The continuing shortage of qualified school bus drivers statewide will completely or partially suspend bus transportation services at ten of Oʻahu’s 24 high schools and four schools on Kauaʻi when the new school year begins for students on Monday, Aug. 7.

The high schools listed below will rely heavily on county bus systems for student transportation in School Year 2023-24:

Oʻahu

• ʻAiea High  
• Campbell High (3 of 4 school bus routes suspended)
• Castle High 
• Kailua High 
• Kapolei High 
• Mililani High
• Nānākuli High & Intermediate (all high school bus routes suspended, intermediate school routes will continue) 
• Pearl City High 
• Waiʻanae High 
• Waipahu High 

Kauaʻi

• Kapaʻa High
• Kapaʻa Middle
• Kapaʻa Elementary
• Hanalei Elementary

All students at these high schools will be provided with subsidized county bus passes to use TheBus on Oʻahu and Kauai Bus for transportation as part of the Expanding Ridership to Educate Students in Schools (EXPRESS) program. 

High school bus routes on Maui and Hawaiʻi Island have been modified due to the bus driver shortages, but school bus service will continue. School bus routes on Molokaʻi and Lānaʻi are currently not affected. School bus routes on all islands are subject to change should further staffing shortages occur.

“The continued shortage of school bus drivers in Hawaiʻi and across the nation requires the temporary reduction of high school bus routes to ensure that bus services can continue for special education and younger students,” said Assistant Superintendent Randy Tanaka. “We ask our students and families for their continued patience and understanding and we truly appreciate the support of our county partners in making county bus routes a priority option for our students.”

Based on student ridership from the last school year, approximately 1,130 high school student bus riders will be impacted on Oʻahu and approximately 250 student bus riders on Kauaʻi. Among eight bus service contractors statewide, an estimated 226 additional drivers are needed to fully staff school bus routes. Over the last school year, 76 school bus drivers have vacated their positions.

Since the disruptions to the labor force in both Hawaiʻi and nationwide caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Hawaiʻi State Department of Education has reached out to mainland bus operators, tour bus operators, the National Guard and firefighters, among others, to recruit qualified bus drivers. All of these groups were unable to assist due to their own staffing shortages and liability issues. Bus service contractors are continuing to offer hiring bonuses, pay incentives and increased benefits to attract and recruit new drivers.

Families at impacted schools are being contacted by their respective school administrations with detailed route information and guidance.

Opinion column
submitted by
Jonathan Helton – policy researcher
with the Grassroot Institute of Hawaiʻi

Maui’s struggle with invasive deer might have just gotten easier to tackle thanks to a bill signed into law by Governor Josh Green.

Passed by the Legislature earlier this year, HB1382, now Act 54, allows nonprofits to donate wild game meat to “under-resourced” communities, including the homeless.

The new law also calls for the formation of a task force to study ways to improve the state’s capacity to process meat and recommend reforms to the state Legislature.

Together, these changes could help curb the growth of invasive species, such Maui’s estimated 60,000 axis deer and all the wild hogs, goats and sheep that plague communities across the state.

In testimony submitted in favor of the bill, Maui Mayor Richard Bissen said, “axis deer mitigation is a serious concern in Maui County because they eat cattle food sources and farmers’ crops, cause soil erosion from over grazing, and threaten native species.”

He said enactment of the bill also “would support fighting hunger in Maui County.”

The Maui County Farm Bureau testified that changing meat-donation laws would provide “an inexpensive source of protein for the needy,” and that “states across the country have been updating their good Samaritan laws to include wild game as an authorized donation.”

Other groups that spoke out in favor of the bill included the state Agribusiness Development Corp., the state Department of Agriculture, the Hawaiʻi Forest Industry Association, the Hawaiʻi Farm Bureau, the Hawaiʻi Cattlemen’s Council and the Hawaiʻi Farmers Union United.

But there are still obstacles in the way of taking full advantage of this new source of meat products, and that’s what the task force will be looking into.

