Hawaiians removed from Wailua site

SUBHEAD: Sacred Kauai location to be re-developed as tourist resort despite Hawaiian claims.

By -
(http://www.civilbeat.org/2018/02/authorities-oust-protesters-from-coco-palms-resort-land)


Image above: Three officers block access to the encampment at the former Coco Palms resort property last Thursday. From original article.

[IB Publisher's note:  "Authorities shut down a protest camp on the grounds of the famed Coco Palms Resort."That is the first sentence of this article and precisely represents the false premise of the American position on it's illegal takeover of the Hawaiian Islands in order to first achieve navel domination the Pacific Ocean and second, to make money anyway possible with the resources of the land. Some points to ponder - Number 1: tthe they state of Hawaii thinks it has authority over practices of Native Hawaiians on their sacred sites. Number 2: This site was been used for crass commercial tourism (built in part on the celebrity of Elvis Presley's movie "Blue Hawaii" until a hurricane Iniki destroyed the resort in 1992. The wreckage of the resort still stands at a choke point for traffic on Kauai. The con artists attempting to sell this project are pandering to unfounded nostalgia and greed.  Number 3: Thew site is low lying and will be a likely place to inundation as the oceans rise due to global warming. The best use of this land would be for native cultural practices (like growing taro) and to act as a natural wetland that might absorb future flooding and ocean rise... a state park comes to mind. Certainly, the last thing Kauai needs is more tourism jamming up the Eastside.]

Authorities shut down a protest camp on the grounds of the famed Coco Palms resort Thursday morning, ordering campers off the property and blocking entry by those who had lived at the site for weeks, months and in some cases almost a year.

Almost a month after a judge ordered the eviction in the case of two encampment leaders, 25 deputy state sheriffs arrived to clear the property. About a dozen Native Hawaiians claiming ancestral ties to the land had continued to live on the property, farming taro, keeping watch over ancient burials and hosting Hawaiian language classes.

Mahealani Hanie-Grace, 23, who had been living at the camp, was arrested Thursday on suspicion of trespass and booked at the Kauai Police Department, according to the Hawaii Department of Public Safety.

“We were under the assumption that the ejectment was pending,” said Ke’ala Lopez, 22, an anthropology student at Columbia University who has been sleeping at the camp since New Year’s Day. “So when you are under that assumption and dozens of police officers come in and block the road and take over your hale, it’s devastating.”

Lopez told Civil Beat she wasn’t sure what her next step would be.

“I truly believe this place is protected,” she said. “Coco Palms got destroyed by a hurricane and for 20 years that one hurricane kept it from functioning. Now there are developers wanting to start again and the kanaka have been called in to protect it.”

As a trio of law enforcement agents blocked access to the encampment, Noa Mau-Espirito, one of two defendants in a land ownership dispute with Coco Palms Hui, displayed a map of the former Coco Palms resort property and informed the authorities of his plans to relocate the protest camp outside the bounds of the land parcel that is subject to the court order.

“I’m just letting you guys know these two plots are considered unencumbered state lands so that’s where I’m going,” Espirito said.


Image above: Noa Mau-Espirito, a defendant in the land ownership dispute, displays a map of the resort property Thursday. He informed authorities that he plans to relocate the protest camp elsewhere on the property and outside the bounds of the land effected by a recent court order. From original article.

The dispute over the Wailua property’s ownership has lasted almost a year, stalling a planned redevelopment of the hotel where Elvis Presley’s “Blue Hawaii” was filmed in 1961.

Long before the resort popularized torch-lighting ceremonies as a mainstay of Hawaii hospitality, the property was the 19th century home of Kauai’s last queen, Deborah Kapule Kaumuali’i.

Chad Waters and Tyler Greene of the Honolulu-based redevelopment firm Coco Palms Hui say they are committed to reopening the site as the Coco Palms Resort by Hyatt with an estimated $135 million project that will pay tribute to the property’s storied heritage.

The resort has been closed since it was heavily damaged in 1992 by Hurricane Iniki.

“Coco Palms Hui LLC is grateful that this particular saga in the rebuild of the Coco Palms Resort is now history,” Waters said Thursday. “We look forward to the next steps with final designs, engineering, permitting and then starting construction.”

Kauai Mayor Bernard Carvalho issued this statement Thursday:

I empathize with our Hawaiian community in this very emotional dispute. As Mayor, I understand the cultural and spiritual significance of this property. But above all emotions, I understand that we must all follow and respect the law. The court’s recent decision is very clear, and I continue to encourage all involved to move forward in a peaceful and respectful manner.

See also:
Ea O Ka Aina: Wailua Nui Update 2/2/18
Ea O Ka Aina: Okay given to destroy Paradise 6/10/17

Ea O Ka Aina: Occupying the Coco Palms 3/30/17
Ea O Ka Aina: Wailua self destruction 8/18/15 

Ea O Ka Aina: Coco Palms Good to Go 3/11/15
Ea O Ka Aina: Annals of pure bullshit - Coco Palms 6/22/14  
Ea O Ka Aina: Coco Palms Travesty 8/10/13
Ea O Ka Aina: Wailua Beach "Elephant Path" 12/22/12
Ea O Ka Aina: Wailua Bike Path Consideration  12/12/12
Ea O Ka Aina: Prehistory Wailua Ahupuaa 1/20/11
Ea O Ka Aina: Kauai Future 2020 - Part 1 1/18/10
Ea O Ka Aina: Hawaiian Ceremony for Wailua 11/11/09
Ea O Ka Aina: Preserve Wailua Beach 9/13/09
Island Breath: Annals of False Advertizing - Kauai Lagoons 3/18/08
Island Breath: Coco Palms Developers Break Promises 1/14/07
Island Breath: Coco Palms & Traffic Problem 3/1/06
Island Breath: Coco Palms Review 1/8/06
Island Breath: Kauai Coconut Coast Overdeveloped 11/12/05
Island Breath: Coco Palms Development 12/28/04

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Occupying the Coco Palms

SUBHEAD: Hawaiians claim ownership of property at iconic resort hotel site on Wailua River.

