06-21-2019, 04:26 AM
(Per Tom's suggestion, separating Kauai tourist protest issue from TMT)
Article today in Civil Beat: Kauai’s Newly Reopened Park Is A Case Study In Controlling Tourism
https://www.civilbeat.org/2019/06/kauis-...g-tourism/
Excerpts:
"Tourism in this Instagram-perfect oasis of neon-blue water and green jungle came to a halt in April 2018 when a record-setting storm dumped 49.7 inches of rain in 24 hours...The carnage prompted (road closure to all but locals and construction workers) for 14 months.
During the public road closure, residents saw things that they hadn’t seen since the 1950s: empty beaches and roads, undisturbed waters teeming with fish and a resurgence of community spirit. Kids started riding bikes in the road. Families reclaimed favorite tracks of sand and sea that had been overtaken by throngs of tourists.
A popular sentiment among born-and-raised locals is that the flood was a divine declaration from Mother Nature that she had had enough.
There are people who have been born and raised there and all they know is crowds of people,” said Curt Cottrell, the administrator of the Department of Land and Natural Resources’ Division of State Parks. “And then … they looked up and saw their community as it once was 70 years ago.
Now the communities of Wainiha and Haena are emerging from isolation with new regulations geared toward mitigating the crush of tourism at the area’s most popular attraction. A redesigned Haena State Park boasts experimental crowd control features — including a 900-person daily visitor cap and increased law enforcement
- - - -
This is quite the story. Oahu's North Shore has had similar problems. Local posting on websites have reported it often takes them 30 minutes to drive 3 miles to Haliewa. They regularly post this statement: "I sometimes feel like a prisoner in my home."
Not that applicable to Puna, though. We've lost tourists following destruction of some of our natural resources to lava, e.g. Kapoho tide pools.
Are we possibly lucky in some respects, but not realizing it?
Article today in Civil Beat: Kauai’s Newly Reopened Park Is A Case Study In Controlling Tourism
https://www.civilbeat.org/2019/06/kauis-...g-tourism/
Excerpts:
"Tourism in this Instagram-perfect oasis of neon-blue water and green jungle came to a halt in April 2018 when a record-setting storm dumped 49.7 inches of rain in 24 hours...The carnage prompted (road closure to all but locals and construction workers) for 14 months.
During the public road closure, residents saw things that they hadn’t seen since the 1950s: empty beaches and roads, undisturbed waters teeming with fish and a resurgence of community spirit. Kids started riding bikes in the road. Families reclaimed favorite tracks of sand and sea that had been overtaken by throngs of tourists.
A popular sentiment among born-and-raised locals is that the flood was a divine declaration from Mother Nature that she had had enough.
There are people who have been born and raised there and all they know is crowds of people,” said Curt Cottrell, the administrator of the Department of Land and Natural Resources’ Division of State Parks. “And then … they looked up and saw their community as it once was 70 years ago.
Now the communities of Wainiha and Haena are emerging from isolation with new regulations geared toward mitigating the crush of tourism at the area’s most popular attraction. A redesigned Haena State Park boasts experimental crowd control features — including a 900-person daily visitor cap and increased law enforcement
- - - -
This is quite the story. Oahu's North Shore has had similar problems. Local posting on websites have reported it often takes them 30 minutes to drive 3 miles to Haliewa. They regularly post this statement: "I sometimes feel like a prisoner in my home."
Not that applicable to Puna, though. We've lost tourists following destruction of some of our natural resources to lava, e.g. Kapoho tide pools.
Are we possibly lucky in some respects, but not realizing it?
