Is Puna Stuck In a Rut? Positive Solutions?

[PaulW]

I think an ATV tour to wherever there's surface lava from the viewing area would be worth a try.

[missydog1]

I also read tripadvisor, and the current trend is for nearly 100% of the visitors planning a trip to the Big Island to plan to visit the east side. On top of that, the majority of the short trip planners are coming to see the volcano and view the lava as part of a trip to Oahu or Maui, or occasionally Kaua'i. Often they are not even going Kona side.

Mind you, these are the people who use internet trip planning forums, not the folks who call up their travel agent and say book me a package and end up at the Royal Kona Resort or the Hilton.

Since the lava shifted, the number of posters adding Puna Makai to their itinerary has jumped drastically.

In addition, Puna appeals to all the off the beaten track folks.

What is less common is for people to plan enough time on the east side. They really pack their itineraries tight, unrealistically so, and plan their chill out time on the west side. That is to my mind ass backwards, but they are afraid of the weather and the lack of beaches.

What do they come east for?
Akaka Falls, Botanical Gardens, Onomea scenic route, Rainbow Falls/Boiling Pots, Farmer's Market, museums, Liliu'okalani Gardens, Big Island Candies, Imiloa, and of course Mauna Kea.
Puna:
VNP, Kalapana, Kaimu, Wai Opae, Champagne Pond, Red Road drive, Maku'u Market, Lava Tree, Pahoa as an incidental stop. Kehena, some.

More and more people stay in Puna and drive to the Hilo and Volcano sights.

[Chuysmom]

It would be great if some of the ideas for the shops in Honokaa or Honomu were adopted in Pahoa. They are quaint, retro, clean and attractive. It's fun to walk down the street and check out cafe's and shops and little antique stores. Very nice vibes there.

Pahoa has so much to offer.



Carrie Rojo

http://www.carrierojo.etsy.com


"...So began the massacre of the Shaolin Temple and all sixty of the monks inside at the fists of the White Lotus. And so began the legend of Pai Mei's five-point-palm-exploding-heart technique." - Bill

[missydog1]

Yes, Honomu is small but all of it is inviting and quaint, nothing scary.

Honoka'a has changed a ton since I first saw it twelve years ago.
Pahoa is closer to that size, than to Honomu. Yep, if Pahoa were as cool as Honoka'a I'd want to go there a lot.

I know Pahoa has a lot to offer from reading here, but when I actually go to Pahoa it depresses me. Sorry, but it does. Too much blight.

ed because I wrote the wrong town name.

[MarkP]

I think Puna is a haven for counterculture types. I strongly associate it with strangers hitchhiking who have unusual stories and not much else. I bought property there because it was the only place I could afford property. I chose not to sell the property at a massive profit when the opportunity arose, probably because I don't know any better but also because with all its faults I still like the place. I have one neighbor that I wish would move away, but others that I strongly identify with.

When I look at it I can't figure out why I came here myself. I'm a little apologetic when I talk about it to others.

I have picked up several young people called WWOOFers due to their participation in an organization called World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms. They work on organic farms for free in trade for room and board. I don't think of them as being a source of economic uplift since of the half dozen I've met, at least two were on welfare and one spoke his belief that any money not claimed as welfare would be sent to the "war fund", but they are representative of the type of people attracted to Puna.

I sure know how to pick 'em, don't I?

Sorry, that wasn't positive. What can be gleaned from my ramblings? Market Puna to off-beat types. The idea of campsites sounds like it would find a market. The Hilo Bay Hostel and Arnott's seem to do business.

[rainfire]

MarkP, their called " Willing Workers on Organic Farms". I have been a host and know what the program is about>

[Obie]

Use the county land fund to buy the parking lot at Luquin's and pave it.They had the chance to buy it fairly cheaply a few years ago and did not.Now the owner wants a lot more for it.
Right now Luquin's is renting from the owner.
The tour buses will not stop there because they are afraid of a lawsuit from a tourist falling on the gravel.

[mdd7000]

Unless I have just missed them - the area is sorely lacking in campgrounds. Since there are virtually no hotels other than some bed and breakfast stuff, which cater to a different crowd than campers, this could be a relatively cheap and fast way to get additional tourists into the area. Campers from Mainland or other countries would need to buy or rent supplies, purchase groceries, etc.

[Carey]

The port in Hilo is scheduled to change in the upcoming years. They have a need for more docking space & the leases on the residential lots on Ocean View Dr in Bakers Beach are soon to expire & the state does not plan to renew. One of the more current plans (that I can remember... have been to too many of the planning meetings, I realize as I am typing this) is to place a third pier along the shore of Bakers Beach. Some of the plans we have seen include a tourist/pedestrian trail over to Reeds Bay.... but all of this is still in the planning stage (if you have any feelings toward the harbor/pier development, of course now is the time to be active in the planning)

For those that are not familiar with the Hilo & Kona shipping docking:
The cruise ships in Kona do not dock at the harbor, but moor in Kailua Bay & the tourists are ferried to the Kailua Kona pier on tender boats. There is far less security and no commercial shipping at the pier.

