Although the State Legislature has adjourned until next year, we still may be able to get state action on public beach access, according to Mike Lameier of the National Marine Fisheries Service.

He said the upcoming review of the State's Coastal Zone Management Program is an opportunity for the public to influence how the State CZM Program in Hawaii is spending their money and tax dollars.

A team of federal reviewers will meet with government and non-government organizations in Hawaii, and have a public meeting on the Big Island, July 30, to review how our State CZM Program is doing.

The review team must then write a report, which will include "program suggestions" and "necessary action." Program actions are non-binding recommendations for the State CZM to focus more attention on specific issues raised by the public. Necessary actions are binding. If there is enough public interest and comments about a particular issue, the federal reviewers can restrict or even deny state funding, until the state program has improved the situation regarding those issues.

Mike wrote: "As you can see, this is a great opportunity to influence our State CZM Program to give more attention and funding to public beach access issues or other issues, which you feel are important."

We need your emails and letters asking the State to step in and establish uniform guidelines for shoreline access throughout Hawaii. Point out that we need to know where additional public access ways are needed on all the islands, and explain that many residents no longer can walk easily be beaches because of gates on private and public roads.

If you have questions, contact Rich Figel via email: figeli001@hawaii.rr.com

Please email your comments to Ms. Carrie Hall at carrie.hall@noaa.gov

Or snail mail letters to:
Ms. Carrie Hall, NOAA/NOS/OCRM
1305 East-West Highway, N/ORM7
Silver Spring, Maryland, 20910

Posted by richfigel at 3:07 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Good letter in today's Star-Bulletin (July 9) related to the Fourth of July:

Allow access to beach at least 1 day a year

Land of the free? Apparently not in Kailua. Yes, the signs said "Private Road, NO Beach Access," but surely on this one night of the year when Kailua Beach is the gathering place to view fireworks, "outsiders" who do not actually live on that lane would be allowed to pass by as we have done for more than 20 years. But no -- a gate that we did not know existed stood locked. Fortunately we were allowed to enter with the privileged ones who had the gate code.

Yes, it is your right to close your private road. But how hard would it have been to prop the gate open for one hour on this special night? How offensive is it to have strangers walking in front of your homes anyway? News flash -- we all have strangers walking and driving by -- sometimes speeding, if you live on a shortcut used by all to avoid the traffic on Oneawa. We have had litter, noisy kids, loud thumping radios, vandalism and car theft because everyone is allowed on our road. We have also made friends with those who pass. So "land of the free" seems to depend on your address.

Maryalice Woody
Kailua

Posted by richfigel at 8:02 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

You can see additional Fourth of July photos on our Flickr page by clicking here...

Posted by richfigel at 9:21 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Mahalo to everyone who helped make the Beach Access Hawaii entry a big hit with the throngs of people who lined the parade route Friday morning! We had over 30 participants on the float, marching or riding bikes -- plus members of Surfrider, and a strong contingent from the Defend Oahu Coaliton in their green "Keep the Country Country" shirts right behind us.

KGMB News had a brief shot of our truck with the "Save Beach Access" sign on the front, and we got a lot of spectators talking about the issue of locked gates in Kailua. Hmm, does that fake gate on the back of our truck look familiar?

Posted by richfigel at 12:28 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

The official staging area for Beach Access Hawaii and Shoreline Access Coalition will be at Pukoa Street at the N. Kainalu Drive intersection. If coming from Kainui Drive, going south on Kainalu it's the second left (after Kaha Street).

Word has been spreading, and our ranks are growing! We're expecting a good turnout for Friday morning, so don't be shy about joining us at any point along the parade route. Just keep your ears open for the, "Get up, stand up -- don't give up the fight!" chant, accompanied by 25 kazoos.

And dig Ben Mon's awesome "Free Beach Access" shirt design he did for the parade on the right! Let me know if you want a custom shirt of your own.

Posted by richfigel at 12:27 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Calling all surfers, paddlers, fishermen and beach-goers of all ages!

Wear wacky beach outfits, bring props like boogie boards and fishing poles, and join us on Friday, July 4 for the annual Kailua parade down Kainalu Drive...

Our allies, Defend Oahu Coalition from the North Shore and the Surfrider Foundation, will also be marching. Bring your kids, your pets and your friends. We want to make this a Moveable Beach Party that will spread our message: Hawaii's beaches belong to us all. No more gates! No private beaches!

