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S.P.A.C.E. Community Meeting - March 6th - Rob Tucker - 02-16-2010
SPACE has recently been subjected to repeated complaints by a neighbor who has contacted numerous county and state departments seeking to curtail SPACE activities. - Moderator
SPACE’s Dilemma, A Lesson On The Need To Make Government Serve The Community
By Graham Ellis
(Graham Ellis is one of the founders of the performing arts community, Belly Acres, where the Seaview Performing Arts Center for Education was erected in 2007.)
Please attend the March 6th Community Relations Meeting at SPACE at 10:00 a.m.
The Seaview Performing Arts Center for Education (SPACE) serves lower Puna as a multi purpose community center that hosts a Charter School, a farmers market, a night bazaar, arts classes, special performances and community meetings. We serve residents from Leilani to Kehena to Kapoho – and if you love what we do or have had a family member who has been lifted by our activities, programs or performances, please read on. This is an urgent request for your help.
Because SPACE provides services and activities beyond the Special Use Permit we were granted by Hawai`i County in 2001, we are in “non-compliance” with a number of government rules and regulations. We are challenged with making significant changes to our Special Use Permit and getting those changes approved by the Planning Commission to again be compliant. We’ve worked hard to make SPACE’s operations sustainable and energy efficient, but we don’t have anywhere near the additional capital necessary to implement the necessary changes. The harsh reality is that the tough economy means that grant funding and widespread belt tightening spells doom for small grassroots organizations like ours that do not have the financial resources to fulfill County requirements. The original permit for SPACE activities was based on a vision for a community arts center that provided a home for the Hiccup Circus. However, motivated by the need for more local services, the facility has evolved over time to provide a variety of functions that enrich our community. We need your help to let the County know that the many services we now provide at SPACE are in the best interests of our community – and moreover, satisfy a need that the County (and other governmental bodies) has been unable or unwilling to provide to lower Puna residents. Sadly, SPACE is threatened with censure and possibly closure if the County refuses to modify the Special Use Permit.
If sustainability as a goal has any meaning at all, it must embrace community-based, community-run efforts to strengthen the social and economic fabric of their neighborhoods. One solution is for government agencies to be flexible – but will they?
The dilemma SPACE faces now is not likely to be unique to other Big Island communities that have taken matters in their own hands to provide essential activities and facilities for their neighborhoods. This is especially true when government agencies are unwilling or unable to use our tax dollars for these essential services. Can our government respond to the needs of a legitimate community asset that serves the public, promotes sustainability, and buffers residents of lower Puna from the harmful effects of the great recession? I’ve observed that if the people speak loudly enough, the government can be made to listen. For that, we must look to our base as a grassroots community organization and to our service to you.
SPACE is the creation of a grassroots community development movement that meets the changing aspirations and needs of our community. To better understand, let’s take a brief look how this unlikely movement began. I moved to Hawaii in 1981 and have now lived 23 years on the same parcel of land in lower Puna. I’ve worked most of my adult life in education and community development, most notably in the 20 years I spent as founder and director of the Hiccup Circus. You may not know that H.I.C.C.U.P. actually stands for Hawaii Island Community Circus Unity Project. For years, the HICCUP circus project has been employing a technique called “artistic intervention” using circus arts to educate and inspire hundreds of Hawaii’s children with workshops, camps, festivals and performances throughout the Hawaiian Islands. Our work has always been about bringing people together to facilitate harmonious and sustainable living, while we try to produce miracles on a shoe-string budget.
Community involvement has always been a priority for me. I’ve served on several community boards and presently serve as President of the Board for Hawaii’s Volcano Circus, the group that manages both SPACE and the Village Green Society Ltd, which owns the property. Both are 501 IRS non-profit organizations founded by 35 professional performers and run primarily by volunteers. The Village Green Society operates as a land trust and has leased approximately 2.5 acres of its land to the SPACE community center for $1 a year for 40 years.
