2017-05-15 Public Testimony on SMA 16-063 Contested Case

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wahine, ‘ā ‘o Kaimi Chad Huihui, ke kane, noho pū lāua a hānau ‘ia ‘o ‘Ālohilohi Medina. ‘O au ‘o ‘Ālohilohi Medina, a ʻo koʻu mau ʻohana iwi ma Kahalu‘u. Mahalo. ALAPA‘I KAULIA: ‘O Josephine Yolanda Hulihe‘e, ka wahine, ‘o David Jose Alapa‘i, Jr., ke kāne, noho pū lāua a hānau ‘ia ‘o Cindy Alapa‘i, he wahine. ‘O Flora Mayoga, ka wahine, ‘o Peter Kaulia, ke kāne, noho pū lāua a hānau ‘ia ‘o David Kaulia, Sr., he kāne. ‘O Cindy Alapa‘i, ka wahine, ‘o David Kaulia, Sr., ke kāne, noho pū lāua a hānau ‘ia wau ‘o Alapa‘i Hulihe‘e Kaulia. My name is Alapa‘i Hulihe‘e Kaulia. From my mom’s side, which is the Hulihe‘e Alapa‘i side, we connect to the Kahulamū ‘ohana, and the Kanuha ‘ohana from that area. We are related to the ‘āina in that area. From my dad’s side I’m connected to the Kanaka‘ole side, also related to that area. I was born in 1986 in Kealakekua, and raised in Kahalu‘u to the age of twelve. Unfortunately, we were not on kuleana land, or family land; we were in the apartments that we could afford, which is a low-income apartments. Growing up in this area and seeing the dramatic changes from a natural landscape to a concrete jungle with houses so close to each other you can hear, you can’t feel the breeze, but you can hear each other’s fart, burp or sneeze. Living there from this early age, I was able to experience firsthand the mana of this ‘āina. Continuing my education in that area, I was told that the area is Kahalu‘u, the place of intensified learning. So like how nowadays we go to college and we go to different areas to learn the different trades now we are learning the western concepts in the colleges, but in that area that’s where the ali‘i-s would go, they have a heiau known as Hāpaiali‘i, and that’s where they would go to elevate themselves and their chiefs for a higher thinking and better knowledge and connection to the ‘āina. So it would be an area to kilo, to kilo of the sunset, to realign yourself, the Makahiki season, to realign yourself with what’s happening in the weather as opposed to what’s happening in January to December, which is totally different from how the Hawaiians would tell time with the moon, and the different environment or activities, which constellations up in the sky, which ones are going down and what seasons we are in. So that area is very significant to the Hawaiian people. The iwi-s on that area is my families, that’s on that area. We have a great connection from there. But unfortunately, I was taught from the western side, living in an apartment, my connection to that area, and I wish it was more from a kupuna standpoint. So it’s lovely to see kupuna here sitting with us with all this knowledge in the room. So we are definitely blessed to be here today. \[Inaudible comment from audience\] He kupuna. So this area is considered Special Management Area, and people with money should not be able to come in and destroy the graves. What I’ve been noticing lately is a lot of people have been coming here with aspiration and dreams to create different things in the area, as Uncle DeLeon said, that it’s, Uncle Earl said, that we are the host culture. When you keep coming in and you messing up stuff – for example, I am a temporary employee for Kamehameha Schools as well, so I work directly with outreach for teaching children, education of that area, and right now we just passed, which was about a year ago I believe, I was sitting in front of the Leeward Planning Board \[Commission\] to see if we could bring down the hotel. So the reason for bringing down the hotel is to restore the heiau that is under there. But basically, what happened was the original thing that was there is already destructed, it’s desecrated, it’s no longer going to be the same. So what we can do at this point moving forward is teach the kids what was there, what it was used for, and 11 2017-05-15 Public Testimony on SMA 16-063 Contested Case