For one, Hawaiʻi lacks the processing capacity to turn large amounts of wild game into edible meat, according to Bryan Mayer, a nationally recognized butcher and educator who also has been working to market Maui venison to the public.

“Access to slaughter and processing here is fairly limited — certainly here on Oʻahu, but across the state,” he said on a recent episode of “Hawaiʻi Together” on the ThinkTech Hawaiʻi network.

“The focus has pretty much been on cattle,” he said. “But we’ve got tons of other farmers here raising hogs, raising sheep and goat, chickens and other monogastric animals. … On top of that, we’ve got an invasive species population of deer and wild pig.”

Federal regulations complicate the situation too. Because wild animals such as deer are considered “non-amenable species,” federal officials won’t inspect them for free, as they do for cows, chickens, pigs and other farm-raised meat animals.

This means that anyone interested in selling wild game commercially must pay hefty inspection fees, which according to Mayer can amount to hundreds of dollars per hour.

Mayer said another issue is the dwindling number of people who want to go into the meat-processing business.

“If I were a young farmer right now, especially if I were a young hog or sheep or goat farmer, it looks kind of bleak,” he said. “And so we need to figure out a way to not only get these facilities built or allow the current facilities to process, but we need to really incentivize folks and train folks to do this work.”

According to the Maui County Farm Bureau, a “long-term sustainable solution to our feral animal problem lies in a comprehensive plan involving various government and private parties. It requires cooperation.”

This new law seems to be a small step in that direction and will hopefully open the door to more reforms that put Hawaiʻi on a path toward better management of its various invasive species.

*****Views expressed in Opinion pieces are those of the author’s alone and do not reflect or represent the opinions, policies or positions of Maui Now.***** 

Update: (July 4, 2023)

The Water and Infrastructure Committee met again on July 3, 2023, and discussed the renaming of Puamana Beach Park in Lahaina to Puamana Cultural Preserve at Waianuʻukole.

During an earlier meeting in May, the committee had considered the renaming of Puamana Beach Park to Waiahiokole Burial Preserve; however, further research prompted a revision in the proposed name change to Waianuʻukole instead.

The name “Waianuʻukole” can mean two things, according to a presentation by cultural practitioner Cody Pueo Pata:

1. Water of the Nuʻukole (a variety of ʻoʻopu also known as hiʻukole).
2. Grain like the Nuʻukole (ʻoʻopu), in reference to a type of stone used for heʻe lures which was streaked with red and black.

The full update is posted here.

Previous Post:

The Maui County Water and Infrastructure Committee voted unanimously to pass a bill on first reading relating to the renaming of Puamana Beach Park to Waiahiokole Burial Preserve.

Dr. Janet Six, principal archaeologist for the County of Maui spoke in support of the bill. She explained: “Puamana is a more modern convention named after a historic house that was a few doors away.”

“It’s always nice to see the accurate place names put back on the landscape because they have meaning and kaona that was lost during the gentrification and colonization process,” said Dr. Six in testimony, Friday.

As an example, she said traditional places like Waioka and Kaihalulu in East Maui are often times referred to as “Venus Pool,” and “Red Sand Beach” respectively. But encouraging the use of proper names, she said, is important because of the meaning associated with it.

“Puamana definitely is a Hawaiian word–it just is one that was assigned to a large plantation house in the 1920s,” said Dr. Six, who explained that the area is historically a large grave site.

“I would love to see an island-wide… push to accurately rename places,” said Council member Nohelani Uʻu-Hodgins. “We should never name a beach park after something so temporary,” she said.

West Maui resident, Keʻeaumoku Kapu, CEO of Aha Moku said traditional practitioners looked into the naming, and the significance of the offshore waters as a shark birthing area.

When explaining the significance of the name “Waiahiokole,” Kapu said “kole” means raw, and “waiahi” talks about the turbulence during the time of the shark birthing process. In addition to the literal translation, Kapu said scholars that he reached out to, told him it was also named after a prominent chief that lived in the area.

