Gettin I The Boot

- ---City Survival"And The Winner Is."COFFEE MANOAMANOA MARKETPLACE HONOLULU, HAWAIIA place to unwind .relax .Collect scattered thou hts.Visit with friends .A place with ood coffee and tea.An espresso bar with sweet treats .The place to be.Open 7 days a weeR.At Manoa MarRetplaceBetween Woodlawn & East Manoa RoadsJahan ByrneQualifyingforAffordableHousingveryone talks about "afford able housing," but whatexactly do they mean? InHonolulu, affordable hous ing usually means livingwith parents and siblings orsharing a place with room mates and splitting the rent. Formost, it does not mean owning ahome - Honolulu's high housingcosts and low wages conspire to pre vent the majority of island residentsfrom possessing property.By the state's own predictions,85,000 housing units must be builtby the year 2000 to keep up withthe expected demand for housing inthe state. Of those, 64,000 unitsmust be "affordable," priced far lessthan the cost of a median single family home (which on Oahu is cur rently about 355,000. The U.S.median is approximately 107,000).Gov. John Waihee has said thathe thinks at least 95 percent of theneed for affordable housing can bemet by building a combination ofsingle-family homes, town housesand rental units. The state breaksthis 61,000 unit goal down to:- 28,000 built by the state;- 5,600 built by the four counties;- 27,000 built by a myriad of private developers with the help ofgovernment incentives;- 1,300 built by the federal gov ernment for military families.There are basically two typesof affordables, rentals and those forsale, according to George White,spokesperson for the state Housing,Finance andDevelopmentCorporation, the three-year-oldagency charged with implementingthe state's housing plan.Rental UnitsBuying a house is out of the ques tion if you're one of the approxi mately 82,000 Oahu families whoearn 80 percent or less of the medianincome. State representatives saythey plan to create affordable rentalapartments by offering privatedevelopers tax incentives and con struction loans to build, a rather ten uous sounding plan. ThroughHFDC, the state is currently build-ing two affordable rental projects seven phases with the help of pri in Kakaako. Kamakee Vistas, which vate developers such as Castle andis open to families of four or less, Cooke) is the Villages at Kapolei.will be completed in March and The city is working with West Loch,house 136 units. One bedroom Inc. to develop homes and townapartments will rent for 695, two houses at West Loch.bedroom apartments for 920. Thestate's other project is for individu How to Applyals who are 62 or older. It will house Fqr a desperate family looking for262 units; studios will rent for 575 an affordable home, there is noth and one bedroom apartments for ing bright about the application pro 695. State subsidies of up to 250 cedure. There is no master waitingan available. Call 543-2913 for list, nor is there a central clearing information on affordable rentals house for information on projectsin development. A spokeswoman atand resales.People who make less than 60 the city Department of Housing andpercent of the median income may Community Development explainsqualify for assistance through the that waiting lists would be "tooHawaii Housing Authority. The cumbersome to maintain," so appli Authority runs a rent subsidy pro cations are taken only when pro gram (handing out federally-subsi jects are close to completion. Thedized Section Eights and state same holds true for the state and pri subsidized rent supplements). It also vate developers.Keeping a keen eye on therents units that are priced to be afford able (30 percent of the applicant's newspapers is, for now, the best andpre-taxed income). The Authority has the only way to keep abreast of4,586 units on Oahu (4,106 federal upcoming affordable homes sales.and 480 state). But here's the catch: Newspaper advertisements are goodThe Authority currently has 11,017 sources of information on proce people on their waiting list, according dures, income limits and the dead to Roxanne Shimokawa of the HH.A. line schedules for applications.Homes are allotted through aShimokawa says those who can qual ify for "federal preference" standing complicated lottery process thatmay be assisted within two years. places applicants in "preference"Others wait "indefinitely." If you're groups, based on such factors asplanning on being in Hawaii for the family size, annual income level andlong haul, call the HHA at 848-3230 any special needs because of dis abilities, etc. In January, a lotteryfor more information.was held for state affordable homesin Kapolei Villages II and ID. OverRetail UnitsThe bulk of new affordable units, 3,700 applications were receivedthe ones that will be for sale, will for 364 affordable units, givingbe targeted to the approximately applicants a one in IO chance at a46,000 families that earn between home. Usually, the chances are80 and 120 percent of the median much, much lower.If you think you might qual income. This is the "gap group" thatearns between 34,960 and 52,440 ify, for more information on thecity's affordable housing projects,a year.City and state agencies use a call 523-4264. The state has aformula developed by the U.S. recorded hotline that gives infor Department of Housing and Urban mation on upcoming projects andDevelopment to determine what's application dates; that number isaffordable to the community. The 543-6843. You must submit appli formula is based around median cations to each private developerincome, which for a family of four for each project. The city and stateliving on Oahu this year is 43,700. can provide the addresses and phoneAn affordable home would cost numbers to get on the developers'such a family 136,329, assuming a mailing lists to receive information.IO percent down payment and aIn many of the private devel fixed-interest rate of IO percent. opments, homes designated afford Most of the affordable unitsable will be built next to homescondos, town houses, multi-family targeted to families earning betweenhomes sharing a common wall and 120 and 180 percent of the mediansingle-family homes - will be built income and homes priced at mar in central Oahu and in and around ket value.the Second City at Ewa. The state'sbig project (to be completed in "Screw the eclipse.I'll catch the next one!'Eat well, take care of yourself, and who knowswhat you could live to see?At Kokua Co-Op we have Hawaii's bestselection of fresh organic produce. Plus a completeline of natural foods. Even naturally raised poultry.We hope to see you here soon. And for manyyears to come.K9KUACO-OP2357 S. Berelania, al Isenberg/Phone: 941-1922/0pen 7 days a week. %f!. ) ', 1FRY& CO.Bishop Trust Building1000 Bishop Street, Suite 802Honolulu, Hawaii 96813Phone (808) 531-6726Fax (808) 521-1367Providers of confidential investmentadvice for global Stocks, Bonds, andFutures Management. ' . .'-l '1 ' , v.,l

Eviction onTusitala StreetContinued from page 1they were assured they would beable to stay in their homes for atleast two or three more years.They say they were told thatPensee had no plans to developthe land at that point (theProperty Managers deny this andrefused to discuss this story withthe Honolulu Weekly since thematter is currently in court).Some of the residents alsosay they were told that if theywanted to stay in their homesthey would have to fix them up;insurance was too difficult toobtain unless the repairs weremade. Several residents madeimprovements. Donald Bain,who had lived at 239 Kapili St.for 20 years, rewired his two story house; Frank Sarivalas, asingle father of two, repaired hisroof and floors and clearedunderbrush for a lawn; LindaLehmann, who had recentlymoved into the neighborhoodafter four earlier evictions inWaikiki, all due to development,built a fence and repainted herapartment.The Property Managersraised some rents, in some caseswithout giving residents therequired 45-day notice for a rentincrease. Bain and his wife,Liz.a.beth Ball, saw their rent jump from 500 a month to 1,500. Other tenants complained of hav ing rents raised three or moretimes within a few months or of0 having to pay more rent than had§ originally been agreed upon.::t:On Nov. 28, 1990, Steve Cohen, the real estate broker who.had bought the land for Pensee - and turned himself into hisr-,; company's number one broker";, in the country in the process sent Moore a letter stating, "A new directive has come from1 '"'-I'-Japan." The letter instructed TheProperty Managers to give alltenants 120 days notice to move.Eviction notices were sent out,but several gave tenants only 60days to find new homes.On the eve of thefinal eviction,a combination press conference, rallyand party was held. Liz had weededand raked a vacant lot for the occa sion and several people had set upchairs, tables and Hibachis. Formerresidents of the area mingled amongthe hold-outs, trading stories fromthe housing front with those who'dremained. T he press weren't due toshow 'til 7 p.m. but by 5:30 p.m. peo ple were mounting soapboxes. JohnMiller,former chairman of Friends ofTusitala Street, took over the miniP.A. system to act as an impromptuemcee. Many of those who spokelooked faintly embarrassed at first,uninitiated as they were to the art ofpolitical spP.echmaking. But almostall warmed to their topic once theywere handed the microphone, andspoke at length about their frustra tions, anger and sense of powerless ness. A slew of seasoned activistswere on hand - John Witeck, NoelKent, George Cooper, Marion Kelly,Richard Port, Mike Wilson, Ho'oipoDeCambra - and they lent an air ofprofessionalism to the proceedings;land struggles were nothing new forthem. Not a single politician was pre sent.Residents who received thenotices were shocked. They saythat they were angry that theyhad been lied to, that they hadfixed their homes in order toremain in the neighborhood, thatthey had agreed to massive rentincreases only to be told theywould have to leave.Some of the residentsdecided they would try to fightthe eviction. With the help ofGerri Lee of the WaikikiCommunity Cenfer, Sarivalasorganized a community meetingon Dec. 6.The meeting was attendedby property manager Moore,realtor Cohen, then-councilman elect Andy Mirikitani, Sen. BertKobayashi and Philip Doi of theState Office of ConsumerProtection. Cohen talked atlength about his first impressionsof the property. Uninhabitable,he said, citing the presence of catfeces on one property. He andMoore assured residents theywould help them relocate. Oneof the residents asked whenPensee planned to develop theland. Cohen replied he didn'tknow, that the company was stillin the planning stage and at thatpoint had not applied for anygovernment permits. Anothertenant asked Cohen why he hadonly been given 60 days tovacate. Cohen explained that theunit, a cottage on Tusitala Street,was too old to insure.Doi questioned the tenantsabout their notices and informedthem that since their homes wereto be demolished, under the lawthey all had 120 days to vacate (ifbuildings are slated for demoli tion, the law requires 120 daysnotice). Doi also told Cohen thatbecause of the 60-day noticesthere was a chance that theProperty Managers could befound to have committed decep tive trade practices, a civil liabil ity. Cohen then asked whatwould happen if Pensee decidednot to demolish.At that point, Sen.Kobayashi challenged Cohen."Did you declare that U.S.A.Pensee had every intention ofbuilding a condo?" he asked.Cohen said, yes, he had. "Can acondo be built without houses onthe property being demolished?"Kobayashi asked. No, Cohenreplied. "Then they will bedemolished?" Kobayashi asked.Yes, replied Cohen.Kobayashi informed the ten ants that a 120-day written noticemust be given if a company plansto demolish. He added that a lackof insurance is not a valid reasonto evict.The politicians recom mended that the residents lodgecomplaints with the Office ofConsumer Protection. Mirikitanitold the tenants he would set upa meeting with representativesof Pensee.The tenants were thrilledthat they didn't have to moveright away. One young man gotup and testified that Patas hadwarned him not to show up forthe meeting, since those whospoke against the managementwere likely to be evicted quickly."But here I am," he said, "and itlooks like we've won!"At 7 p.m.,TV crews showed up to get theevening's sound bites. Tripods wereerected, cameras activated. Reporterswandered through the crowd, lookingfor subjects to interview. The mauvesky was temporarily cut by blasts ofartificial light as residents squintedinto unfamiliar lenses and attemptedto tell their tales of woe in a minuteor less.Darkness had fallen when therally's last speaker, a young manwith a look of dazed rapture, asked.everyone to join hands and pray.Activists and tenants stood linkedtogether as he intoned, "We are theFonner Tusitala Street residents Beth Allen, Uzabeth Ball andMichelle Corder.PRIVATEPROPEpeople of the earth. We are the peoplethat love and care for each other. Maythat go on and on forever." With that,the meeting disintegrated into littleanimated pockets and the barbecueswung into action. Snatches of con versation filled the air: "We did allthe wrong things . " "You're pay- ing how much?" "When are youleaving for the Mainland?" "Is thereketchup?"The next day (ironically, Dec.7), four residents who'd volun teered to act on the tenants'behalf met and formed theFriends of Tusitala StreetCommittee. The group began tomeet on a weekly basis and itgrew. Eventually, Miller waselected chairman, Ball waselected vice chairman. Bain,Sarivalas, Lehmann and otherarea residents Carl Mossman andMichelle Corder were members.By mid-December, theFriends of Tusitala Street were upand active. They sent notices toeveryone in the neighborhoodadvising them that they didn'thave to move for 120 days. Theyprinted outsized notes for a visu ally impaired tenant, got aSpanish translator for anotherand returned again and again toa disabled elderly woman whohad difficulty understandingthem. They waged a letter-writ ing campaign, gathered signa tures on petitions and researchedWaikiki evictions. Members tes tified at the City Council in favorof a bill that would impose amoratorium on development inWaikiki until the end of the year,at the Legislature for fair hous ing bills.The Friends spent a greatdeal of time getting people to filetheir complaints against U.S.A.Pensee and the PropertyManagers with the Office ofConsumer Protection. The OCPdidn't do too much with the com plaints; after the communitymeeting on Dec. 6, the PropertyManagers had reissued evictionnotices to reflect the 120-dayrequirement and CommissionerDoi said he felt his office haddone all it was prudent to do.Mirikitani, true to his word,set up a meeting with U.S.A.Pensee for Jan. 4. On the day ofthe meeting, however, no legalrepresentative from Penseeshowed up. Subsequent attemptsto meet with the company's rep resentatives also failed.Thoroughly frustrated,Miller tried to call Pensee's head quarters in Osaka, Japan. Thenumber he ended up dialingturned out to be the home num ber of Pensee's president, ShojiNakamoto. Miller later learnedthat the call had incensedNakamoto; Pensee's attorneys,the firm of McCorriston, Miho &Miller, informed the tenants thatNakamoto had taken it as athreat. According to Ball and Lee,McCorriston said the call hadmade Nakamoto want to bringon the bulldozers. McCorristondenies ever mentioning bulldoz ers at the meeting.On Jan. 28, Pensee came upwith an offer to area residentsthat contained incentives to movequickly. The plan basically said,the sooner you leave, the morecompensation you'll get. To resi dents who moved by Feb. 28,Pensee offered a three-month rentrebate (paid directly to the next

-landlord) . To residents whomoved by March 31, the rebatewas good for two months of rent.In addition, the company offeredto provide moving assistance andto sign people up for a housingreferral service. In return, tenantswere made to sign a releaseagainst Pensee.The deal, which wasreferred to by Pensee's publicrelations man Jim Boersema as"the best relocation package everin Hawaii," was negotiatedbetween Lee of the CommunityCenter and Pensee's lawyers and,to a lesser extent, Mayor FrankFasi's office and Mirikitani. The deal had no relation to the ten ants' request, which was to beallowed to stay in their homesuntil Pensee had received pre liminary approval for its projectfrom the city.Nonetheless, many residentsdecided to take the money andleave. Miller, who said the offerwas the best they would get, rec ommended everyone accept it.But a few individuals - Ball, Bain,Lehmann, Sarivalas, Beth Allenand Corder - continued their fightto remain on the land. They werestill mad about the way they hadbeen treated and didn't want thebuildings to be torn down untilPensee was given the go-aheadto build. "Why are you going todestroy affordable housing whenyou can't build anything on thelot anyway?" Bain asked.One by one, the residentsmoved out. Lehmann rememberswaking every morning to thesound of hammers and breakingglass as plywood was nailed overwindows and doors. March 12,to the tenants' surprise, the bull dozers arrived and the housesbegan to go down. On March 16,Ball was arrested at the Sarivalasresidence when she refused toleave the premises so the housecould be bulldozed. The remain-;J go1. - ----------- ing residents decided they'd bet ter find a lawyer - and fast.The stars were outand the moon was up. T he barbecuewas pau. Donald, Liz and their sonwere loading the U-Haul tmck thatstood in their driveway. A largeHome Paradise Lostpark that would honor his daughter's memory andast June 4th, the last night the ev ictedprovide a complement to Kapiolani Park. When heTusitala Street residents were legally alloweddied in 1 9 1 0, Cleghorn left Ainahau to the Territory,in their homes, a halau of young girls knelton a patch of cement in Waikiki and beganasking that it be named Kaiulani Park and admin istered by the Territory. The Territory refused theto chant of Ainahau. They knelt in the shad offer, fearing that the area would be too expensiveows of skyscrapers, between two homes des and troublesome to maintain.tined for destruction, fronted by a vast emptyIn the 1 920s, the land was sold to developerslot and backed by a concrete wall. Their young,who promised "Care will be taken to preserve asclear voices filled the air with words rarely heard inWaikiki today, Hawaiian words that spoke of themany of the trees as possible in building streets intothe famous grove" and "Nosanctity and beauty of thestores, shops or places ofaina. Kau 'oli 'oli 'oe i kapublic amusement allowedla 'ela 'e , 0 neia 'ainaat Ainahau . Nothing butuluwehiwehi, they cried,and as they chanted, theypretty homes at Ainahau."beat time on their pahusA number of smal l ,wooden, s ingle-storyand looked at everyonehomes were constructed.and no one to hide theirshyness.In the '50s they began todisappear, supplanted byOne hundred yearsearlier, the