Many of us, and I worked in the tourism industry, rang the alarm against over-development on an island with limited and precious natural resources. I wrote letters to the editor, “Island Voices” commentary, and even amassed a small fan group of like-minded residents and ex-pats who saw the writing on the wall as far back as the mid-1980s.
Before then, Hawai’i was still affordable.
My husband’s penny-pinching, life-long New Yorker parents moved to Kailua when Ed was eight, but they retired in Spring Hill, FL, where there are no state taxes — least of all, one of the highest in the nation.
My dad thought nothing about retiring from the military back to the islands, circa summer of ‘77, after having been stationed there in the early ‘70s.
Mom lives in a one-bedroom, Makiki apartment her rich boyfriend pays rent on. She applied for Section 8 housing long ago, but that’ll probably never go through, the demand is so astronomically high.
Now, locals are moving out, mostly to Mainland cities like Vegas, Tacoma, and parts of California, cheaper by comparison. I hear that almost half of the Hawaiians have already left, albeit reluctantly.
Nobody can afford to live in Hawai’i anymore. The foreigner- and celebrity-friendly tourism industry and real estate market made sure of it.
There used to be height restrictions and beach access laws in place to preserve the islands’ natural landscape, mauka (mountains) to makai (sea). Now, anything goes, and people — many who’ve lived there for generations — accept the price of progress in what was once an undisputed paradise.
They even try to make a modest living off the Lucky you live Hawai’i vibes, cluelessly, even smugly, vlogging about it, brushing off the growing homeless communities, traffic congestion, and general side effects of overcrowded gentrification (chasing Beverly Hills — Mainland standards)…glibly contributing to the tired, stereotypical island surfer hula girl luau, shaka brah tropes, essentially privatizing the islands for their own private playground.
Go to Waikiki.
You can’t even see the beach anymore, from any vantage point. Oh, but there’s another ABC Store, so we’re good.
In Lahaina, Maui, developers were allowed to build mansions and condos right up to the water. Now, the City and County are playing fast and loose with existing and past building codes, namely refusing permits for seawalls (which are now forbidden), leaving empty units and rubble in the wake of the Aug. 8, 2023 wildfires.
Maui real estate agent Eric West made a name for himself reporting on the aftermath of those wildfires. He’s backed off somewhat, in favor of giving viewers their Maui fix, aka, long-form views of the ocean, when not pitching new homes or dropping insider tips of the trade.
Recently, though, he railed against the government for preventing home owners from cleaning up, rebuilding, and moving back in, without the bureaucratic hassles Hawai’i is renowned for.
See the video below, for however long it stays up…
A huge part of me, the part that railed against mindless overdevelopment and catering solely to one (tourism) industry, is firmly on the side of the City and County this time.
Maybe they should’ve done this long ago, maybe they should never have allowed such rampant, irresponsible building, at the expense of Maui’s natural beauty, in the first place.
Maybe, in their own sick way, they’re trying to right those wrongs by possibly taking advantage of a wildfire to hit reset.
But this post is about Oahu and its kai (water). Specifically what happened on Red Hill three years ago.
The military’s USTs (Underground Storage Tanks) leaked jet fuel in the tap water, prompting the Honolulu Board of Water Supply to shut down three wells across the Valley from Red Hill out of an abundance of caution.
Believe it or not, only in Hawai’i…but those Red Hill fuel tanks sit above an aquifer (clean water!), possibly affecting the Honolulu and Aiea/Halawa system.
Military officials first denied the problem, gaslighted, told families to buzz off, and then, when the numbers of the sick grew, they couldn’t deny it anymore. Public apologies followed, after the fact, and, according to some water activists and farmers, more denials around whether the leaks were taken care of.
Unfortunately, the Red Hill well leaks have been happening for years. You don’t want to know how long and how much this has been going on, and possibly worse that we’ll never know about until it’s too late.
It’s been happening, btw, at least since the first, known 2014 spill, with about a foot and a half of fuel gone missing.
I myself didn’t find out about any of this until two days ago by chance. (I guess the mainstream conservative news networks only care about Trump taking a dump on Biden.)
The tainted leaks also triggered concerns about continued military presence in the islands, limited water supplies overall, water increasingly diverted to the wealthy and tourist spots, like resorts, golf courses, and water parks — a luxury I always thought was beyond impractical.
“Tourism has been about, really, pimping out our people in Hawai’i. We have golf courses, now we have the largest wave pool in the world,” said Healani Sonoda-Pali of O’ahu Water Protectors in a CBS news segment, “Trouble in the Water: Hawai’i’s Climate Crisis.” “Why do we need wave pools on an island, surrounded by the ocean, in the middle of a water crisis? All of these things use and waste precious water, and they’re not using it to drink or support life. They’re using it to make money and commodifying it.”
Nobody (but possibly hardcore Hawaiian activists) are saying to shut it all down and kick everyone out.
But maybe we should.
Maybe we should start revisiting height restrictions and seawalls, endless resort projects, and the like. Enforce limits, standards…principles…and mean it. Stop selling this place out.
Maybe balance Hawai’i’s #1 and only tourism industry with other, more environmentally friendly and economically profitable industries, like agri-business (small, local, sustainable, seasonal farmers providing for local communities). Back in the mid-‘90s, when I went from tourism to building and hospitality, they were trying to.
Maybe restore true Hawaiiana, the reason tourists come in the first place, because, I’m sorry, it’s not for designer labels and Disney appropriating Aulani, where you can’t even get a decent shave ice.
My fear is what happened to Lahaina will spread to the other islands, and soon, there won’t be a Hawai’i to come to anymore. It’ll be dead and gone, and maybe that’s what all of you us deserve.