Agree, it’s aggressive, but why?
I agree with the West Hawaii Today story on the homeless. We are part-time owners at the Kona Reef, and Honl Park is a magnet for street people.
I was told by a local when the volcano was active in 2018, they shipped in two bus loads of street people from the affected (volcano) area to Kona. They dropped them off in Kona. These street people are very, very aggressive and were causing a lot of problems.
Is there any truth to this?
Pete Vann
Kailua-Kona
Witness of homeless altercations never sees police
Vacationing over in Kona at the Kona Islander Inn brings quite a vision as to what is considered hanging around on the walls.
Homeless or not? I don’t know. I see the same people there every day from sunrise till very late in the evening. We watch them selling something where you see them handing off money and collecting things. Drugs? Possibly. There is one in particular who takes to whistling at high shrieks constantly day and night. We call him Mister Whistler. He is the one that usually starts fights with everyone, screaming and yelling and carrying on and eventually leads into fisticuffs. On some of these occasions, there are outbursts of fighting and altercations such as one punching another one and landing in the street and almost getting hit by a car. I have called the police but this is to no avail. I don’t know why but the police never show up.
We never see police walking the streets. I feel this would be a great asset to the community if there was more a visual of police walking the streets. I’m 1,000 percent behind the men and women in blue. Maybe there just isn’t enough help? What happened to the Aloha Ambassador groups of volunteers that used to walk the streets with their identifiable jackets on? That would be a great asset to the community and police as well.
I do avoid confrontations and walk on the other side of the street due to some of the harassment. Notably, these occurrences are on the wall across from the Kona Islander, the old church, and the wall across from Gertrude’s.
On occasion, I have seen camping across the street from the Kona Islander. It seems to be ignored.
It would be nice to see disbursements of the groups leading to a more comfortable feeling walking the towns.
This is just my point of view as a visitor to this beautiful island.
P.S., as I was writing this, a huge fight encountered. Mister Whistler was kicking a young boy around 16 years old over and over again on the beach in front of the wall in front of the Kona Islander. Everyone started hollering at him to no avail. We called the police they didn’t seem very interested and told us to call dispatcher.
Lynne Hayes
Part-time Kailua-Kona resident
Preserve space before it’s too late
I grew up in Manhattan Beach, a small, quiet town perched on the coast of Southern California. An enclave of little cottages scattered along an endless, white sand beach, populated by families who cherished the relaxed lifestyle of coastal living.
It was a wonderful place to grow up, but by the mid-1970s things began to change. Money moved in, buying up the quaint beach cottages, tearing them down and putting up multi-story mansions on the small, narrow lots. It was the beginning of the end for my cherished hometown.
About 20 years ago, I went back to revisit old haunts. I will never return. My childhood paradise was gone, supplanted by towering buildings, traffic-clogged streets and the false superiority of wealth. There were no young families playing on the beach. It had become a town of millionaires, movie stars and professional athletes, the atmosphere cold and impersonal.
I hurts to see this same destruction of the natural environment happening in Kona. When I paddle my canoe along the coastline, I am confronted with concrete monoliths sprouting like open sores on our beautiful shores. Look at the stark contrast between Lyman’s point, which thanks to the tireless efforts of Junior Kanuha, remains pristine and the blight of multi-story buildings where our coastline has been sold to the highest bidder. Look at the beauty of the shoreline where the Kona Lagoon Hotel was removed. This is how the Kona Coast should be.
The makai side of Alii Drive should never have been developed. It should be open, unencumbered space for everyone to enjoy. No one comes to Hawaii to look at tall, ugly buildings and parking garages. We should have more respect for this beautiful aina than to suffocate it with eyesores for the sake of profit.
Tami Warren
Kealakekua