06-06-2009, 05:24 AM
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."
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."
"How do you know i am mad?" said Alice.
"You must be," said the cat "or you wouldnt have come here."
"You must be," said the cat "or you wouldnt have come here."