Pacific islander influx to Nevada 'extremely high'

By Timothy Hurley
Advertiser Staff Writer

Native Hawaiians and other Pacific islanders were drawn to Nevada and its booming economy in the late 1990s like, well, a roll of quarters to a slot machine.

A U.S. Census Bureau report on race migration released yesterday described Nevada's migration rate of Native Hawaiians and other Pacific islanders from 1995 to 2000 as "extremely high." Specifically, there was an influx of 563 Native Hawaiians for every 1,000 Native Hawaiians living there in 1995.

Nevada's overall increase of 2,400 Pacific islanders during the five-year period was among the highest of all the states, and most of those people — 1,600 — came from Hawai'i.

Hawai'i's economic downturn in the 1990s, combined with Nevada's rapid economic growth, helps to explain the migration, the report said. Indeed, the census indicates that Hawai'i's troubled economy fueled an exodus of people of all races to the Mainland at a rate that led all 50 states.

Nevada saw a sizable proportion of the Hawai'i migration. In fact, the Hawai'i-Nevada migration route was the most lopsided in the country, with the flow of people from Hawai'i to Nevada six times greater than the reverse flow, according to the census.

That's not surprising to former Kalihi resident Joe Chan, who moved to Las Vegas in 1998 and opened a Hawaiian goods store named Hawaii's.

The influx continues today, said Helene Pierce, a Nevada resident since1998 and president of the Las Vegas Hawaiian Civic Club.

Some estimates have placed the Hawai'i community in Las Vegas at more than 30,000, Pierce said.

Pierce and Chan said many still want to move back to Hawai'i.

"In a heartbeat," Chan said. "If you asked most people, 'Do you like Las Vegas?' 90 percent would tell you, 'I want to go back home.' But they can't. No way. They can't make the pay (they're earning on the Mainland)."

Pierce, a social worker, said at least a dozen new Nevada residents from Hawai'i have told her that they moved for economic reasons but kept their homes in Hawai'i.

"They haven't given up living in Hawai'i again," she said.

Contact Timothy Hurley at thurley@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 244-4880.