December 20, 2004

Consciousness Raising

Ripping the Lot... Huge machines that are a cross between earth movers and jackhammers crush the lava to create a workable surface to build on. There is little to no soil in the Puna area, so buildings are built on slabs poured on crushed lava that has been "ripped" to 15 feet deep so a septic system and other utilities can be put in. Behind this lot is native forest that has never been touched by man

"Hoku, Hoku, don't you understand? The "progress" you are talking about is changing this island forever. I am a 7th generation resident of Hawaii, My Great Grandparents were subjects of Queen Lilioukalani (the last monarch ) I cannot believe what is happening here...Look they opened a Home Depot and are putting a Costco in here... In Hilo!"

"So, they have them in Kona what is the difference?"

"The Difference is that this is Hilo..."

"Yes, the last bastion of backward Hawaii is about to grow up"

"But the people Hoku, all of these people coming here. What will they do for a job? How will they make a living?

"They wont, Look, its like a pyramid scheme. You put in money and buy a house or a lot, it goes up You sell to the next guy and get out. The guy at the end of the game holds the bag... Didn't you ever play "Farmer in the Dell" the last personstanding in the circle is the Cheese and the cheese loses... You are a Real Estate agent, You should be thrilled at all of this madness..."

"What if you couldn't leave Hoku what would you do?"

"What ever I could to stay on top of the pile and out from under a blue tarp...Which isn't new for me, its the story of my life...I was nearly always the cheese in the game...the last to be picked, as a child... I refuse to lose at this stage of my life"

I had this conversation with a dear friend that is a new real estate agent...I feel her pain, I really do...I feel that the demise of Azure Seas is due in part to the change in the landscape... People are not buying gifts this year they are spending their money on building materials and land, tile and light fixtures or they are saving as this Hilo couple in this article today from the Honolulu Advertiser regarding the drying up of affordable housing stocks here on the Big Island.

Friends, even with the holidays they are still coming. The wave will increase as the snow birds come in the next two months and decide to chuck it in and come to Hawaii buy that retirement place now before it goes up another 100 grand... Lots are being ripped and homes are going up all over the place. I see more 50k plus cars in the Walmart parking lot... Exotics like Hummers and Mercedes SUVs, with plates from California, Washington and Texas...and points further afield... Fresh off the barges as you must re register the vehicle in 30 days and get your rainbow plates. As long as there are people like us coming to the islands to buy the dream the prices are going to go up.

Her point was that they way of life that was here the small town feel that locals felt was quintessentially their blessing for living here in this most remote of places was gone... It isn't the Malahini that did it and their demand for the latest stuff from Home Depot or coffee from Starbucks, its time and culture. Its the commercials on the TV and the blurbs on the Internet for new and greater gadgets and the trappings of affluence. Local people, whose fathers toiled in the cane fields, and mothers picked papayas, and had babies, are now educated and growing more sophisticated, and want more and more... That simplicity that was the hallmark of Hilo life. Work, worship, family...Is no longer enough.

The "haves", which are the government workers, and the Malahini (newcomers), flaunt their riches casually. My car has been vandalized several times just because of what it is I think, a Luxury car is a sea of Toyota whatevers...more people tell me of the same thing happeneing to them and their BMW's and their Escalades...

This featured couple doesn't seem angry that they cant find a house to buy, but I have met a lot of people that are. Before we left for Ohio, we were sitting in a really "local" hole in the wall place that Woody really likes called Ryans. Ryan, a young man in his late 20's, his Mom and Aunties run this coffee shop and "okazuya" which is a take out style place for "bento" or japanese style box lunches. We are like family to these folks and very welcome to come and have coffee and eat. Well we were in there and these three Japanese business type guys were sitting there and they were talking about the cost of houses and one said really loud "If it weren't for all of these F*****G haolies(whites or mainlanders)coming here and buying houses, the prices wouldn't keep going up, and they stared at us... They left right after that, I hope embarrassed. Ryan came out of the kitchen himself to apologize to Woody and myself... But I told him that I felt that this was a normal response and the man was right enconomics are driving the costs up, that is what a free market is all about.

The state wants to mandate "affordable housing" here... Right... We are going to have the "projects" in paradise...but the truth is that even those go up in value. the low income housing on Maui is now at the 350K range, with the median being at about 550K and rising. Its a free market and you cant stop it...

Just like you cant stop the Big Box Stores from coming to your town... Or highways or prisons and other waste treatment plants... You want electricity, but you don't want the plant in your neighborhood that generates it. You want the comfort of progress but not the mayhem that it can create...And its not just Hawaii that is this way, its everywhere. Sustainable, careful growth doesn't seem possible. But it needs to be considered....

As I looked at the lot next door to us this afternoon, I am glad that I will not be here to see it built on and demolished. This bit of ancient rain forest is precious to me for its fragile beauty, but its not long for this world I fear as more and more of these lots in our area are developed. the pressures to build are too great and time will not stand still long enough for us to figure out how to resolve these problems without resorting to the bulldozer and the ripper...