TRAPPED ON THE BEACH
How Hawai`i Cares For Native Hawaiians & Others At The Bottom Of The Barrel
Intl. Herald Tribune - December 5, 2006
Many living on the beach have jobs, mostly in the service and construction sectors. They include families with children, who attend public schools by day and sleep in tents on the beach at night.
Venise Lewis, 35, who lives near Greenwood at Maili Beach Park with her husband and two of their four children, said her daughters, 8 and 10 years old, must finish their homework in the afternoon because there was no lighting at the beach after sunset.
Lewis's oldest daughter lives with a grandmother, and her son lives with the family's pastor.
"They don't like the idea of living on the beach," she said of her younger children. "Usually when we go camping, we go home if it rains...."
On Nov. 18, the state poured the foundation for an emergency transitional shelter in Wai`anae that will house up to 300 people when it opens early next year.The state is looking at building shelters at eight more sites along the Wai`anae Coast.
But Dino Palisbo, who has been living at Maili Beach Park with his girlfriend and their three dogs for about a year, said some people did not want to trade the freedom of the beach for the rules of a transitional shelter.
"Half of them can pay rent, but it is so high it is going to take them out of the comfort zone," Palisbo said. "When a studio costs $700 or $800, how can a family put four or five kids there?..."