Times change, and our aspirations and needs change similarly. When we started in 1987, the stated vision of Hawaii’s Volcano Circus was to organize a company of performance artists and to build and operate a cultural and educational center. The mission, until we opened SPACE, was “to promote the healthy development of our community and children using circus arts.” In January of 2008 – just after SPACE opened – our Board acknowledged the growing needs of our rapidly expanding community, and amended the organization’s mission statement “to creatively promote sustainable local community in Puna Makai”
Yes, times do change. In March of 1987 when l moved to Seaview Estates, there were only 10 occupied homes and a wild assortment of residents. With 933 empty lots we knew we had to prepare for some serious changes in the upcoming years. In order to improve living conditions and to establish an organization for creating community facilities, we started having residents and owners meetings. I was elected the first President of the Board for the Kalapana Seaview Estates Community Association in 1990 and was responsible for meeting with the Bankruptcy Trustee Judge in Oahu and the transfer of power and authority to the newly formed Board at Seaview.
One of my first tasks was to work with Chris Yuen, our attorney, to create the articles of incorporation and original by-laws for Kalapana Seaview Estates Community Association. In this process it became obvious to us all that whilst the original Seaview Developer had promised considerable community facilities to prospective lot buyers, nothing would happen unless we did it ourselves. We could see even then that the County would not have the funds to support us. That is one thing that has not changed.
From this time, l persevered with our intention to build a community arts facility.
In 1998, l started the three-year agonizing process of obtaining a Special Use Permit which was granted by the County Planning Commission in October 2001. The next five years were spent fundraising. Through the work of the Hiccup Circus we slowly and very painstakingly raised about $38,000 locally and then in 2005 had a gracious offer of a $250,000 challenge grant, which required us to match the funding. Dollar by dollar and in-kind pledge by pledge we managed to meet the challenge thanks to the depth of our community support in Puna and East Hawaii.
Between the issuance of our Special Permit in 2001 and the construction of SPACE in 2007, our lower Puna community experienced a rapid and dramatic growth in population, which increased the need and urgency for SPACE to offer more than just “a home for the circus.”
I freely admit that in 1999 when we started our special permit application, we never envisioned that SPACE would become a community center offering the wide scope of services we currently provide. We never proposed having a farmers market, a school, community meetings, weddings, memorials services, or a night bazaar. We only envisioned presenting performances for our members, not the general public. All along the way things changed, the world changed.
Our present permit does not allow us to do some of the activities we presently host at SPACE – we do them because our community says they want them, because it promotes a local sustainable community and because we all have no other place to go. I truly believe that in the coming years the web of exchanges along with the sharing and connection that is happening at SPACE will have a profound and positive impact on the welfare of all the residents of our community. Many of you have told me that SPACE has already provided such an impact in just two years.
Now we need your help. For each of you who wants this community center to flourish and continue to serve the people of Puna Makai, please stand up and speak out so that all our county and state officials hear how important SPACE and other similar centers are to the health of our community. And if this is not your district – please remember that this could also happen to your community-based organizations and affect your own local services, so please support positive government response to community-based initiatives.
Please attend the March 6th Community Relations Meeting at SPACE at 10:00 a.m. and the MARCH 5th Town Hall Meeting, at Puna Hongwanji in Kea’au at 5 p.m.
RE: S.P.A.C.E. Community Meeting - March 6th - StillHope - 02-16-2010
Was there any reason for the complaints (like excessive noise) very early or late or it's just someone who simply "likes the rules"?
RE: S.P.A.C.E. Community Meeting - March 6th - Rob Tucker - 02-16-2010
I certainly can't speak for the complainant but I was there on New Year's Eve when the individual came over at 10 pm insisting that everything stop and shut down. Believe me it was not a very loud affair. He was reasonably polite in making what I thought to be an unreasonable demand.
RE: S.P.A.C.E. Community Meeting - March 6th - StillHope - 02-16-2010
I see..New Years Eve demand looks like unreasonable.
I've never been there late at night.So I don't know how loud it is.
Well,it's a tough situation.Definitely SPACE is a good thing for the community.But there's a reason why they don't allow business in residential area.
I certainly wouldn't want to live near a karaoke bar..
On the other side,if someone is complaining just because they can
and the whole community will suffer - it's another story.
RE: S.P.A.C.E. Community Meeting - March 6th - knieft - 02-16-2010
Clarification regarding: "hosts a Charter School" and "We never proposed having a... school"
For the record, SPACE does not host a "charter school". They host a single-digit percentage (by school population) _program_ of a charter school. Not sure how that plays into Graham's re-post, but the clarification is needed.
