I’m writing this in the hope that your newspaper might revisit the issue of the deeply imperiled historic Naalehu Theater in the heart of town, to hopefully remind our apparently oblivious elected officials of its plight. The old plantation theater in nearby Pahala literally collapsed in a heap years ago, and its Naalehu sibling is headed for the same sad fate if something isn’t done soon.
As was noted in an article several years ago, the 76-year-old landmark is clearly being purposely “demolished by neglect” by the murky 300 Corporation, the for-profit arm of the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, which has apparently inherited a good deal of the arrogance of its namesake, the notorious Hawaii profiteer and “greenmailer” Harry Weinberg. Weinberg milked the tenants of his two poorly maintained Ka’u District shopping centers for decades prior to his death — which any former tenant will substantiate — and his successors continue to thumb their noses at this region.
For well over a century, many generations of district residents originating from around the globe spent their entire working lives toiling in the now-vanished cane fields, and it’s a real shame that the humble monuments to their heroic efforts are now so quickly being lost.
The least that Ka’u lawmakers Maile Davis, Richard Creagan and Josh Green ought to be capable of is to offer up resolutions on the county and state levels requesting that the current theater slumlords restore this once-vibrant community resource to a safe and useable condition. If the shadowy principals of the 300 Corporation remain obstinate, then the property should simply be removed from their ownership through the legal condemnation process. It certainly can’t be worth much in its present dilapidated state. The theater is a simple wood-framed building with v-rib metal siding and corrugated roofing, and restoring it to usefulness shouldn’t be a particularly difficult or expensive undertaking.
Maybe intrepid and unsinkable Mayor Harry Kim can step in and do something about this unacceptable situation, if our district representatives continue to ignore it.
Glen M. Winterbottom is a resident of Naalehu