are not so sure.

Kanani Durant, whose family has lived in the Hanamaulu area for generations and relies on subsistence farming, said she is concerned that the road would traverse across five ahupuaas, wedged-shaped land sections that run from the mountain to the ocean, and is worried about what impacts it will have on her family.

“It directly relates to my ability to put food on my table — it’s my freedom and my liberty to be able to do that,” Durant said.

Hanamaulu resident Tim Easley questioned whether either the federal government or county would be able to come up with sufficient funds for the project and said many of the people who live in Lihue or Hanamaulu would only experience certain benefits from the road, which is set back from the two towns.

“This whole thing doesn’t deal with anyone who lives in Lihue,” Easley said. “Anyone who lives in Lihue or Hanamaulu is never going to go on this road. The only people that benefit from here are those who are south of Lihue or north of it.”

For more information, contact Department of Public Works Project Manager James “Kimo” Aiu at jaiu@kauai.gov.



Navy leaders talk RIMPAC
By Chris D'Angelo on 23 May for the Garden Island -
(http://thegardenisland.com/news/local/military/navy-leaders-talk-rimpac/article_f1b05df4-e252-11e3-b47c-0019bb2963f4.html



Image above: Capt. Bruce Hay passes through the side boys during the arrival of the official party at the PMRF’s change of command ceremony 7/11/13. From (http://thegardenisland.com/pmrf-passing-through-jpg/image_9fc84e30-eac2-11e2-ae38-0019bb2963f4.html).

Capt. Bruce Hay, commander of the Pacific Missile Range Facility, said Rim of the Pacific — the biennial international military war exercise — demonstrates that the United States and other countries involved are not separated by the ocean, but connected by it.

And when the 24th maritime exercise gets underway in late June, the action will happen in Kauai’s backyard.

“Starting at the end of next month, a lot of people from all over the globe are going to come into Oahu, and they’re going to have parties and do sporting events and everything — blow a lot of money on Oahu. But the cool stuff is going to happen out here,” Hay told a crowd at the Military Appreciation Luncheon Wednesday at PMRF.

Hay was referring specifically to the open water and airspace northwest of the base on Kauai’s Westside. The drills will last from June 26 to Aug. 1 and take place in the Hawaii Operating Area and several off-shore ranges, including PMRF’s.

Rear Adm. Richard Williams Jr., commander of Navy Region Hawaii, said there is no better place in the world to “put the band together” — the way the Navy’s U.S. Pacific Fleet will do during RIMPAC — than in PMRF’s range.

“We’re going to have 43 ships from 23 different countries participating in this, with a lot of their aircraft, a lot of their staff, a lot of submarines,” he said. “They’re all coming to Pearl Harbor and to Hawaii. And as Flounder (Capt. Hay) said, right here at Barking Sands. This is where a lot of the exciting stuff is going to take place.”

As it has in the past, PMRF will provide subsurface, surface and air training range capabilities for RIMPAC. Ships, submarines and aircraft will train on an instrumented range free of encroachment limitations offshore of Kauai, according to Stefan Alford, the base’s public affairs officer.

Williams said what makes PMRF’s range special is its size. There are over 1,100 square miles of instrumented underwater range and over 42,000 square miles of controlled airspace.

“It’s bigger than any other range in the world,” he said.

About 500 PMRF employees are expected to be engaged in supporting this year’s exercise, and the base has three C-26 aircraft and two Croman-contracted Sikorsky S-61N helicopters available to support as necessary. There will be an increase in aviation activity with helicopters and aircraft from Oahu transiting over PMRF, and Navy vessels may be observed at the horizon approximately 20-25 miles off shore, according to Alford.

In addition to dozens of ships, there will be six submarines, more than 200 aircraft and 25,000 personnel participating.

Williams talked about the importance of RIMPAC as a show of force, strength and strategic partnership.

“To let our friends know that we got their backs, we’re there, we’re here to support them,” he said.

As technology continues to advance and the range of weapons grows, Hay said more space is needed for testing. While the Hawaii Operating Area consists of 235,000 square miles (nearly the size of Texas), the extended Temporary Operating Area includes 2.1 million square miles and extends all the way to Wake Island.

“That’s pretty impressive. Our ability to train like we would fight exists here,” Hay said. “Space matters. We can build buildings like Aegis Ashore, or runways or some other things, but we’re never going to be able to replicate what we have out here. And that makes this place special.”

For the last 20 years or so, the Navy has resorted to the desert for a lot of its training and testing, according to Hay.

“Well, we’re coming back,” he said. “The band’s coming back to the Pacific and our Marines and our Air Force and our Army need places to train.”

In addition to RIMPAC, Hay said there will be a lot of activity out at PMRF this summer — from rocket launches and Boeing V-22 Ospreys flying around to NASA’s test flight in early June of the Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator, a saucer-shaped rocket designed for future missions to Mars.
“In between all the other cool stuff, like rockets and balloons and all the other stuff, you’re going to see a steady drum beat of our brothers and sisters in arms coming here to Kauai,” he said. “It’s a good thing for Kauai and it’s a good thing for PMRF, or IPRF (Inouye Pacific Range Facility).”

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