why do we live(or come)here?

[Rob Tucker]

Well with chrisb483 and islandlvng we appear to have acquired a couple newbies who are quite disdainful of both Hawaii and people here on Punaweb. Makes you wonder why they bother. But Punaweb is about the Puna community and if they are living here then they help make Puna what it is - good or bad.

Perhaps Ilandlvng could tell us where life is so much better than here and precisely why he/she is not there. A place with no trash, more jobs, lower prices, affordable housing, better weather, better scenery, lower taxes, less traffic. Gee. I'd like to know as a basis for comparison, others might too.

I will wish chrisb483 a happy future as he/she heads out to better pastures and hopefully happier times.

As to the basic question of why people come here? In the simplest way it would be because we have the freedom to do so and preferred this location to where ever we came from. Not too complicated really.

[Seeb]

If you came here when 19 or less odds are you were traveling on someone else's dime

[csgray]

What we have here is a failure to communicate.

What exactly is your topic? Your title suggests you want to know why people come/stay here, but your post is nothing but a rant about how you can't wait to leave because of how ruined the place has become, while dismissing most of the demographic of Punaweb as semi dead oldsters who never leave home. If you want positive responses don't be a fountain of negativity and sweeping generalizations and then go on to insult most of your potential responders while you are at it.

I came here because I wanted to live someplace with a steady supply of Vitamin D and great natural beauty, because my profession is/was in high demand, because it was time to leave the place we had called home for over 25 years because it had changed so much over that time (traffic, trash, man made air pollution, non existent jobs, increased cost of living, crime and gangs, badly designed infrastructure, increased population). Funny, my list looks a lot like your reasons for leaving Hawaii.

Maybe it is just harder for people to watch a place change than it is to simply move somewhere different. People tend to focus on how a place they've lived for a long time has deteriorated, but when you move someplace new you just see how it is NOW, not how it used to be. People like Rob are trying to limit the damage of inevitable change by getting actively involved in influencing how those changes happen, which is a viable alternative to moving on.

By the way, I do not fit into either of 808Blogger's categories and I would guess most people who move here and stay longer than 6 to 12 months don't either.

Carol

[Wao nahele kane]

chrisb483,
Ehya... We're leaving Bellevue Wa. in the cold, grey, moldy, murders everyday now PNW, We'll be sure to leave the lights on for you so you can cut your way through the usual gloom. Sounds like you'll fit right in here with the rest of the troglodytes. Enjoy, Mahalo and ALOHA!

E ho'a'o no i pau kuhihewa.

[Rob Tucker]

Here on Punaweb we have now had several occasions where people express extreme disappointment that Puna is not paradise for them. I suspect that they are having trouble reconciling their fantasy with our reality. Puna does not claim to be paradise. Punaweb does not carry a subtitle of Paradise web. I actually looked in my World Atlas and found only three places that call themselves Paradise. One in California, one in Nevada and one in Montana.

If your goal is actually to find paradise and compare it to something why not head for Montana, California or Nevada and see what you find?

It may be that you have focused on Hawaiian Paradise Park (HPP) and are disappointed with what you have found. If so there is a website for HPP where your thoughts might be well directed.

If Hawaii and Puna actually were paradise, in all reality, the population would be much, much larger than it is. It may be though, that as things deteriorate on the mainland, that we will see a huge population explosion here until Puna looks very much like the San Fernando Valley in California. That day may come. It has not yet.

[islandlvng]