“The aumakua, when people pass… take on the so-called name of that general area. Waiahiokole talks about that–the naming of the chief, and also the area that surrounds the birthing place of the manō (shark) within that area known as Puamana. There’s a jetty that goes out, that’s part of Waiahiokole, that’s known as the birthing area of the sharks,” said Kapu during testimony on May 26.

Kapu said the renaming proposal stems from the many years that he participated with the Maui-Lānaʻi Island Burial Council, dating back to 2017 when inadvertent discoveries of iwi kūpuna (ancestral bones) were being made in the area.

In 2020, the item surfaced as an agenda item. One one occasion, Kapu said he walked the area with his wife and observed iwi “stretched out across the reef.” In testimony, he explained that iwi were found “from the guardrails all the way to the condos.”

Council member Keani Rawlins-Fernandez called the scattering of iwi across the reef as “heart-wrenching,” and expressed gratitude for the work done to care for the remains.

“We picked them all up. We went to the state, and knowing that they’ve been retrieving a lot from 2017… and nothing was done about it,” he said. “So I entertained a motion to ask the burial council to recognize Aha Moku as well as Nā Aikāne o Maui as a repository.”

The efforts according to Kapu, were focused on figuring out ways on how to free recovered iwi from storage, reinter the iwi, build a monument, and develop a long-range plan for protection and preservation. During testimony last week, he estimated that 11 boxes were retrieved from the state as part of the collaboration.

“It started that long journey for us to make sure that we provided not just an area of ambiance… but to involve a lot of the people in the community as well,” said Kapu.

The group has since built a kuahu (altar) for the interment area. The next task would be to establish a code of conduct sign to inform the public that the area is a burial preserve.

Dr. Six said the crypt was placed as far back as possible from the shore due to ongoing erosion, and a belief that, “at some point this park will go back to the sea.”

“There’s an understanding that if sea level continues as it is, that this park would be shut down,” Dr. Six explained. She said, the idea is to slowly remove all park infrastructure and use vegetative buffers to slow erosion impacts.

Council member Tamara Paltin, who is from West Maui, thanked Kapu and the groups who advocated for iwi protection. “Not only are they helping in West Maui… they are setting a protocol for all of our places in Maui County and possibly the state,” she said.

East Maui Council member Shane Sinenci described the area as “highly sensitive.” He said, “It’s not only about changing the name, but also going through the state and becoming a partner with the state in protection of these ancient burials.”

Committee Chair Tom Cook said he is optimistic that the community can move forward toward proper name use.

Bill 13 passed first reading with eight members voting in support, and one (Kama) excused.

Questions relating to protocol within a burial preserve and rules for the park use going forward will be addressed in future discussions.

A 30 day public comment period starts today on a draft air tour management plan for Haleakalā National Park on Maui.  The National Park Service and Federal Aviation Administration are seeking input from anyone interested or concerned about air tours over Haleakalā.

The proposed plan would authorize up to 2,412 air tours per year on a defined route within the plan area. There were on average 4,824 air tours per year reported at Haleakalā National Park from 2017–2019.  

The purpose of the plan is to ensure protection of park resource values, including natural sounds, wilderness character, visitor experiences, wildlife, and other natural and cultural resources.

In addition to the plan, comment is also being sought on the associated environmental assessment proposed for Haleakalā National Park. 

Public feedback can be submitted through the NPS Planning, Environment and Public Comment website starting May 16, 2023 through June 16, 2023. The NPS and FAA will consider comments to help inform the final ATMP for Haleakalā National Park. More information is available on the project website.

The draft plan is based on current operations and reported air tour levels at Haleakalā National Park.

Haleakalā National and the FAA are working towards completing the air tour management plan for Haleakalā National Park by Dec. 31, 2023. The schedule is part of a plan approved by the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit for the agencies to comply with the National Parks Air Tour Management Act of 2000. 

An important part of the process is the inclusion of Native Hawaiian Organizations. The agencies are consulting with NHOs and members of the Haleakalā National Park’s kūpuna (elders, ancestors, starting points, sources) consultation group, which consists of elders and individuals with in-depth knowledge of the historic and cultural significance to resources within the park. 

