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Wild Orchid Carriage Tours
1~iCit I Box 5487
l~eaa~a, HI 96?49»9523
(80$) 982-5852
t~ominic Yagang
'7S AupgAni Street
Hilo, Hawaii 96720
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Ice: Closure of LiNwai Street at LiNucakalani Gardens to traffic _ $otg? eec~i,.
Deer 1'rlr. Yagong,
We read ivy are article in a recent issue of the Hawaii TribunaHerald that the
permaeaent closure of I,iliwai Street around Liliuakalani hardens is being considered.
'I'bis is of great ecmcern to us as we knave been operating atourist-oriented horse-dravem
carriage tour in the area. Our tours served the tourist population in the banyan Drive area
as well as the cruise ship passengers.
As you know, Liliwai Street was closed in the area in September of 1999. We
continued our tour without that access until the end of October 1999. However, the
response to the `faltered'° tour was negative, sa we suspended operations until the access
was restored. Yf the access road is not reopened to us in some way, we will not be able io
continue servsng the Hilo arcs.
'T'his is neat the first tinge that we have been hindered in servtirgg the tourists of Hilo,
During. the terns of forager mayor Steve Yarnashiro, we asked for permis,~iogt to ease the
bayfrca»t canoe area to access downtown and ~Rlailaa Center in a safer tgaanner than usirgg
the main highway. l~iayar Yarrgashiro grasgted this perrnissian, but then deferred ~ former
director of T'arks and Recreation Julae Tulang. `Thus, `ve vaere famed to use the highway.
N®vv it seems that yet another roadblock tv attracting tourism has been erected.
In floe IVdarch 1 issue of the Hawaii Tribune-Hcraid, State l~epresergt$tiVe
Jerny Chang is r~entiaried as suppartitgg Hilo harbor as a home port to a cragise ship.
I,t. Governor 14lazie Hirona, Mayor Harry Kim, I~epreser?tative Eric 1°lamakatwa, and
Senator David lViatsa~ura are also listed as supporting this issue. Yet, as American ~Iavvaii
Cruises Vice Ares;dent of 1Vlarkefing AiTairs I3il! Anonsen tried to explain, there must be
something for those passengers to do once they reach Hilo far the area tc> realise any
econot~ic benefit.
We are not prnpc'sing the opening of Liliwai Street to through traffic .necessarily.
Become the Phase 1 menovations were even completed, we inforrg~ed Cauncil~n
File No.
Ref. To• ~r~~~~t ~
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Ref. ~~te APR ~QQ1
MpR-22-201 09:18 PM KEQHI 50R 9825552 P.02
A~wran Chung th~c tl5c strs~t l~al been narrowed to the poiaat that it would be daa~erous
for persons to fish frattt flee e~a11 because vehicles would be corning uncomfortably close
and the tour buses would certainly net be able to rnalto the turn.
lt'the case of access far our carris~e atad possibly other litrtited tncatari~ed tour
vehicles, perhaps a solution would be to lnstsll a keyed date atzxl tout' wmpanies could
apply for keys and access pc~nissian.
It would ~1Rn he .nice ifthe bayfx~ant canoe ar®a access issuo (also propc~scd as a
key idea) could be reconsidered.
lHowever, the lamer issue here is that if Hilo tourism is to biome a reality there
needs to be a concerted effort rr~ade on all parts. It may be nccessaiy to develop a plan
similes to the way that gmarvth is planned ;n many communities amd townships. We have
personally found that while the i~1ea. of tourism is encoureai oa a Lheot~etical level, when
it camas to allowing vi~itvrs access to Hllo's "special places,,, the practace has been "for
Hilo rresidents only.' We mu.~t learn to sure oar special plasmas sa that they ca» ~c
for everyone. People value vuhat they know annd e~tperlenre and surely visators will want
to work with 3~awaii r~:cid~ts to lne~p vur islaaids beautiful foz~ the next gencratior?s.
Si»ccrcly,
Susan Kez~hi and Warren l~leisenbach
ac. I~ep. Jenny Ghana
Lt. (~ov. hie Fiirvno
lirlaytyr Harry I~iaf
ltep. l~rlc Ham
~cn. 1~avid Iviatsuura