Koko,
Paele and I caught the sunrise on the Giant (Nounou) this morning,
and what a sweet dawn it was. I love these long days, where you can
play outside for a couple of hours and be back home by the time some
folks are crawling out of bed. And it makes the dogs really happy,
which is all that matters, right?
For
some people, money matters most. I had a couple of readers send in
links to articles about the antics of Kauai's richest denizens,
including the Russian billionaire and fertilizer king Dmitri
Rybolovlev, who bought Will Smith's house in Kilauea. Seems a process
server caught up with him on the tarmac at Lihue Airport last week
just as Rybolovlev helicoptered in from the house and was walking up
the steps to his personal 737 Airbus.
Cuz you know, you wouldn't want to have to drive all the way down from
Kilauea — especially when cops are manning a speed trap in the
construction zone near Kealia Kai, even though it's a Sunday and
there's no work or hazards in evidence. What's up with that? And during police appreciation week no less. Are they
just testing our blind obedience to authority?
Meanwhile,
developer Michele Hughes is making a mockery of the county and state
by using her ag land vacation rental permits and after-the-fact
approval for an illegal trail as selling points for two “luxury
villas” — oops, I mean farm dwellings — with “exclusive
Kauapea Road addresses” in Kilauea. As the advertorial in the Wall
Street Journal notes:
Originally
listed for $8.5M each, the 5.325 and 5.03-acre bluff estates at 2884
and 2908 Kauapea Road are privately gated and surrounded by manicured
lawns and tropical gardens, and the 24-acre parcel known as Lot 36
spans the oceanfront area of the site. Panoramic views of fertile
mountains, lush valleys and turquoise Pacific waters extend for
miles. While the bluff properties feature luxury villas Hale Nanea
("Home of Joy and Tranquility") and Hale Lani ("Heavenly
Home"), both of which include a vacation rental permit, each
also allows for the construction of two new residences and has
perpetual pedestrian easements to Secret Beach - perfect for
snorkeling, swimming, beachcombing, windsurfing, stand-up paddling,
fishing and kayaking. The oceanfront site spans 2/3rds of a mile
along Secret Beach and also allows for two new residences and a guest
home.
"These
properties are the crown jewels of an originally-40-acre Secret Beach
oceanfront parcel that I have been blessed to nurture and develop
over the past thirty years. Existing in support of the native
surroundings, they beckon the construction of up to six new estate
residences," stated Michele Hughes, CEO of The Michele Hughes
Company. "I am excited to work again with Concierge Auctions and
to find owners who will cherish these properties and enjoy the Island
lifestyle they so ideally enable."
Gag..... She's just anxious to find owners period, which is why she's
conducting a fire sale, I mean auction, with bidders allowed
to name the price - one without reserve.
Back
in the real world, on the other side of the island, Koloa Camp folks
conducted a wake for their community yesterday. Yeah, gotta get rid of that truly affordable housing, cuz those old plantation shacks might offend the “luxury
travelers and A-list celebrities” that Michele Hughes and Kukuiula
cater to.
Speaking
of A-list celebs, Julia Roberts has also gotten into the act of
landscaping the beach. A recent visit to the beach that fronts her
remodeled hale in Haena found the usual new plantings of naupaka and
spider lilies. The vegetation in front of Pierce Brosnan's place is
also flourishing. Amazing how chicken manure and irrigation aid the
workings of nature. All these vegetation is on public beach.
But
DLNR can't get out there and enforce because it's too busy looking
for the 3,000 trout that went missing from their holding pens at
Pu‘u Lua Reservoir at Koke‘e. Forgetting, for a moment, the
questions of why the state continues to trade in alien species and
charge taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars for a recreational
activity enjoyed by relatively few, how come the state is only now
asking for tips when the theft was reported to the cops back on March
28? I mean, how many people can remember whether they saw someone by
the reservoir six weeks ago?
I
forwarded the press release to a friend, who quipped:
Was
the taking of the 3000 fish an act of ecoterroism? Someone who is
fed up with DLNR not protecting natural resources but rather
trying to exploit it for the good of sports enthusiasts and tourist?
Or
was it PASH activists taking food that is rightfully theirs?
Someone
upset that some huge amount of money ($50,000) was pent on fun
instead of natural resource protection?
What
about $7 million to ship nene to Maui?
Or
as another friend noted when forwarding an email about the KIUC smart
meter technician who supposedly forced the device on a Kapahi family
adamantly opposed to its installation:
What
a strange world we live in……
Love
it or leave it?
Posts
36 comments:
Thanks for the info Joan, keep it up.
That shit is so wrong. Artificially extending the vegetation line. It's okay though...one good wave will undo all their work, i hope.
You are an angry woman Joan.
Sad to see Kauai spoiled (even more) by the rich. We'll be there in July and I really hope our favorite spots are not too spoiled.. very sad to hear about the camp. So hard for the locals when all that money is moving in (again)...
how was that parcel of land NOT part of a larger development - as it has no other development - it must be a part of some other development - primarily the vacation rentals.
So when someone just writes about what they see, they're angry now?
I've always found it interesting how a state that claims to be democratic is very moderate and frowns upon activism.
Let's be calm. It's Julia, for cryin' out loud. She was on more magazine covers than just about any star you can name.
Joan,
Do you or Karen have jobs? It seems you two walk around a lot, hike and poke your noses around more than anyone could possibly do in one day. This would lead me to believe that neither one of you actually work.
