Is There A Local Newspaper (even If It Is Small) Or Website For Info About Pahoa? (Hilo: crime, neighborhoods)

[GirlinAZ]

I am on the mainland and even using many online tools it is nearly impossible to get the real scoop on/in this area. The larger papers only discuss this area when the topics include: crime and gays moving in (so it seems). I want to know the real deal. I want to know if this area has even a small local newspaper or website that tells the goings on in the area. I am interested in the area from Hilo to Puna. (I have land in Nanawale Estates and have no one to keep me informed about my area.) I know no one in the area except for those I chat with here. I have heard that since many gays have moved to the area they have created businesses and thereby potential job opportunities. Is this the case? Just fyi, I love gays. I am not gay, but have had many friends over the years that are and they are some of the best people I have ever known. Any and all information will be very much appreciated. Thanks, Julie

[William Kester]

I think a lot of the gay emphasis that the major newspaper stories wrote up was somewhat exaggerated. I have lived near Pahoa for over three years and I have not seen a great increase in either the gay population or gay oriented businesses. That said, there is growth in the Pahoa, with the new shopping center, which is mainly things like Subway Sandwich, SuperCuts, Lex Brodie tires, Pizza Hawaii, and so on. There is a very diverse group of people in the area, but if I had to pick at random the typical new residents of this area, that I have met in the last three years, it would be a middle-aged couple that just cashed out ,sold everything on the mainland and moved here to retire or just work part-time.
Most of the residents of the Pahoa area that are working full-time , still commute to Hilo everday.
bill

[leilaniguy]

Aloha Julie, there is a newspaper in Pahoa- Puna News, and there is http//www.punaweb.org online that has a local forum.

[Jonah K]

There's also a blog by a former Hawai'i Tribune-Herald reporter that provides some interesting tidbits about Puna and occasionally Pahoa.

[Genxor]

Julie,

Exactly what info. are you needing ?

Before we moved here, and we are gay, I did a great deal of research on Punaweb / Punatalk. The forum there, used *mostly* by locals, discusses every topic you could think of.

Yes, gays have moved in , but not exactly in the numbers that many newspapers would have you believe.

Picture Puna being a county on the mainland, with very limited shopping/job opportunities, and most individuals travel to the city, Hilo, to shop and work.

Unfortunately, even for us locals, important news / updates/ etc. is hard to come by.

[GirlinAZ]

I have heard about puna news but their website has not been updated for the past 3 years. I have also gone online to the punaweb, but it is not an updated site. It gives plenty of good info, do not get me wrong, but not a true newspaper. I have also found the hunter bishop blog (been at this some time). But again, I would love to have a newspaper in hand. If you think of anything else, for example the hilo paper having a section on Puna (like our phoenix paper having a section weekly on my area of town) although who is kidding, this is a big city and we have tons of papers in nearly all neighborhoods. Thanks for your ears and if you think of anything else, let me know.
OH, to Leilaniguy, I did finally find the pictures of my lot, so if you want to see them, let me know. Thanks again, Julie

[Jonah K]

Originally Posted by Genxor

Unfortunately, even for us locals, important news / updates/ etc. is hard to come by.

Actually, we get most of our news in Puna by "talking story." The cashiers at 7-Eleven, the guys that work at Lex Brodie's, the servers at Luquin's, the dude with the dreads in tye-dyed T-Shirt selling incense on the side of the road, the folks that work at Pahoa Realty, the folks that hang out at Aloha Outpost, the cops that buy laulau from Malama Market, neighbors out jogging or walking their dogs, all are sources for obtaining news and updates about what's going on in Pahoa and Puna in general. When properly connected, the "coconut wireless" is pretty efficient and you'll often find out what's going on in Hilo and Puna before it hits the newspapers (even when you're thousands of miles away from Hawai'i).

[leilaniguy]

Julie, the Punaweb main page doesn't ever change much, but if you click on the "Punaweb forum" link near the top middle of the page, you'll find 4 forums of new postings every day. Questions, answers, opinions, rants, etc. Glad you got pictures, the shutter in my cam. is stuck, cinders probably.

[Genxor]

How true Jonah !

I'm with you on the rest, but people with dreads and tye-dyed t-shirts scare me . So they can keep their information.

[Paddywagons]

Hello everybody,

I have been learning so much from this forum, I feel like I'm mutating into a Punafly without ever even been there!

Keep this up and you'd better start a newspaper yourselves, it would be a best-seller. Have you guys ever thought about publishing an online newsletter? You could probably get sponsering from so many of your commercial interests, because let me put my 2 cents in: you are the only place I have been able to get the really REAL news from! I love you guys and all you do for the community, it's brilliant and I really hope to meet some of you someday.

THANK YOU!!

Patrick