Hawaiian village granted more time to get insurance
By Vicki Viotti and Mike Gordon
Advertiser Staff Writers
Andrew Shimabuku • The Honolulu Advertiser
WAIMANALO — Dennis "Bumpy" Kanahele has big plans for his peaceful Hawaiian village beneath the cascade of the Ko'olau Mountains, all of them on hold because the insurance industry has been hesitant to put its money behind it.
Dennis "Bumpy" Kanahele, executive director of Aloha First, was told yesterday by the Board of Land and Natural Resources that he had 60 days to find liability insurance for the village he runs or face losing the 55-year lease on the 450 acres of state agricultural land.
"What do you do when insurance companies no like give you insurance?" he asked members of the state Board of Land and Natural Resources yesterday, a panel that was considering whether to terminate the village lease.
In the end, the board voted to give the longtime Hawaiian activist and his group Aloha First another 60 days to find liability insurance for Pu'uhonua o Waimanalo Village. Kanahele, executive director of Aloha First, the nonprofit group that holds the lease, would like to clear more of the eucalyptus groves for more taro farming and additional houses in the village, now home to about 70 people living in 22 homes.
But they can't do anything without a lease and, under state law, they can't keep their 55-year lease on the 450 acres of state agricultural land without insurance.
Two insurance brokers — Business Insurance Services Inc. and Insurance Associates Inc. — had researched insurance quotes on behalf of Aloha First. Gary Shiraki, Business Insurance senior vice president, wrote in a June 17 letter to the group that five local carriers and three out-of-state companies declined to give a quote.
"The prevailing reason for being unwilling to provide a quotation was the 'nature of your operations,' " Shiraki wrote in the letter, addressed to John Kirkley, Aloha First treasurer. Shiraki did not return a call seeking more detailed reasons.
Loy McKeague of Insurance Associates said in a similar letter sent Tuesday that her company's requests for quotes also were turned down. When reached yesterday, she declined to comment on the reasons.
Andrew Shimabuku • The Honolulu Advertiser
J.P. Schmidt, state insurance commissioner, said it's "hard to say" what the reasons are because such discussions are usually confidential. However, Schmidt did list some of the usual concerns for insurance companies considering whether to write a policy.
Residents at Pu'uhonua O Waimanalo, a Hawaiian village, share the common expenses of lease rent and utilities and help each other build their houses. About 70 people live in 22 homes.
"It could be a number of reasons: prior lot history, the risk of the operation," Schmidt said. "It's normally a business decision: Is it the type of risk they want to take? They may look at the financial stability of the operation, the ability to pay the premiums."
Whether Kanahele's past brushes with controversy could be a factor is uncertain. Kirkley said he thinks there could be a "bogeyman" factor at work when companies gauge Kanahele's past record, which included state convictions — pardoned in 2002 — and a four-month federal prison sentence, all largely stemming from his activism in the Hawaiian sovereignty movement.
Kanahele said he believed his personal history had faded in importance, adding that the problem may be the land-use conflict of a village on agricultural land.
Kirkley said the group did have coverage for the first year of the lease, signed in 2001. But the carrier, Essex Insurance, doubled the premium after the first year to more than the $3,000 lease rent payment, Kirkley said, an offer the group turned down in 2002.
The state land board first approved the lease for the Waimanalo property on Waikupanaha Street in September 1993 and about 80 people moved onto the land in June 1994. A 55-year lease started in April 2001 was issued in March 2001.
Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser
Kanahele said he has sought $1 million in liability insurance coverage after discussing the matter with state Department of Land and Natural Resources employees.
"Bumpy" Kanahele hands papers to Robert Young of the Department of Land and Natural Resources during a discussion on his insurance.
Dede Mamiya, administrator for the DLNR land division, said the land board is not insisting on the $1 million amount but added that insurance executives have said lowering the coverage wouldn't resolve the issue.
At yesterday's hearing, land board member Ted Yamamura said the board wants to help because Kanahele is doing "an honorable thing."
For his part, Kanahele said he has received overtures from state officials who'd like similar villages started elsewhere as a means to combat the homelessness problem. Many of the Waimanalo residents were once homeless and have found hope in the cooperative work of the village, he said.
Residents, governed by a village council, share the common expenses of lease rent and utilities and help each other build their houses, Kanahele said. The children attend schools outside, but there are village-based educational initiatives, too, he said, classes that teach values such as "respect and love for your parents."
"The village has proven itself to be a model," he said.
Kanahele told the board he has been "really sincere about working within the system," but emphasized that Aloha First is resolved to stay put.
"No matter what happens here, we're not going to leave the village," Kanahele said. "We planted in the ground."
Reach Vicki Viotti at vviotti@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8053. Reach Mike Gordon at mgordon@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8012.
