Why would one live in an area...

[Amrita]

When I was shopping for property I had several criteria.

1. Lava zone 3 for the least risk of being wiped out by Madame Pele.

2. Elevation close to 1000 feet for the least risk of being wiped out by a Tsunami. And for cooler temperatures.

3. I looked at good parts of the Sub-divisions with nice neighbors and    the least amount of trashed out properties.

4. Relatively convenient central (Puna) location between Keaau &         
  Pahoa.

5. The most land for my Money.

I believe I accomplished all this I in Orchidland.

I looked at Kapoho originally and when i was checking out a few properties there I talked with a long time resident of the area and I asked him. "Aren't you worried about Tsunamis? Lava? etc...

His answer. " I've lived here for 5 glorious years and If I loose everything here tomorrow I still wouldn't change a thing. These last 5 years have been the happiest of my life and I love it here. It's the cleanest air on the planet and My health has greatly improved since moving here."
"Right on I said...Right On"


One Thing I can always be sure of is that things will never go as expected.

Agree OLE for 20 years.  At 500 ft. though.  If a tsunami comes this high, the earthquake would knock everything down. OLE rules.  Buy two lots if you can for privacy.  In our 1 mile block over 25 new houses last two decades.  Here for the duration at 80 hoping for 20 more years .

[AaronM]

Here's hoping that you get them Amrita.

[Wao nahele kane]

Interesting... Here, because most folks ask why. That's why.

The reason we moved here, coming from a surrounding area of Seattle and watching it get overrun. The rifts of Kiluea offer the guarantee that heavy development will never plague the area.

If you want to live somewhere warm all year-'round and want it to always remain rural, the rifts of Kilauea offer that guarantee. They scare people away and that's the point.

As per the hazards, every place has it's hazards or potential shortcomings. 

People chose to live here because it's where they chose to live, no explanation needed. And those in the peanut gallery second guessing the choice can rest in the knowledge that you never walkaway unscathed from living anywhere. There's always a trade-off, always something that would be intolerable to another. 

Wherever you go, there you are. You're either in paradise, hell or somewhere in between, you alone control your perspective. 

We chose to decrease the risk of inundation by staying off the makai side of the rift and keeping to the lower elevations for the climate but closer to Hilo side for some semblance of convenience, shopping wise. HPP is well within the danger zone of future mass development. Hawaiian beaches and shores are already an over populated place from my perspective. Mauka 130, above HPP etc, already too densely developed parcel wise, too cool or within the danger zone of potential heavy development. 

Pahoa won't grow much larger than it is today before Kilauea cleanses the area. Some development and improvements are fine, but there's a limit for my preferences. Here, is just right.

[kalakoa]

I'm no longer willing to tolerate the corruption and ineptitude that passes for government here.

[kalianna]

You keep saying that but youʻre still here complaining.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

the corruption and ineptitude that passes for government

I think it fails as government.  Or as anything else except paychecks for 72% of East Hawaii.

[kalakoa]

It only sounds like complaining because I have an attitude problem.

I can only conclude that people who really want to live here (for whatever reason) will tolerate everything that entails -- natural disasters, limited healthcare options, high prices, and a government that actively steals from the public. Mismanagement of the pandemic was just too much for me, so I'm looking at other options.

[Punaperson]

Kalakoa: "It only sounds like complaining because I have an attitude problem.
I can only conclude that people who really want to live here (for whatever reason) will tolerate everything that entails -- natural disasters, limited healthcare options, high prices, and a government that actively steals from the public. Mismanagement of the pandemic was just too much for me, so I'm looking at other options."

Yes, in my limited personal experience, those of us that choose to live here do so deliberately. The calendar has just turned on 40 years of moving here from Oahu ( we left in 1981 was because it was getting too crowded ! ). It is a deliberate choice - few people end up in Puna on the way to somewhere else.

Natural disasters - I was able to sit on my lanai and see both high fountaining from the early Kilauea eruptions and Mauna Loa going off at the same time from the ease of my chair and a cold beer. I would call that a good trade off with the H-1 freeway traffic. I was able to walk up to the very edge of the Kalapana flows and literally poke a stick into the front edge of a moving finger of lava. I still keep a pair of Converse All Stars that have melted soles because I paused a bit too long to admire the beauty and amazement of watching flowing liquid rock . I had the privilege of watching land being born. We have stories of how we drank "Big Wave" beer on the cliffs at the bottom of HPP while waiting for reports of the 3rd tsunami in a few months after helping people move to higher ground. I worked less than 2 miles from the 'plume of doom' in 2018, and saw and was able to participate in people depending on each other, being kind instead of antagonistic and cynical.

Limited health care options: I have written about the horrible situation my friend of who needed cancer surgery and was forced to go to California because non-vaxxed covid people overwhelmed Oahu hospitals. That is more a problem of people's selfishness/ignorance/stupidity than of Puna specifically.

High prices: the running joke at our house was that our mortgage was paid off really early because we didn't have to buy snow tires, panty hose, or pay a heating bill in the winter. We just had to buy an extra pair of long pants and socks. (Flannel sheets turned out to be a great investment too.) One of my family spent $1200 last winter because they needed 4 snow tires. I can thankfully say I have no idea what pantyhose costs these days .

A government that actively steals from the public: I don't know if you remember Frank Fasi, old mayor of Honolulu. He actually got many, many things done, from the TheBus to TheTrash bins. His unofficial motto was 'you can trust him - if you buy him, he stays bought'. I don't know the government of the state you moved from, but having lived in several areas of the mainland before I ended up on Oahu, there are few places than can offer 'honest' government. It is always 'who you know', and 'how much $ can you donate'. Hawaii is no different.

Mismanagement of the pandemic: after every time I spoke to family/ friends on the mainland and listened to their descriptions of life as they had to live it, I would go outside, and take a deep breath. No where is perfect. If you see the 'grass is greener' somewhere else, go for it.

[AaronM]

For years Kalakoa has absolutely skewered the County and their near constant corruption and incompetence. I will miss those posts.

That being said, if a volcanic eruption in my neighborhood and a numbered fissure in my backyard weren't enough to get me to move, a tragically inept government won't.

Our little pearl in the pacific is an unbelievable haven that has no peer in this country if not this world.

[Obie]

18 years living in Kapoho Vacationland was well worth it.
If I knew about the salt damage, I might have not bought there.
We lost a very tight knit community and a very special place.
AaronM and I used to smoke pot in the middle of the street.