The Hilo harbor is one of two commercial harbors on the Island, and the only one to receive tourist ships. It does have a visitors terminal (there have been a few re-incarnations at Hilo Harbor, one was a train & boat terminal, before the tsunami wiped out the train lines) that has an airport terminal feel. It has to have harbor security and has a very industrial feel outside of the terminal. As you leave the harbor area, there is a very old, industrial complex with the oil receiving terminals, industrial buildings and no tourist based retail/food vending for blocks, with the downtown Hilo over a mile away (and the DBA has yet to figure that easy, quick shuttle to the downtown may be a beneficial way to increase tourist time in the downtown).

Camping: The county has 9 public campgrounds; Isaac Hale campground is 1 of 3 East side county campgrounds, with 3 in North Kohala & 3 in Kau, along with Ho'okena, which is run by KUPA. Go to: http://www.hawaii-county.com/parks/parks.htm
1 of the States 3 camping grounds is Mackenzie, so we do have camping, as does the island. Go to : http://www.hawaiistateparks.org/camping/hawaii.cfm

There is also camping allowed at the National Park. Of course in the summer, it is harder to get camping spots, esp on the weekends, but that is the way it is at most campgrounds.

[lotus]

Pahoa reminds me a lot of Paia on Maui, before it was popular. I believe we could make Pahoa an exceptional place to visit. As a person who grew up in a tourist destination (Santa Cruz), I think it's important for us to take our town seriously. The first thing is that Pahoa still has a reputation for being unsafe at night, which is, in my opinion, no longer true. We need to convince more businesses to stay open a little later to show the public that our town isn't afraid of the dark. My shop is open til 8pm during the week. Guess what? I usually get a nice rush of people between 7 and 8pm after they've finished dinner at any number of the restaurants. And, they're usually visitors or from Hilo.

Second, I am a member of the Mainstreet Business Association Board of Directors. For anyone who is interested, I'm making a presentation this Tuesday at 6pm during our meeting to start a 2nd Saturday Art Walk in Pahoa. My thought is to host local artists once a month and keep the businesses open later on that day to bring people into town. I'd like to limit the parking to the parking lots and keep the one side of the street open for foot traffic from Kaleo's to the Post office. I want to start celebrating the counterculture here on the east side of the island by making something positive out of our diversity and weird-ities. Then at around 8 or 9pm, the Village Cafe, Luquins, Black Rock Cafe, The Akebono and the Museum could take over the festivities with live shows or performance art.... Whatever they've got scheduled for that night. Why not turn Pahoa into the cutest little art destination? We have so many artists on this side of the island, we could really make something special here.

For anyone who wants more info on this or wants to offer feedback, the meeting IS open to the public and is on Tuesday, June 9th at 6pm in the community center. Please come!!

Third, why not develop some serious eco-tourism here? I hear people talking about how it's so rainy here all the time and it keeps tourists away. What a load of cop-out!! Kauai is rainy. They get tourists. Costa Rica is rainy. They have no problem attracting people to their RAIN FORESTS. Seattle is rainy. Does that stop people from going there. NO. It doesn't. What we need to do instead of making the rain a bad thing, is use it to our advantage. "Look how the east side of Hawaii is eco-friendly! They use catchment to get their water!!" "See all the beautiful rainbows and waterfalls? Can't have that without the rain!" It's all about perspective. As long as we, as residents keep regarding the rain as a bad thing for tourism, it will be. But, if we use it to our advantage, like Paia, Maui, where the rain is part of the draw (and the cutest little town ever), then we will see things turn around.

On side note.... not to compare, but it's the closest comparison I have. Paia has no fast food restaurants. What they DO have, is some really good eats (that are slightly overpriced in my opinion), a bunch of super cute shops that are in sync with each other as neighbors and a relatively cheap health food store, Mana Foods. We are not that different from that town. The biggest difference is that our shopkeepers are not working together. We need to team up as a community and make this the town that we want it to be. Only then will Pahoa be profitable.

The protests about Woodland center are just serving to break us apart even further. Believe me, I'm not a fan of Burger King or KFC, but the time for those protests was months ago, when the deal wasn't set, yet. Now the best protest is to simply not eat there. On the flip side, the shopping center will create jobs for people in the area. It will bring some of the money flow here. It will entice the rest of the town to get it's act together before they decide to come and redevelop Old Pahoa.

And about the sidewalks.... We really do need a better street-side walking setup. I see people trip down our sidewalks and boardwalks all day long. The truth is, tourists will never get out of their cars and walk from one end of town to another if we don't make it safe for them to do so as pedestrians. Personally, I'd love to see this place turned into a bicycling town. I think it would only add to the charm.... But that's just me.

"The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones that never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars."