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Tenants endorse KVA

(This letter was sent in late May to landowner Continental Pacific regarding the termination of its agreement to have Kahuku Village Association represent tenants. It has been edited for length.)

Kahuku Sugar Mill families, living in plantation homes, want to continue to have Kahuku Village Association represent them in dealings with the property owner, Continental Pacific LLC, (in order to) find a way for the families to afford to stay in the homes.

CP sent a letter on May 2 demanding that KVA, which manages the village and owns most of the homes, terminate the land leases of all the families by July 31. As a result, more than 300 people face an uncertain future - with the potential of being evicted, the homes that they live in being demolished, their community being torn apart at its seams and being forced to enter into direct leases with CP - causing many families to worry if they will still be able to afford their rent.

KVA collects rent from each tenant and then has consistently paid its master lease rent to CP. The association has worked in good faith to seek a resolution that would allow the families to remain in their homes.

“The Kahuku Village Association is the best way for these families, as a community, to afford to continue living in their homes,” said KVA manager Deborah Sarsona. “We are not asking for charity here. We have resources if we can get a fair and firm offer from CP.”

KVA has continued to seek a fair solution, but CP has not yet made clear its long-term intentions. In fact, its plans have changed several times since it bought the property in 2006, and as the plans changed the worry has increased for the families.

“We are asking ourselves, after five years of working toward the goal of affordable ownership for the plantation families, why Continental Pacific would drop Kahuku Village Association; this can’t be good news for the families,” said KVA vice chairman Jim Leonardi.

Solutions are not easy, and there are many obstacles to overcome with the landowner, the city, securing financing and changing economic conditions. Despite that, KVA is continuing its efforts to resolve the problems. KVA has assets that it’s willing to use to purchase either all or part of the land.

“This is not the way things are done in Hawaii,” said Noreen Cristobal, KVA board president. “It just isn’t pono.”

(Signed by 55 Kahuku Village tenants)

Many McKenna mutts

Editor,

We’ve discovered that people are starting to name their newly adopted dogs “McKenna” after the wonderful “Lucky Dog” promotions we’ve been running. Today I ran into McKenna (who was named Marlin here at the shelter) and his owner John playing in our dog park. John told me that he decided to change the dog’s name to McKenna when he took him home because of the great things (Windward Ford dealer) Mike McKenna has been doing for the dogs here at the Humane Society.

Awesome!

Then, when I told this story to our adoptions staff, they said there were at least three other people that did the same thing and named their lucky dogs McKenna. So just know that people really notice and love what (the dealership staff) does for the animals. Keep it up!

Melina Patrick
Events Coordinator
Hawaiian Humane Society