Signed,
Just curious
Joan....always looking for the Truth....
.... where it can hurt you.
.......or uncovering the source of the "smell" that has been lingering like a dead rat in Paradise
Dr Shibai
All these foreigners (dare I say true Haole) make me want to puke especially that Michele Hughes. Stop faking farms and stop stealing our beaches!
Thank you Joan for your good work. I thank for you the pictures as pictures do not lie. I wish these government agencies would step up to the plate do there jobs. I know they are important things that they are tending too but for us local people to start losing our beaches to these people who want to take more of the land is not acceptable.
Justice for the people of Kauai: Joan of Arc
wouldn't it be neat to see to see these issues of the celebs like Julia, Pierce and others stealing, encroaching onto public beaches in cheesey and nefarious ways to expand their already lucrative land holdings at the expense of the public and the ever diminishing resources hit the mainland tabloid and mainstream media?
Joan: Leave the Light On
Financially it wouldn't have any benefits for the good ol boys so you can cancel that prescription.
How come nobodyʻs asking which DLNR officer made the deal and opened the fishy gate?
Too bad we now have Russian criminals on Kauai.
"Justice for the people of Kauai: Joan of Arc"
She got burned at the stake.
Shoot the messenger.
"There's no 'I' in 'Team'....and there's no 'F' in 'Way'"
Maybe, if all the rich folks "unionized", they could offer to buy Kauai from the state, thus helping solve so many other state problems that require money.
Or, become a somewhat open-ended trust (allowing other select rich members in by vote of existing trustees) acquiring 100% of Kauai's land in a leasehold sort of way from the state, say, for 200 years.
Kauai...the next Niihau, but only for rich people.
I'd like that. I could buy in...not huge, but "Bresca" style.
Mr. Rybolovev was accused of murdering a fellow businessman and spent close to a year in prison.
Elect real people, not your cousin because they guarantee you a job - look at the latest county girlfriend hire.
Enough, put educated, honest people in office and in power Bernard, we are all watching and just because we are blood doesn't mean I will vote for you again.
Shape up or we the people will ship your lying, deceiving asses out of office and off our tax roll.
A long time age a friend said to me "either you are going to own the boat or be the person cleaning it".
Sadly this is Kaua`i. And too many people are content with things being that way.
Just a note regarding the comment about "Haoles" - it's not us Haoles that are voting in the corrupt locals who hire unqualified relatives and other corrupt friends. A few rich "foreigner" Haoles are shit, yes, but the vast vast majority of us are here because we love Kauai - and we have sacrificed a LOT to live here, compared to just being born here by chance. If Haoles were not marginalized by the plantation thinking of most locals, we'd participate more in politics and elect competent, qualified people.
joan kicks butt
"If Haoles were not marginalized by the plantation thinking of most locals, we'd participate more in politics and elect competent, qualified people."
Like Kama Kele, but white. You racists deserve each other.
I agree majority of us locals are too stupid to realize wtf is really going or know something and will keep quiet. F em all, it doesnt matter what race or ethnc background(s) you are from, what really matters is the content of ones character.
"If Haoles were not marginalized by the plantation thinking of most locals, we'd participate more in politics and elect competent, qualified people."
Right. Like the competent, qualified people who are elected on the mainland.
"Just a note regarding the comment about "Haoles" - it's not us Haoles that are voting in the corrupt locals who hire unqualified relatives and other corrupt friends. A few rich "foreigner" Haoles are shit, yes, but the vast vast majority of us are here because we love Kauai - and we have sacrificed a LOT to live here, compared to just being born here by chance. If Haoles were not marginalized by the plantation thinking of most locals, we'd participate more in politics and elect competent, qualified people."
The above took a lot of guts to say and I am in agreement with it.
Just as many nitwit politicos no matter where you go. Seems to me ,soon anything north of Kilauea will be turning into a giant gated community for Rodney rich guy. Where is the accountability? Maybe there needs to be a big weeding party on the beach to take it back.
WTF comments have to pass the smell test before being posted? Words are now being investigated
Relax. Comment moderation is only on for posts over six days old to control spam.
watch out our King is at it again. This time promising money to organizations that shouldn't be funded by the County.
Procurement law - whatever - King B spends it the way he sees fit on his favored peoples.
Would you like a list?
Yes
Ok ty, i thought communist china had taken notice of how easy kauai is or is it just TGI is really a shit paper. Russia and the mexican mafia as well as a host of cali and oahu drug cartels has. Joan keep up the good work, island breath is going strong, andy has semi retired on us or someone spooked him.
Where's the list?
happened upon your blog...oahuans dealt with new comers to Kailua decades ago, they'd irrigate the sand 24/7 to help some exotic vine, not naupaka, to grow as if the new growth was their land. Nothing beats a convert community erradication when authorities care less. Same soulless new comers would bring their aspen/palm desert/Floridian attitudes of belligerent self importance in trying to keep state owned shoreline beaches in front of their homes as Private beaches! Same here on Kauai with Ms. Hughes always wanting Kauapea beach to be here happy private place...LOVE the auction process with the "no reserve" fucking corrupt..with the shills in the audience, other realtor donkeys paid to be keep the price where is has to be...there is no low ball price even if these greedy humans are totally upside down underwater...could go on and on... i HAVE a job and am always in the flow of this gorgeous home i was born in. a hui ho
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