Links to meeting notifications, recordings, and slide decks (where applicable) will be posted to the NPS site.

A new survey has been released to Maui County residents by the SMALL TOWN * BIG ART initiative. The collaborative effort is working to develop an arts district that celebrates the distinctive sense of place, history and culture of Wailuku Town. 

Now in its fifth year of programming, the collective pairs professional artists with community consultants to co-create public artworks in alignment with Mary Kawena Pukui’s ‘Ōlelo No‘eau: Hawaiian Proverbs and Poetical Sayings.

The creative placemaking collaboration involves the work of County of Maui, Hale Hōʻikeʻike at the Bailey House and the Maui Historical Society, as well as Maui Public Art Corps.

The initiative has completed 54 visual, performance and experiential public artworks to date. These art works have encompassed the stories, direct participation, feedback, and active celebration of thousands of participants each year. The project were led by 47 local artists and 10 visiting artists, and were supported through nearly 200 community partnerships.

Organizers say public demand led to the creation of a new 501c3 to expand programming into new neighborhoods beyond Wailuku. Established in 2020 as Maui Public Art Corps, the team has now piloted public art and related community programming with partners in Kahului, Lānaʻi and Kahoʻolawe.

With more than 350 public art programs nationwide, organizers say benefits have impacted communities economically, culturally, socially and health-wise.

Now, the SMALL TOWN * BIG ART collective is working on a public art master plan that is focused on the County of Maui’s unique cultures, resources, needs and desires; and will join the ranks of 350 public art programs that have been developed nationally, according to Americans for the Arts – a leading nonprofit organization for advancing the arts in the nation.

Funded through a grant award by the National Endowment for the Arts, the plan will provide a framework for the development and acquisition of public art, participation in the selection process, areas of opportunity, maintenance and conservation, and recommendations for the future.

Residents are invited to share their feedback via a survey listed at the top of the SMALL TOWN * BIG ART website: smalltownbig.org, also accessible at surveymonkey.com/r/ZRT67P6. Hard copies are also available while supplies last. The survey takes approximately 12 minutes to complete.

The state House Finance Committee will hear a bill this week that requests a carrying capacity study for Mākena State Park, also known as Oneloa Beach. The hearing on SB 1136, SD1, HD1 is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Wednesday, April 5, 2023.

“As with other state beach parks, the increase in tourism volume has resulted in an excess of visitor traffic to Mākena State Park, necessitating further investment in this iconic area,” lawmakers noted in the bill.

Because of the increase of visitors, “amenities offered at the park are being stretched and park upkeep and maintenance are being tested,” according to the bill’s language.  

Lawmakers who drafted the legislation noted that when the same phenomenon created a strain at Hāʻena and Waiʻānapanapa State Parks, a carrying capacity study was conducted and a tourism management plan was put into place.  

“The plan allowed for the generation of additional revenue from the increased traffic and ensured that residents’ public access to these important community assets would be preserved,” according to the bill.

Accordingly, the purpose of this Act is to appropriate funds for the Office of Planning and Sustainable Development to conduct a carrying capacity study, which will be submitted to the legislature by July 1, 2024.

The bill would assess the effectiveness of existing use restrictions and management practices, including current park hours, entrance fees, and parking fees.

The nonprofit group Maui Tomorrow thanked House Finance Chair Kyle Yamashita for holding a hearing on the bill, calling the measure a priority for the community.

The organization reports that: “Due to overtourism and the increasing tourism volume at Mākena State Park, residents are often unable to access the park due to lack of parking. Additionally, the park is at risk of irreparable harm due to overuse and lack of action to monitor the number of people who can access the park daily.”

In an email update from Maui Tomorrow, the organization states, “This is a critical first step in ensuring that Mākena State Park is well-managed and sustained for future generations to enjoy.”

The hearing is available for viewing live at the Hawaiʻi House of Representatives YouTube Channel.

National Park Service officials announced that they will move forward with a plan to reduce the transmission of avian malaria to threatened and endangered forest birds by suppressing invasive mosquito populations.  

The NPS will use an incompatible insect technique (IIT) which consists of repeatedly releasing incompatible male mosquitoes into the wild to reduce the reproductive potential of female mosquitoes in the project area. 

“The release of these male mosquitos, primarily using drones and occasionally helicopters and ground methods, must be conducted repeatedly over time to achieve and maintain significant suppression of the mosquito populations,” according to an NPS news release.

A Finding of No Significant Impact was determined for the Environmental Assessment of the project entitled: the Suppression of Invasive Mosquito Populations to Reduce Transmission of Avian Malaria to Threatened and Endangered Forest Birds on East Maui Environmental Assessment.

The environmental assessment for the project was available for public review between Dec. 6, 2022, and Jan. 23, 2023, with a total of 853 pieces of correspondence received. A summary of the public comments along with agency responses is included in Attachment A of the FONSI document.   

The EA and FONSI are available on the NPS Planning, Environment and Public Comment project site at https://parkplanning.nps.gov/HALE-mosquito under the “Document List” link on the left side of the page.      

The Hawaiʻi Department of Land and Natural Resources, a cooperating agency on this project, is preparing its own finding covering actions on state-managed and private lands within the project area.

Fervent testifiers over many hours at Maui County Council sought the freedom to choose birth practitioners regardless of licensure status.

Apprenticeship-trained midwives would be criminalized after July 1 — when the current exemption expires — if the state doesn’t approve pending legislation.

A resolution at Maui County Council on Friday urged state leaders to enact laws that would permanently exempt birth attendants from state licensure requirements, especially because the county’s rural areas have limited access to birth facilities and have historically relied on traditional midwives.

About 30 testifiers, most of whom are mothers who have had home births, spoke for hours to support the Maui County Council resolution to protect maternal autonomy.

“Look at how far we have to go to just be able to make a decision for our own self as a female person,” Scarlett Ritte of Molokaʻi testified at Friday’s council meeting. “Now we gotta go and do something else just to protect that right.”

The resolution highlights the importance of birth attendants for rural communities, especially those in Maui County. 

Maui resident Makalani Franco-Francis, who had traditional midwives for her three kids and is now an apprentice to traditional midwives, said traditional midwives fill the gaps of maternal health care in remote areas, including Hāna, Kīpahulu, Molokaʻi and Lānaʻi. 

“They need us to serve them and not be afraid of persecution,” she said at Friday’s council meeting.

Introduced by Council Member Keani Rawlins-Fernandez, whose residency seat covers Moloka’i, the resolution with a unanimous vote was adopted by council late Friday. Resolutions do not have the force and effect of law.

Maui County is disproportionately affected by state licensure requirements, Rawlins-Fernandez said before the vote. Maternal mortality outcomes are disproportionately high among Black, Filipino, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander birthing people.

“During testimony, one testifier asked herself out loud, ‘Why am I crying?’” Rawlins-Fernandez said before the vote. “I understand so deeply, there is so much trauma from being forced to participate in an oppressive system whether it’s being forced to birth in an unnatural setting or having to speak up in front of a government body to ask that our basic fundamental right to do what women have been doing since human life began is insulting and upsetting and emotional. I cried, too, today. How did we get to a place where indigenous and traditional birth attendants are at risk of being criminalized?”

Maui County’s resolution affirms state bills SB1047 / HB955. If approved, the state measures would permanently exempt birth attendants from being licensed and allow all Certified Professional Midwives to qualify for licensure.

There was overwhelming support for HB955 during a Friday state House Committee on Health and Homelessness hearing. The committee deferred decision-making until Wednesday.

The bill would make permanent the existing exemption for birth attendants to continue to practice without a license, under certain conditions. Also, it expands qualifications for licensure to include North American Registry of Midwives portfolio evaluation process.

Hawaiʻi’s existing midwifery licensure law (2019 Act 32, now codified as HRS 457-J) says that all midwives must be licensed after July 1, and in order to be licensed they must attend a school accredited by the Midwifery Education Accreditation Council (MEAC). 