Posted by richfigel at 9:39 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Ian Lind's blog today points out another major omission in the KHNL story last night (see post below) about Kahala homeowners claiming the naupaka in front of their property is actually preventing beach erosion:

"... The problem with the story is that it fails to credit the mass of scientific evidence and legal precedent that has identified artificial plantings along the shore as sources of erosion. Like seawalls, which are a last line of defense for oceanfront land but are generally banned because they cause serious long term erosion, property owners think they are protecting the beach by encouraging plants to grow onto the sand but in fact they are causing erosion by interfering with the natural circulation of sand.

In Kahala, the neighborhood board and community association have been pushing the state for years to enforce its coastal rules, which prohibit plantings seaward of the legal shoreline. Kahala homeowners have planted and watered in order to get naupaka and other plants to grow towards the water, in the process extending their own properties while damaging the beach.

This has been a problem statewide for years, a history ignored by the K5 report. It led to a landmark Hawaii Supreme Court decision in 2006, discussed here in Juan Wilsons Island Breath blog.

The Department of Land and Natural Resources should be getting credit for finally taking comprehensive enforcement action in a coastal area rather than simply responding to complaints about individual homeowners. Instead, K5 ignored history, law, and science with its homeowners rights approach to the issue..."

Here's the link to the complete blog entry.

Posted by richfigel at 7:59 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

KHNL ran a report Sunday night about homeowners in Kahala being ordered to remove naupaka that is blocking lateral shoreline access. One of them claims the naupaka is necessary to prevent further erosion.

Here's the link to the KHNL news story.

The real problem though, which KHNL neglected to mention, is that those homes should never have been allowed to be built so close to the shoreline in the first place. And yet our do-nothing Honolulu City Council continues to allow new home building close to the ocean even though there is ample evidence that sea levels are rising.

In Kailua, one homeowner decided to rebuild closer to the beach -- which will partially block his neighbor's former ocean view. Could that be why the neighbor is now selling in the photo below? How many others will do the same, and race each other to build closer to the ocean?

Posted by richfigel at 10:13 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

5, 6, 7, 8... Time to March Against the Gate! Sound off...

It's official: Beach Access Hawaii and our allies will be marching in the Kailua Fourth of July parade, between 10 AM and noon on Kainalu Drive. Anyone who wants to join us can bring signs and props to show how they feel about this issue.

There will be a pre-parade planning meeting on Weds., June 25, 6 PM at the home of Mark Olds, who lives at 306 N. Kainalu Drive (near the Kapaa Street intersection). That's right on the parade route, so Mark has offered to let us put signs and banners on his fence too!

Should be a lot of fun. If you have any questions or suggestions, please email me at figeli001@hawaii.rr.com.

Posted by richfigel at 6:29 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Just returned from a 3-week trip to Europe and NYC, and am nearly caught up on the latest beach access-related developments that occurred while I was away.

The Sunday Star-Bulletin (June 1) ran a front page story on overgrown vegetation blocking shoreline access in Kahala and other parts of the islands. Above is a photo of a part of Kailua Beach where naupaka extends about 50 yards from the homeowner's property.

The Star-B then followed with a good editorial on the subject in Wednesday's paper (June 4). It noted that erosion is an ongoing problem -- which could have been addressed in State legislation to increase shoreline building setbacks. However, our do-nothing Legislature let that bill die in the last session.

Speaking of setbacks, our coalition lost the battle to keep all of the free parking spaces at the Ala Wai harbor near the Bowls surfing spot. But the State Board of Land and Natural Resources did yield somewhat to public pressure and agreed to keep 300 of the parking spaces free, while only charging 25 cents per hour for metered parking on the other 266 spaces. We don't like the precedent this sets for pay-to-play in our oceans. Here's the Advertiser article on that compromise deal.

In the Honolulu Advertiser, Lee Cataluna's May 13 column was about Iroquois Beach being reopened to the public. She notes that the restrictions allow limited access, but also succeed in keeping that beach clean and litter-free... sadly, she's right: as long as locals trash our beaches, you will find opposition to increased public access via private roads. Here's the link to her column.

Mahalo to Roxanne for her guest blog while I was on vacation! Much more to follow, including tentative plans for a Beach Access Hawaii entry in the upcoming Kailua Fourth of July parade. If you haven't already registered for email updates, please use the link on the right hand side of the page to do so. And don't forget to donate a few dollars if you can spare it! We're gearing up for Groundhog Day 2009, and need to build up a war chest for legal action against locked gates on private and public roads.

Posted by richfigel at 12:07 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post