I personally wish SPACE the best in their endeavors, but can not let the verbiage stand--they do not host a Charter School. They host a minor program of a charter school.
On the larger issue he addresses, probably all of us should support local attempts to do the right thing. And SPACE's attempt to provide something of actual utility to a unique subdivision (Seaview) likely falls into that category.
Cheers,
Kirt
RE: S.P.A.C.E. Community Meeting - March 6th - heather - 02-16-2010
The hubby and I recently attended a great show at SPACE. It was our first time there and we were running a little late, by the time we got there the parking lot was full..Like many other people we had to park out on the road.We were not blocking anyones drive or causing any problems. Driving home we were very bummed to find that someone bent our antenna in half!! We were able to straighten it out but it appears that it could break in half at anytime.Such a disapointment that someone would do that! Many times we have discussed how someone could do something so hateful..makes me wonder if it is one of the people that have been complaining.
RE: S.P.A.C.E. Community Meeting - March 6th - JerryCarr - 02-17-2010
This is an all too typical conundrum for community facilities in Puna. The County does not provide enough buildings and programs to meet the demand from the community, and when local organizations do so themselves, they run afoul of the zoning (and sometimes other) regulations. We have seen this with Kalani, more than one charter school, and now SPACE. Getting a Special Use Permit in SPACE's instance was apparently only a temporary fix. Hindsight being 20-20, it might have been smart to have tried to get the permit modified as activities and facilities were added in excess of its original parameters. At least alternatives could have been considered in advance of the investment in funds and hard work that went into the expansion.
Everyone I know who has experienced the offerings at SPACE has been positive (or even thrilled) about it, but living next to a growing attraction can create issues for the quiet type of homeowner. The neighbor or neighbors who complained may have moved into their homes anticipating a certain level of activity at SPACE only to see it expand beyond what they feel they can tolerate. Not having been there myself, I'm not saying that the complaints are justified or not. It could be that there are other issues or an attitude problem on someone's part.
What I do know is that we need zoning revisions to allow for the appropriate location of facilities like SPACE, Kalani, and the hopefully growing number of charter schools that the community needs. The reason so many organizations like these end up with zoning violations is the simple fact that there is nowhere legally zoned for them to locate where they would be able to effectively accomplish their purposes.
The Puna Community Development Plan, if properly implemented, will go a long way toward solving this problem. It might be necessary to "grandfather" (with reasonable restrictions) some existing facilities while creating well-planned set of locations for future ones.
Cheers,
Jerry
RE: S.P.A.C.E. Community Meeting - March 6th - peregrine - 02-19-2010
Graham Ellis likes to talk about community and sustainability, and is overly fond of using the word "aloha", but as many of the neighbors who are the closest members of the community to SPACE can tell you, his vision of community is one of his own creation, and his actions toward many community members severely lack aloha. He is not content to rule the parcel known as Belly Aces, but would like to control the the outlying area as well. His vision for this community does not include everyone who may want to participate, only those whom he deems assets. He repeatedly states a need for support, financial and other, yet has a decades long history of biting the hands that feed. His vision of community does not include people who have in one way or another been perceived as not being 100% behind him, no matter how unfounded the accusations against or how great the contribution by the "offender". Anyone who dares to question the Organization (SPACE, Belly Acres, Village Green et al) or who is viewed as not giving more than they received, or who simply doesn't "fit in" is treated as a pariah and scapegoat. The outcast is bullied, shunned, and shut out of "community" events which are open to the general public. Many people over the past 20 years have been told by Mr.Ellis that they were "the only ones who have a problem with [us]" If those tactics do not succeed in driving away the targeted person(s), the Organization stoops to even lower techniques, such as falsified reports to government agencies and distributing printed propaganda with false information. SPACE is not a community center, it is the public face of an exclusive club. Mr. Ellis is not the great visionary, teacher and community builder he paints himself as, but a bully, charlatan and huckster of the highest degree. A neighbor of SPACE and I recently conversed about some of the issues in the neighborhood. This person is not entirely against activities at SPACE nor are they for uncontrolled traffic, noise, etc. This person stated the opinion that Mr.Ellis is a good politician, saying, in part,"he makes sure his friends are stronger than his enemies". However, I am of the belief that a good politician is well versed in the twin arts of persuasion and compromise. Mr. Ellis is not. The approach the neighbor extolled sounds more like organized crime to my ears. But crime is nothing new to Graham Ellis. He has been here for 23 years because he can't go anywhere else. He is an immigrant and a felon who remains in this country illegally, with legalization unlikely. He flouts the law when it suits him, whether he is letting his horses roam the streets of Seaview, or cultivating an illegal substance, or blocking a public street, without permit, for his own purposes, or simply staying put to avoid consequences. He then hides behind the law when it suits him, whether it is to dismiss people he does not like, or get tax breaks for the "non-profit" business that makes his lifestyle possible, or to otherwise control the environment and culture around him.