However, there are no MEAC-accredited schools in Hawaiʻi, making the requirements for licensure prohibitively difficult for local midwives to obtain, according to a news release by state Rep. Natalia Hussey-Burdick, who helped draft HB955. 

Some midwives have been practicing under the temporary exemption for “birth attendants,” but they face an uncertain future at risk of criminalization, so they have already begun turning away clients despite high demand for their services, the release said.

Hawaiʻi’s 2019 law included a temporary exemption for people practicing as “birth attendants” but the exemption is scheduled to expire on July 1. 

US Senator Brian Schatz of Hawai‘i today called on the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of the Navy, and the Defense Logistics Agency to strengthen its proposed consent order on the closure of Red Hill to include more input from Hawai‘i residents.

“Given the magnitude of the catastrophe and its environmental and community impacts, the order should always allow input from all Hawai‘i citizens,” said Senator Schatz in a letter and public comment submitted to the EPA.

He said the public’s right to review and comment should not depend on a judgment call by any individual. “It should be enshrined in the Proposed Order. Simply put, this proposal must not exclude the public,” he said.

Senator Schatz’s full public comment on the proposed order can be found below:

Dear Administrator Regan:

On December 21, 2022, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Department of the Navy (Navy) and the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) announced a proposed Consent Order and Statement of Work (Proposed Order) on the safe closure of the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility (Red Hill).  Hundreds of comments have been filed by the public in response, and I expect you will give each submission a full and fair review.  It is unusual for me to file a public comment, since I have other ways to communicate with administration officials. I’m taking this step because of the seriousness of this situation and because as the Proposed Order is currently written, it would leave the people most impacted by Red Hill – Hawai‘i citizens – without a formal role or voice in this process.

For example, provisions in the Proposed Order expressly allow for EPA, DLA, and Navy to change or modify the Proposed Order without required notice to the public.  (Proposed Order, Sections 8 and 9)  The rights of members of the public to review and offer comments on such changes is entirely at the discretion of EPA:

If the modification is determined by EPA to be significant, the process for public comment, described in Subparagraph (a) [the notice and comment process for the initial adoption of the Proposed Order], will repeat.  (Proposed Order, Section 22(b))

Given the magnitude of the catastrophe and its environmental and community impacts, the order should always allow input from all Hawai‘i citizens.  The public’s right to review and comment should not depend on a judgment call by any individual. It should be enshrined in the Proposed Order.  Simply put, this proposal must not exclude the public.

The Proposed Order also establishes a limited process for dispute resolution:  a committee with members appointed from the Department of Defense and the EPA reviews complaints and makes a ruling.  (Proposed Order, Section 14(c))  Decisions of the committee can be appealed to the EPA Regional Administrator for Region 9, and then to the EPA Deputy Administrator for resolution.  (Proposed Order, Sections 14(h)(i))

By leaving out any review by the people of Hawai‘i, EPA, DLA, and Navy can raise and settle issues without regard to questions or concerns from the people of Hawai‘i.  Thus, issues that fundamentally affect the public can be settled without the public’s input.  At a minimum, there should be a requirement for cases under this section to be reported to the public, the way that there is for health-related complaints.  (Compare with Proposed Order—Statement of Work, Section 6.11) 

The Proposed Order and statement of work calls for regular updates to the public and a website (Proposed Order—Statement of Work, Section 2.3); in addition, EPA, DLA, and Navy all have their own procedures and practices for public consultation.  However, Red Hill warrants more. The Order should mandate the greatest transparency of federal action possible, and include mechanisms for the public to have timely and meaningful input. 

Ready access to this information is necessary to ensure that the people of Hawai‘i will be able to hold the federal government accountable for shutting down Red Hill safely and quickly. 

Sincerely,

About a dozen truck and vehicle loads of items were released Friday under the supervision of MEO staff with the assistance of Maui police.

At the center of the dispute is an 11.5 acre parcel located near the intersection of Kahekili Highway and Waiehu Beach Road where MEO is planning to develop a 120-unit affordable rental project.

