Lalea property owners move residents to hotel
By Will Hoover
Advertiser Staff Writer
Thirteen of the 26 families living in the boulder path at the Lalea condominiums in Hawai'i Kai have left their homes and checked into the Hilton Hawaiian Village Hotel, according to a spokesman for Castle & Cooke and Kamehameha Schools, owner of the affected property.
Most of the rest have found lodging with friends or relatives, although a few may have decided to remain at home for the time being, Doug Carlson, communications consultant for Castle & Cooke, said yesterday.
The residents of the two condominium buildings in harm's way were urged to leave their homes immediately on Friday after structural engineers determined that loose boulders, some weighing as much as 100 tons, could come crashing down the hillside behind the structures.
Carlson says a search has been launched for the person with the right know-how to shore up the hillside.
"We're launching a nationwide and, if necessary, a worldwide hunt to find the expertise that we can bring to bear on dealing with this immediate problem," he said.
"Right now that expertise doesn't appear to be here on the island."
The hillside hazard at Lalea came to light during heavy rains a week ago when a pair of large rocks slammed into two vehicles parked at the residences. Since then, people at Lalea have been spending a lot of time looking up.
Gino Merez, wife Pamela and their son Evan were among the first to accept the offer to vacate the home they've lived in for the past four years. As of Friday, the family has been at new accommodations on a high floor in Waikiki.
The place is great, the view is spectacular and Evan, 7, for now at least, considers it all an adventure, he said. But it isn't home.
"They said this could last for a couple of weeks to a few months," said Merez, who returned to his home yesterday afternoon to pick up a few things.
"It is a strain. You have to come get things and drop things off. It's living in a hotel. It's smaller than our home. It doesn't have a kitchen."
However, like other residents, Merez had nothing but praise for Castle & Cooke and Kamehameha Schools for their immediate, decisive action and their efforts to be accommodating.
"They've been very generous, and we really appreciate what they did," said Merez, who said that in addition to having their hotel stay paid for, each member of the family gets $50 a day in meal allowances.
Merez expressed hope that the overhead boulder problem will be solved sooner than later, but he's prepared to wait as long as it takes.
Until it's safe, his family will avoid their home, he said. But he's sold on the neighborhood, which he considers one of the finest places to live in Hawai'i Kai.
Yesterday, Jeff Stern and his friend, Colin Denney, stood in the street and stared at the hillside in question.
Stern lives in an adjacent building across the street, which is not in danger of being hit by falling rocks. Denney has a home in Honolulu. As they spoke, Stern said he worried about what he called the "doomsday" publicity that the neighborhood has received lately.
"I think the media portraying this as a really dangerous situation could cause property values out here to plummet — when, in fact, this kind of scary situation is experienced in many places on the island," he said.
"We should be applauding Kamehameha School and Castle & Cooke for their rapid response in handling it."
Carlson has equal applause for Lalea residents.
"I am impressed with their stoicism in receiving this news and then acting on it," he said. "And some have acted very rapidly in saying, 'I'm taking your offer and I'm going into the hotel.'
"That really says something about how these folks are thinking clearly and their determination to take care of themselves."
