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Comm. No. (0-7 oL. I
Ref. To: 1/C CU P%Gti
Submit ted by Council Member Eileen O'Hara Ref. Dote OCT 1 7.2 018
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/1 0/web 1_Pahoa_Busine... 10/12/2018
Nearly two months after the apparent pause in volcanic activity in lower Puna,
Pahoa businesses are struggling to stay afloat.
The town took an economic hit earlier this year when the Kilauea eruption
began May 3 in Leilani Estates, as visitors avoided the island in general and
lower Puna in particular. Then, the town suffered a second blow when the
eruption paused: Now visitors have stopped going to Pahoa to try to see the
lava.
"They say, 'If there's no flow, they no go,"' said resident Althea Yabes.
Yabes' husband, Amedeo Markoff, said the eruption wiped out much of the
town's economy — 40 percent, he estimated — and left it with fewer
attractions to drive visitors to return.
"It's way more than just 700 homes," Markoff said, referring to the number of
homes destroyed by lava. "Say half of those were bed-and-breakfasts, say
they get four visitors a week. You do the math. You're talking about thirty, forty
thousand visitors a year. And then you have all the people servicing those
places: the maids, the cleaners, the guys who clean the yards."
Markoff, a member of the Mainstreet Pahoa Association and owner of the
Puna Gallery and Gift Emporium, said several businesses already closed
down, while many of the rest are hanging on by a thread.
"We're doing terrible," said Stephen Yundt, owner of Pahoa restaurant Pele's
Kitchen. "We are up from one-quarter of our usual to one-third. The
restaurants on both sides of us have already closed down."
Dean Kelley, owner of Pahoa Used Books and Movies, acknowledged that
September and October are typically some of the leanest months in terms of
p YP Y
Big Island visitors. However, he said, business to his bookstore is down by
more than 35 percent.
"It's been tough to see some days you only make four or five sales," Kelley
said. "And sales here are cheap."
Nyle McQueen, manager of the Pahoa Village Museum, said he thinks his
business has seen a slight upturn in visitors recently, but added that a lot of
residents left the area during the eruption, either temporarily or permanently,
and tour buses have been uncommon.
Sean Crown and Ashley Campbell, co-owners of Nicoco Hawaiian Gelato,
said visitors to the recently reopened Hawaiian Volcanoes National Park often
are not directed to Pahoa.
"They say they had no idea we were here, and then they discover us, and
that's all great, but it would be better if there was better signage," Campbell
said.
The refrain echoed by Campbell, Crown and most of the Pahoa business
community was three simple words, Markoff said: "No viewing area."
Markoff said that, despite long discussions about a possible lava viewing area
near Pahoa, no concrete plans have yet been made. The delay, he said, will
be costly for Pahoa businesses, which, without a steady stream of local traffic
and commuters, will have to rely solely on visitors and tourists.
"The county's inaction is going to cause more closures," Markoff said.
Pahoa restaurateur Salvador Luquin said the county approached him with a
possible deal to use the lot where once stood his Akebono Theater as a site
for a cultural center, which would attract more visitors. However, Luquin said,
the deal is "up in the air," and the county also approached a different
developer to build the center in a different area outside Pahoa.
Without a new influx of visitors to the town — whether through a lava viewing
area, a cultural center or the eventual reopening, of Pohoiki — Markoff said it
will be harder and harder to pull Pahoa out of its spiral.
"If, in the larger scheme of things, we can't come up with our own identity, our
brand as a community, we're going to have big problems," Kelley said. "But
that would have to involve everybody: businesses, landlords, the county,
everybody."
Email Michael Brestovansky at mbrestovansky@hawaiitribune-herald.com.