By Alden Alayvilla on 30 March 2017 for the Garden Island News -
(http://thegardenisland.com/news/local/hawaiians-claim-ownership-of-property-at-iconic-hotel-site/article_37b7a7c2-be72-54a6-b9c5-7b2b42b84434.html)


Image above: Noa Mau-Espirito examines taro plant on former site of Coco Palms Resort. From original article.

[IB Publisher's note: Finally a plan that makes sense for the Coco Palms. Let Hawaiians live there and determine its future. Coco Palms Hui Inc. are a punch of con artists.]

With a royal land patent in his hand, Noa Mau-Espirito said he walked into the Coco Palms last spring to make claim of the property.

Almost a year later, Mau-Espirito, who says he is a descendant of King Kaumualii, and a group of about 25 of his formerly homeless family members, continue to live on 17 acres of land in Wailua on Coco Palms property.


He says they are not trespassers.

“We’re landowners. We have title to the land. We’re not camping,” Mau-Espirito said. “Our goal is to get all the families who have royal patents in Wailua back on their land.”

The 25-year-old said he was inspired to occupy the land after meeting with families in similar situations.

“In my eyes, if I can make it, everybody can make it,” he said. “If I can take back my family’s royal patent land from Coco Palms, anybody’s family can.”

Mau-Espirito and his cousin, Kamuela Kapule O Kamehameha, say they have a royal patent called Palapala Sila Nui, which they say gives their family the rights to the land in perpetuity.

“Because my bloodline goes straight to Kaumualii, because Kamu’s bloodline goes straight to Kapule, we have vested rights and vested interests in this land that nobody can take away from us,” Mau-Espirito said. “Once a royal patent is made, it’s in that family’s name forever. All the kids in that bloodline will be able to come on this land.”

Representatives of Coco Palms Hui, Inc. disagree.

“As the demolition work nears completion at Coco Palms, we have been working with neighbors, community members, the County and Kauai Police Department to stem the tide of illicit activity being carried out by squatters within and adjacent to the property,” said Tyler Greene, co-owner of Coco Palms Hui, in a statement.

“As we move into the construction phase of the resort, we want to make sure that our neighbors’ health and safety concerns are addressed. We understand that over the years as the property lay dormant, certain individuals have taken the initiative to try and set up shop.”

The statement continues: “It is hoped that a smooth transition can take place so that entities currently on the property will cease their illegal operations and realize that there is no place for their activity on the property, within the neighborhoods, or for that matter, on Kauai.

We feel that Coco Palms will support healthy and vibrant activity for both the residents and visitors and hope the community feels the same way.”

Greene and his partner, Chad Waters, have been trying to restore the Coco Palms since 2012. The resort closed in 1992 after Hurricane Iniki.

During public hearings on the Coco Palms restoration project, and decades prior as it sat shuttered, no one claimed land ownership.

The $3.5 million selective demolition process began in June. Demolition included tearing out the drywall, making mechanical and electrical repairs, clearing out the Lotus Restaurant and elevating the bungalow buildings so they adhere to Federal Emergency Management standards.

By spring, crews are expected to start Phase II, renovation and reconstruction, of Coco Palms.

The property will boast 350 rooms, 12,000 square feet of retail space, three restaurants, leisure areas and a four-acre cultural center.

Since taking up residence on the property, Kapule O Kamehameha and Noa Mau-Espirito said their group has been farming, fishing and clearing brush.

“We’re trying to open up the land to live self-sustainably: grow our own food, raise our own food,” Mau-Espirito said. “Us living here — that’s all my aunties, uncles and cousins. All these Hawaiian families living with me were homeless on the streets. I gave them a place to stay.”

Mau-Espirito, a 2009 Kapaa High School graduate, said drugs and alcohol are forbidden on the premises.

“I’m real big on rubbish and cigarette butts and no firearms,” he said. “When the cops come, I tell them that they have to talk to me outside or take your guns off.”

The group encountered Kauai police on three or four occasions, Mau-Espirito said, with the latest to occur on March 11.

“Anybody who retains jurisdiction over this land matter and tries to apprehend any of family in these lands will be facing war crimes,” he said.

The most recent trespass complaints at Coco Palms were reported to KPD on Feb. 11 and March 11, said Sarah Blane, county spokeswoman.

Kapule O Kamehameha, a descendant of Deborah Kapule, says he owns five acres of the property. He says they won’t leave the property and he wants to go to court.

“This is a civil matter,” he said.

Justin Kollar, prosecuting attorney, said his office is aware of the situation and is working with police to monitor it.

See also:
Ea O Ka Aina: Wailua Self Destruction 8/18/15
Ea O Ka Aina: Annals of Pure Bullshit - Coco Palms 6/22/14
Ea O Ka Aina: Coco Palms Travesty  4/10/13
Ea O Ka Aina: Wailua Beach "Elephant Path" 12/22/12
Ea O Ka Aina: Wailua Bike Path Consideration  12/12/12
Island Breath: Annals of False Advertizing - Kauai Lagoons 3/18/08
Island Breath: Coco Palms Developers Break Promises 1/14/07
Island Breath: Coco Palms & Traffic Problem 3/1/06
Island Breath: Coco Palms Review 1/8/06
Island Breath: Kauai Coconut Coast Overdeveloped 11/12/05
Island Breath: Coco Palms Development 12/28/04

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