Jul
21
The two Kona economies
Filed Under Sunrise on KGMB9
I was on the Big Island over the weekend, emceeing an evening of Rodgers and Hammerstein songs at the Aloha Theatre in Kainaliu, part of the Hawaii Performing Arts Festival. And, being there, I asked a lot of questions about how tourism is going.
To some degree it is going better on the Kohala coast, where the big resorts, are than is the case down in Kailua-Kona itself. This is not to say that places like Hilton Waikoloa Village and Four Seasons Hualalai haven’t seen the slump, but it’s more apparently in Kailua-Kona itself.
I’ve never seen the seawall so empty on a Sunday in July and some of the shops were ghost town spooky empty. It was a far cry from the salad days of three NCL ships, when the biggest problem these retailers faced was finding enough help to handle boat days.
One problem may be accurate accounts by recent visitors to their friends back in California about the vog. It continues to produce a hazy, featureless sky, the sort you often see in the Los Angeles basin.
Another could be the still-awful traffic on the road between Kona airport and the mall district above Kailua-Kona. Widening has relieved the northbound gridlock but southbound it still slows to stop-and-go, even in the middle of the day and on weekends.
People who daily fight similar traffic over longer distances in the San Francisco and Los Angeles areas aren’t going to enjoy their Big Island vacations as much if they have to add half an hour of traffic jam time to any foray from Waikoloa to Kailua-Kona or points south.
It would be interesting if this proved to be a boon for out-of-the-way lodgings like bed-and-breakfasts in Hilo or that place that hangs over the edge of Waimea Canyon.
Some stray notes in case you were thinking of a weekend visit to the Big Island — the main restaurant at Hualalai Resort is exceptional — a little seafood restaurant in Kawaihae across from the storage tanks does a good seared poke dish — the Saddle Road has been further improved and is quite easy to drive now.
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Glad to hear you enjoyed an inter-island jaunt. Your observations on the economy parallel what I have seen living here. I note the vog each day as I commute the Mamalahoa. Not usually bad on the north end by the big resorts, but much worse down towards Kona.
The little seafood restaurant in Kawaihae, you are referring to is probably the Harbor Grill and Seafood Bar, a decent place and worth a stop.
I wouldn’t give your readers the wrong idea about Saddle. Yes, big sections have been rebuilt and are now quite nice. But over 20 miles of it are still the old, bad Saddle Road. Drive with caution and full attention on the road, please! Those of us who drive it regularly are all to aware that it remains dangerous, and busier these days.
The Queen Kaahumanu Highway Phase I widening
project should be completed in December 2008.
(Between Malulani Gardens and the harbor).
In the summer of 2009,Goodfellow Brothers (hopefully if Kiewit doesn’t scuttle it) is
going to widen Queen Kaahumanu between the
harbor and the airport.
As for Saddle Road, it is still rough between m.m 35 and Mamalahoa Highway.Although
the CoH is going to resurface the m.m 35-47
segment as stopgap measure until m.m 35-41.5
segment is re-aligned.The m.m 41.5 to Malamahoa Highway segment is still going through a supplemental EIS.
I just returned from a visit to Kona and it’s pretty depressing what’s going on over there. I was last in Kona about two years ago and the stark differences are amazing. All the shopping areas are ghost towns (Kailua village, International Marketplace and Keauhou shopping center). Prices at the grocery store have jumped quite a bit since I was last here and the food selections are pretty sad. Some of the steaks were turning green at the KTA in Keauhou.
Then add to this the fact that all conversations with locals are about negative things .. Vog, layoffs, price of gas, cost of living etc. the list goes on. But life underwater is still the same, Mantas and turtles still seem happy!