Honokai Hale wants piece of the action

By Shayna Coleon
Advertiser Staff Writer

HONOKAI HALE — When Susan Danao and her family moved into their own house in Honokai Hale in the Leeward area of O'ahu three years ago, she expected friends to congratulate her when she told them the news.

Manu Pedro, 6, waits for 4-year-old Mina Pedro to take a sip of water during their playtime at Kamokila Community Park in Honokai Hale. A community center was built 10 years ago; access to the park was improved in March. Cory Lum • The Honolulu Advertiser

"They looked at me and said, 'Where is that? What is Honokai Hale?'" said Danao, a Kuakini Adult Day Health nurse. "I have to always explain to people where I live. They just don't know about this small community."

Danao is not the only Honokai Hale resident who feels this way.

Even though the residential community is about 37 years old, preliminary results in a recent Leeward Coast survey by Sen. Colleen Hanabusa, D-21st (Kalaeloa, Makaha), revealed that some Honokai Hale residents feel like the forgotten community.

Sometimes we even feel invisible, said Danao, 37.

There's no development here, not even a convenience store or gas station, no reason for anyone other than residents to stop. And with Honokai Hale's small clusters of homes tucked between the developing city of Kapolei and the 640-acre Ko Olina Resort, just about everybody who passes by keeps on going.

When people do wander into Honokai Hale, it's usually to ask for directions: "Which way is Ko Olina?"

Only a skinny rectangle sign, rusted and faded, at the community's La'aloa Street entrance acknowledges the 1,200 residents of Honokai Hale, at the end of the H-1 Freeway and start of Farrington Highway.

"Generations of families have been living in Honokai, and this community knows that people don't realize they're there," Hanabusa said. "When people come off the (H-1) freeway, they just pass them. Nobody thinks about them."

Since the community is so small, Hanabusa said, the residents' concerns often go unheard, which leaves the area waiting for months, sometimes years, for improvements to be completed.

For more than 20 years, Honokai Hale residents had no parking lot or paved road leading into their tiny Kamokila Community Park. Visitors would park on Farrington Highway and walk to the park's field from a dirt path, said resident Neve Pedro, 36. She has lived in Honokai Hale since she was 4.

A community center was built 10 years ago, and in March, after the city bought the property surrounding the park, a 25-stall lot and a driveway into the area were created.

"The people of this community go through so much more to get what other people in O'ahu take for granted," Hanabusa said. "Honokai people are left saying, 'Eh, what about us?'"

The state has started roadwork for the traffic signal, and the project should be completed by December, said Dean Harvest, a spokesman from the state Department of Transportation.

"People never do 55 (mph) out there, and there are so many accidents," resident Ruby Slyva said. "It's a real risk, but we're always last to get things, so I'm not holding my breath on getting that light."

On top of problems with community improvements, Honokai Hale residents have had to deal with elementary school redistricting over the years. Hanabusa said the Department of Education has shuffled many elementary school students living in Honokai Hale because of crowding. Honokai Hale students have been moved from Makakilo Elementary to Mauka Lani, to Barbers Point, back to Makakilo and, starting in the fall, back to Barbers Point.

"I do not think it is right to keep switching the kids around," said Pedro, whose 6-year-old son, Manuel, went to Makakilo Elementary last year and will switch to Barbers Point. "When we tell Manuel he has to switch schools, he tells us, 'I don't want to leave my teacher.'"

Asked for a solution, Pedro said: "Some Honokai Hale residents have lived here longer than some of the newer families in Makakilo, so we should be able to choose."

Many residents said the best thing about Honokai Hale is the people and the atmosphere.

"To me, this is the ideal place to be. It's simple living," Slyva said.

Danao said: "Even if people don't know us on the outside, everybody knows each other, and we say, 'Hello, how was your day?'"

Resident Dave Predovich said it does not bother him that the rest of O'ahu might not recognize Honokai Hale.

"We have this good, little community," Predovich said. On one recent morning, the eight-year resident sat on a cement bench in front of his house on Pa'akai Street and watched his neighbors drive by.

As each car or truck passed, the passengers honked their horns or waved.

Predovich smiled back at them.

"See, look at the people here. We've been blessed," he said.