What is local to us?
To me, local means we are ʻohana and we have aoha in our culture.
Ohana means family but like in so many places in our Hawaii nei, the definition of family in Hawaii is very large, because every adult in our Hawaii nei is known as “uncle” and “aunty” and is also a feeling of a culture of family (even though we not bloodly related) who knows you very well and who knows you can do and cannot do.
Aloha is the Hawaiian main word that the Hawaiians always put in their sentences. It means hello, good bye and love. Love is the kindness broadess sense meant compassion and respect. Bring aloha in everything that we do and to every one who we connect with and setting responsibilities for yourself and for others.
The aloha values are similar to our culture lifestyles. ʻAkahai, Lokahi, ʻOluʻolu, Haʻahaʻa and ʻAhonui. This is what we believe with everyone in our local culture, like cheeeeehuuuuteh, then we show our shaka with a boogie man smile.
Shelbi Shimazu, Waimea
Please clean up, improve properties
For decades the residents of Kapaa have been stuck with two sad bookends framing their town. The old rundown Coco Palms and the last commercial spot where Kauai Gardens, Kapaa Fish and Chowder and the Shack stood. Both abandoned and their new owners letting them rot there with no care to at least keep trash or weeds down.
What a pleasant surprise to drive into town now and see the fresh coat of paint on the North parcel. My thanks to the new owner for doing their part and dressing that building up. It shows great intentions when your willing to spend a little money to improve your neighborhood and community where you plan to invest.
That fresh paint was likely a cost out to you as that building will likely need a full renovation but just know that your investment will come back to you double as we in the community will remember that.
Hopefully the owner of Coco Palms notices as well and follows your lead.
Shawn Smith, Kilauea
Aloha Kakou,
Mr Smith, while we know the TGI newspaper reported the INIKI history of COCO PALMS, as to their insurance company (which insurance company?) offered $7 million dollars to repair Coco Palms while the Coco Palm’s contractor offered a bid of $27 million dollars; with a current but further deteriorated and 26 years later estimate of $175 million dollars to restore it; is it any wonder the former Jewel of Kaua’i is now an eyesore looking like a junk yard.
We must agree in our hearts to your offer to paint it, but the CAUSE of the last 26 years of further deterioration and current condition is an Insurance Company’s disinterest to pay. While Iniki was the underlying primary cause, Mrs. Grace Guslander’s, the developer renovator of Coco Palms, last years of her life must have been fraught with frustration and sadness over the refusal to restore her dream and our Kaua’i first real Gem of a Hotel.
We believe your putting out a feeling of burden on the new hotel owners is misdirected, especially with their recent burden of ownership issues.
A paint job would improve the site for all of us, which has been suggested previous, perhaps you could spear head that effort in your free time. You would be a provider of a needed and great community effort. You could begin a Paint Coco Palms movement.
But do not forget, Kaua’i has been left with several other unpaid fair reasonable insurance settlements, not just Coco Palms and the former Peñaroza Market at the mauka north end of Kapa’a Town, may be one of them, but who knows, it’s had so many name changes it might require a DNA test.
You can still see some homes and businesses island wide still doing out of pocket restoring of their hurricane and storm damaged places with their hard earned out of pocket ongoing repairs whose costs have multiplied like the 2 properties you mention in the years since the hurricane, albeit by insurance companies disinterest in not paying for the repairs.
If you form a movement to paint Coco Palms I’d volunteer to spread the paint with a roller and brush, and I bet many others would as well. Even donations by the public would be welcome. We don’t know how many years Coco Palms will be stuck in its current condition.
Perhaps the paint stores and hardware stores and Home Depot would supply the paint, at least for the part that can be seen from the Highway.
You Can do do this Shawn, for Coco Palms…for Kaua’i.
Mahalo
Charles
A “local” status in Hawaii—–depends on any combination of the following—– mixed ethnicity….able to speak and/ or understand pidgin…”knowing” the “ins-and outs” of what “can or no do”…knowing what “steenk eye” is all about…understanding what “dakine” means whenever the word is used…and things of that sort!
Shawn: Have you had your head in the sand? The Coco Palms has been in litigation forever and hasn’t been able to do anything to the property!
Too funny, Shawn must have wrote this when he was at Big Wave Davis a few hours when he drafted his letter..LMAO.