this will be the last time i address you kathy. you seem to not be able to understand things to well. I think thats why this has turned out the way it has. First off, no one has backpedaled. I replied in my second post that im open to all comments. No where did i say that i said that in my original post. I origanally was "targeting" a certain range of people. after seeing it offended, i added i would like to hear all comments. Do you understand now???? and whos lame? I grew up here lady! Ive watched all the beaches i surfed daily go to **** with trash, poor quality water, traffic going nuts everywhere, burgleries through the roof, i never remembered closing all the windows and locking the doors growing up here. now i do it religously. I own property here and a beautiful house. I manage a 8 acre orchid farm. It sadends me to what has happend to hawaii. I dont go jogging anymore due to poor air quality all the time. In fact this last week ive woke up and coughed for hours but im not sick. I want to know if people around my age range feel the same way and what they plan to do about it. instead, people like you, who feel like they dont meet MY range wanna insult and make unfounded claims with no merit. I have done alot here and seen alot here, whats there left to get? just cause im 30 im missing something? Ive hiked the whole island. surfed places only accessed by boat. spent numerous hours picking up rubbish at local beaches and roadside, used to be in civil air patrol, on and on. what dont i get kathy? as far as the attitude goes, the new "haoles" ive meet continuously complain about the rasism here. WAY more than before. They seem to also be alot more ignorant. they come here and build and block of 4x4 trails that have been used for 20-30 years. this is happening on both sides of the island. beach access being taken away, because all of a sudden, they own the land and thats it!! I see tons more trash everywhere. Look at the old cinder cones in kapoho, i was riding dirt bikes there since i was 10. closed because it turned in a dump site. just one example......... no aloha for the land from both locals and "haoles" or should i say very little. assults are steady and rising and have been for the last 5 plus years along with theft. all being apart of this attitude im talking about. listen, im no newbie to this place. 10 years in keaukaha growing up a skinny haole, never burglarized, beat up, stolen from....... and that place was supposed to be HARDCORE. 10 years in HPP. now all i hear is buglaries and beatings, ice heads running around stealing, hondas and acuras being stolen by punk kids at a alarming rate........... yeah it happens everywhere. our population here is under 150k? do the numbers and look and the current statistics. thats all you have to do. this island will alway be beautiful and exotic but at what price? For someone in my statistical range, can i live up to my full potential in life living here? Heath wise, financially, mentally? I see these things affecting numerous people here when it should be the opposite. Was it like this 10+ years ago?? No, so what is the next 10 years going to bring? youre right kathy i dont get it. maybe ill try again when im 40 lol.

[islandlvng]

you are all very unwelcoming to new people at this website. my orignal post only contained some of my concerns as a resident here in hawaii. Read it again if you must. in fact the key complaints that i had in fact have been topics by other regulars on here and without prejudice. thats sad to see. My topic wasnt slamming anyone here in hawaii in any way. How it turned into what it did is pathetic. I wouldnt have lived here for 20 years if i hated this place. No one has forced me to do anything. It was a simple post posing a question and a bunch of immature selfish people over analyzed it and shredded it thanks again for all your aloha and thanks for proving one of my points on attitude!

[Rob Tucker]

islandlvng, I appreciate what you have to say. It sounds familiar becasue I have heard it before and said those things before myself. Similar sentiments echo around the country from coast to coast.

At thirty or so I would suggest some travel is in order. It does wonders for perspective. I grew up in a California beach town in the '60s and was very concerned about the growth, crime, loss of access, loss of lifestyle. Spending a few years overseas quickly had me saying to myself "Damn, that place I was in such a hurry to get away from wasn't so bad after all!".

Sounds to me like you need to explore the world and either find a place you can love or find new appreciation of where you come from.

Meanwhile some of us will be working on many of the issues you raise because you are right on about them.

[ric]

Wow, alot of anger there, islandlvng, but I'm sure that it isn't Kathy or any other PW'er that is stealing the hondas & acuras. I thought Kathy's comment was valid and looks like you're getting good responses, so why the attack?

Nice posts, Glen and Chris. A nice perspective from different sides . . . the romantic vs. the pragmatic.

[chrisb483]

For the record, I am not a newbie, I have been coming here for six years for months at a time. I do not live in HPP, I am staying way down deep in Puna. I do not have fantasies about this place, and never did. Instead, it sounds like most people here live in a fantasy, neglecting the reality place. I am not looking for paradise. I am not disdainful of anyone, it is a good friend who tells you what you do not want to hear.

I am not going to live in Belvue, WA, I am mostly in North Carolina. I am not a troglodyte.

It is the individualistic thread that runs through the area which turns me off the most. Good luck with that.