ground ontwo- or three-story cementwhich the girls knelt hadwalk-ups and, later, bybeen home to anothertowering tenements builtyoung woman, Princessto house Waikik i 's bur Kaiulani. Kaiulani grewgeoning population. Whenup in a bungalow inthe superblock goes up,Ainahau, a 1 0 acre. estatevirtually all of the houseswill be gone.that covered, roughly,When the chant waswhat is today the maukaover, the girls c ircledarea between Kaiulani andthrough the crowd, theirLil ioukalani Avenues.Ainahau or "cool place"shyness now readily appar was named by Kaiulani'sent. At the urging of theirmother, Princess Likelike,kumu hula, they shookwho also lived on thehands with their audience:estate with her husband,thanks were offered,Kaiulani 's father, Gov praises sung, smilesernor Archibald Cleghorn. Princess Kalulanl in the gardens at Waikiki. exchanged, even a hug ortwo traded. Then they filedLandscaping and plantsoff, home for dinner and perhaps to do homeworkwere Cleghorn 's two passions, and he transformedand watch TV. Behind them they left a land thatAinahau into a verdant jungle, replete with date,sago and coconut palms, cinnamon, cypress, mangowill be radically changed the next time they see it,and teak trees, lotus blossoms and 14 varieties ofa land waiting to be given over to highrises, to swim ming pools, to luxury apartments priced at 1 ,000hibiscus.Kaiulani spent happy childhood years ata square foot, a land left, once again, to men forwhom the land has no intrinsic value, only a finan Ainahau. She kept peacocks, played croquet on thelawns, paddled her canoe down Apuakehau Stream,cial one. All that remains of Ainahau are the wordswhich ran from the property out to the surf ofof those who dwelt there:Waikiki beach. She spent many hours sitting underWind blowing gently from the seaAinahau 's massive banyan tree, talking with RobertBrings the fragrance of lipoa seaweedLouis Stevenson, who also lived on the propertyLove and delight and pe,fume from my home(Tusitala Street was named after Stevenson; "tusi My home, my home paradisetala" is Samoan for story-teller).So beautiful is my homeBut the happiness didn'.t last, for the 1 890sAinahau in a paradisewere not good times for the ali'i. In 1 893, KaiulaniSwaying leaves of coconutswitnessed the overthrow of her aunt, QueenVerdant beauty andfragrantflowersLilioukalani, and the passing of her kingdom into theMy home, my home paradise.hands of men who sought the land to harvest noth Princess Likelikeing more than power and money.At 23, Kaiulani died of inflammatory rheuma tism. Her father talked of turning Ainahau into a- J.S.woman walking a dog wandered byand stopped to talk to Donald. Shewanted to give Donald and Liz 2million, she said, and, furthermore,she intended to buy back the prop erty from Pensee for 35 million soeveryone who'd been evicted couldmove back. Donald thought shemight be serious; George Cooper,who'd overheard the conversation,said he wasn't so sure.On the other side of the lot, afew people were sitting around smok ing, drinking beer and eating potatochips. A portly man who suggestedhe was a Vietnam vetera1' was lead ing tours up to the roof of one of thewalk-ups - he'd erected an apartmentfor himself there and had managedto get a living room set, a bed and atable onto the roof. It was quite cozy.Around 10:30 p.m. two menwalking in an unsteady mannerwandered onto the lot. T he moreaggressive of the two, a stocky guywith a mustache and a straw hat,quickly launched into a tirade atDonald."You went threaten my cousin,you fuckah. You no mess with myfamily. I came from Kauai to kickyour ass." Donald looked aggravatedbut hardly worried. T he securityguard from Pensee wandered over tofind out what was going on. By thattime the fellow had turned his atten tion to the veteran. "You. Hey, I talk ing to you, fuckah. I came fromMolokai this morning." The secu rity guard, a large, calm black man,suggested that 1naybe the guy shouldleave. A few people standing nearbywondered about calling the cops, buteveryone agreed this was the lastnight they wanted to invite the policeto the property. The security guardfinally coaxed the two offthe propertyand they stood across the street,swaying and glowering. Every sooften the guy stumbled back to repeathis litany of threats to anyone who'dlisten, though for the life of him hecouldn't seem to decide which islandhe'd arrived from that morning.At the end of March, theremaining Friends of TusitalaStreet hired attorney RobertMerce

apartments will rent for 695, two bedroom apartments for 920. The state's other project is for individu als who are 62 or older. It will house 262 units; studios will rent for 575 and one bedroom apartments for 695. State subsidies ofup to 250 an available. Call 543-2913 for