The nonprofit removed the items on Jan. 24, in an attempt to clear the site following a recent state ruling in their favor over litigation involving title interest in the property.

Members of the ʻohana group including those tracing lineage to Pehuino, and claiming kuleana land rights tied to that interest, called the removal and retrieval actions hurtful.

“People should know that this fight is deep because these are relationships. For us as people of ʻāina… that’s our ancestor… we are ʻāina, ʻāina is us,” said Kaniloa Kamaunu, a relative of the family. He was also one of two people placed under citizen’s arrest last week for trespass during clearing of the Waiehu site.

Kamaunu said that as a member of the group Mālama Kakanilua he was doing protocol as an iwi protector of the sand dunes. “As long as there’s knowledge of iwi being present on the property, we have property rights. That’s what I was exercising that day,” said Kamaunu.

The Hale Mahaolu Ke Kahua Affordable Housing Community project received a Finding of No Significant Impact, according to June 2022 edition of “The Environmental Notice” published by the state Office of Planning and Sustainable Development.  

In the document’s cultural impacts section it stated: “No ongoing cultural practices were identified within the project area during community consultation for this Cultural Impact Assessment. However, the project area is located adjacent to an inland sand dune complex where numerous human burials have been documented. The project area is also located in the general vicinity of ongoing subsistence-based kalo farms.”

Maui Economic Opportunity, CEO Debbie Cabebe said a ruling in 2nd Circuit Court was for “possessory and title interest.” “The trespassers have been notified multiple times over the last year that they have been squatting on MEO land designated for a much-needed 100% affordable rental project,” she said in a statement Friday. In an earlier release she said MEO could trace the title through King Lunalilo and a royal patent grant.

“To make a statement that they have clear title all the way back to Lunalilo is insulting to us, because as kanaka, [we are] keiki o ka ʻāina–and yet we’re displaced and made to be criminals… and to be shown in the public’s eye… that we’re only squatting to get lands, which is not true,” said Kamaunu.

“MEO took everything. We lived there. Not because we are not able to get housing elsewhere, but because we need to protect our ʻāina, and we need to be close to the ʻāina. The ʻāina is our kupuna and we need to mālama. It’s our kuleana. Our tūtū was the kahu, caretaker of the iwi in these sand dunes, and now it’s our time,” according to one Pehuino heir cited in a family news release.

According to MEO, multiple attempts were made to warn the individuals to leave the property. An executive called the living conditions on site “squalid,” “unsafe” and “unhealthy.”

A family spokesperson Noelani Ahia said members cleared their schedules and rented trucks, but had limited access during the retrieval, with a maximum of five individuals allowed entry at a time. “Every attempt has been made to make this as smooth as possible so as not to further traumatize the heirs and to make sure the situation is de-escalated. But now MEO leadership wants to obstruct their capacity to pack up,” she said in a press release.

The group contends that their belongings were “stolen,” and expressed a desire to retrieve all items at one time.

“While we understand the passion and devotion of the trespassers to their cause, some of their tactics were distressing,” an organization executive said following last week’s efforts. After Friday’s retrieval, Cabebe said there were operational and safety concerns, and misinformation being shared by the family group.

MEO apologized to clients for delays in paratransit and Human Service runs Friday afternoon due to slowdowns at the baseyard gate. 

Remaining belongings in MEO’s possession from the removal will be held until Feb. 24. The organization provided a phone number, 808-243-4316 where impacted individuals can set appointments for pick-ups.

“MEO doesnʻt understand land title issues. Thatʻs obvious. But instead of trying to learn and understand, they’ve chosen the colonizer playbook, calling us squatters, and locking us out of our own land, and now obstructing us from getting our things,” Ahia said.

In a release last week, Cabebe pointed toward affordable housing priorities set by state and county officials, saying, “… our situation at Ke Kahua shows that building those units requires determination and steadfastness.  We remain committed to the cause of providing affordable housing for as many Maui residents as possible.”