What has all this to do with the immediate issues of permits? It is simply to shed light on how the community came to have this problem. It is unlikely anyone would be making much fuss if the neighbors of SPACE/Belly Acres were treated with respect and concerns were addressed in an open, egalitarian, community based process. It should not be necessary to file a complaint with the county, but it was. It should not take a petition to enforce what should come from aloha, but there is no aloha coming from Mr.Ellis.
Now, dear readers, some of you may be thinking "Maybe there are things we don't know about going on behind the scenes, but I like attending many of the different events at SPACE. Why should I not support it continuing, with regulation and enforcement?". To that I say this: Having a place for children to take classes without going to Hilo is lovely, and having a place to socialize a little while buying local organic greens is also nice, but the impact of activities at SPACE far exceed what this subdivision was designed for. People move to Seaview because it is quiet and clean and relatively safe. The lots are small, but people can hope to live out their dreams of retirement or even simple home ownership, with few of the disturbances of city living or the problems of other affordable subdivisions. There is some traffic, but children play and ride their bikes, going between houses and the playground as though it is a 1950s television neighborhood. But that changes every Saturday morning, Wednesday evening, and any other time SPACE draws more than a handful of people. The air which is fresh and vog-free becomes foul with car exhaust. Traffic is uncontrolled and unsafe; many cars speed, while others are parked for a block on either side of the SPACE driveway. Noise can reach levels well over what is legal in a residential area. Strangers from all over Puna and the world converge, and not every one of them has the best of intentions or even manners. I can say without hesitation that whomever bent the car antennae was almost certainly NOT a resident of this community. Unfortunately, a bent car antennae is a relatively small transgression. Many visitors to the neighborhood use controlled substances while there, and it is not always the usually ignored herb. Even more disturbing, there have been multiple incidents concerning sex offenders, both registered and not. While those particular individuals were confronted and asked to leave the presence of children, the fact that they were drawn to a residential community by the public events at a place of business, not to mention school, is very disconcerting.
In conclusion, coastal Puna does need a community center and farmers market, but it should be housed and held at a location on a major road instead of one mile into a purely residential neighborhood, and it's board and administration should be composed of a diverse cross section of community volunteers, not a hand picked pack of cronies and insiders whose greatest interest is personal.
RE: S.P.A.C.E. Community Meeting - March 6th - Rob Tucker - 02-19-2010
Welcome to Punaweb peregrine,
...and thank you for another point of view.
Assume the best and ask questions.
Punaweb moderator
RE: S.P.A.C.E. Community Meeting - March 6th - missydog1 - 02-19-2010
I have no firsthand experience with SPACE, but I do find peregrine's post elegant, well-stated and compelling. I don't have possession of the facts to decide who is being the more truthful. I'm simply saying that peregrine hardly writes like a crank or a person who doesn't understand the situation.
If someone built a performing arts center and had all these other activities next to my house, I would hate it. I know that. I think it would be nice if each subdivision had a community center, a center set aside for events. I also think there should be some commercial zoning to serve each area. Then if people want to buy next to that zoning, that's their choice.
I do not think private property owners in ag or residential property should set up large scale operations that bring crowds. Only if each person in the area signed on for it. It's like having a neighbor who throws insanely large parties all the time.
I believe that if you're going to have a special use situation in a residential community that you should keep it in the confines of the parcel(s) you own. The noise, the parking, the traffic. To claim that one place should be allowed to overwhelm the community in the name of community seems self-serving to me.
Lucky for SPACE I won't be having a voice in this one as I don't live there. [8D]