wholesome things for teenagers new to the island to do around Hilo / Puna?

[whtviper1]

I didn't say Puna was like Compton in post 17. I did say it is a rough area. I don't think there is much debate on that. Just get in your car and drive around (and be careful) it isn't a family friendly group hug area.

[terracore]

I don't want to ruffle any feathers... but Puna is SAFE compared to a lot of places....

https://www.city-data.com/forum/big-i...na-safety.html

(for those of who can't click on it, here is my post in the thread...)

"In my opinion, people who describe the violence and crime in Hawaii haven't lived somewhere that has "real" violence and crime. I used to live "in the hood" next to a crack house. It was unusual NOT to hear multiple gunshots of attempted or actual homicides every night. My house was cased every single day. I had to buy a huge rottweiler to discourage people from looking into my windows and through the mail slot in the front door. There was a high speed car chase that ended right in front of my house and the suspect ran into my back yard, chased by cops with their guns drawn. My ex wife (well, was wife then) was sleeping in the bedroom the cops were using the corner of the house as "cover". I had to wake her up and try to explain she needed to leave the room quietly and get down on the floor. Anything we left outside was immediately stolen. We even had our garbage stolen. We had to remove the hand-tightening thing from the outside water spigot to keep people from stealing our hose and sprinkler when we were watering the lawn (it wasn't worth stealing if you had to get all wet apparently).

That was just one place I lived. In one neighborhood I visited in Washington DC it was even worse. A lot worse. At the KFC you had to order through bullet proof glass. Your chicken was dispensed from a bullet proof turn stile. You had to go through a metal detector to get into the Safeway grocery store. One time we couldn't get to the store because there were 30-40 young men fighting in the parking lot, using broken beer bottles as weapons. The next day we tried to rent a Ryder truck (to get the hell out of that neighborhood) and we were stopped by the police due to an armed man with a hostage situation. Every window had bars on them. Every front door was reinforced with bars. Every business closed at dusk. You never, ever went outside alone at night. My friend was punched and robbed in the middle of the day with witnesses all around.

But no, I never once felt unsafe in Puna. I saw some sections of some divisions where I wouldn't want my car to break down but you find those neighborhoods everywhere in the world. Generally if you stay near the pavement and away from the "homes" made out of tarps and away from the weirdos who spell Kapu out of pig bones on their frontage you'll be fine."

[CyberCity]

Originally Posted by terracore

Generally if you stay near the pavement and away from the "homes" made out of tarps and away from the weirdos who spell Kapu out of pig bones on their frontage you'll be fine."

I'd missed that the first time around. Pretty funny way to communicate your impression.

[terracore]

"There's a lot to love about Hilo and the Puna District IF you're compatible, but it's definitely not for everyone. You have to be open to what's actually available, rather than believing everything the second and third hand stories have to say."

Agreed! When I drive the backroads to our house every day, neighbors I haven't met yet always wave at me. And I wave back. People I don't know voluntarily spend their own money to buy cinder to fill the holes in the road. The farmers markets have a true sense of community. The feral weirdos hiding in their tarp cities far from pavement on their land bordering the forest reserve just want to be left alone.

Puna is probably the last place in the United States where you can still buy 3 acres of tropical paradise for $12k. That is going to attract both those who dream and those who have nightmares. For me, there is no other place in the world I'd rather wake up every day.

[CyberCity]

It is a similar discussion regarding, say, the term "Waianae" on Oahu. Waianae coast? Waianae town? Nanakuli or Makaha? All are very different in their own ways. Even to the subtleties of "mauka or makai of the highway".

It is hard to know when someone else is posting a response what the specifics are when discussing a general area, just what exactly are they referring to?

Add this as another reminder of why it is important for folks to VISIT IN PERSON before committing to a rental lease or buying!

[OpenD]

There have always been stereotypical regional references floating around which had some small crumb of truth, but which did not did not accurately reflect overall reality... "Georgia is all rednecks and meth labs", "West Virginia is nothing but inbred hillbillies," and "Puna is spooky and dangerous." With a little discernment and open mindedness, however, it's fairly easy to wade through the negative hype and find the truth underneath it all. Are there dangerous and spooky back roads and corners in Puna? Yes, without question. Is that the overriding character of Puna? Not at all. Are there unpermitted shacks in Puna? Yes. Are there million dollar homes in Puna? Absolutely.

Of course I tell people I'm in Puna, as I have ever since I began posting here several years ago, because it's a simple and obvious fact. So does everyone I know who lives in the District. Kea'au is in Puna, no question. So is Pahoa, and Kurtistown, etc. And they're all definitely not spooky and not dangerous places to live. Several of my friends and neighbors have even been actively involved in the creation of the Puna Community Development Plan, the first such plan created by residents and adopted by the county.

Puna CDP — Hawaii County Community Development Plans

For those unfamiliar with the local geography and political divisions, the County of Hawai'i, aka the Big Island, is divided into 9 districts (Kona, Kohalo and Hilo are divided into North & South). One of those districts is called Puna, on the Windward (East) side of the island, south of Hilo. Here's a map that shows the Districts.

http://www.hiloagent.com/images/Big%...rict%20Map.jpg

Puna has extremely high rainfall, so historically it has predominantly been a rural agricultural area. It was once the largest coffee producing area in the country, but then sugarcane plantations became more profitable and displaced coffee as THE local crop more than 100 years ago. And for many years, sugar reigned supreme, but then the industry collapsed after WWII, and the sugar mills were closed. That's when developers started buying up old plantation land and dividing it up into "residential" lots, anticipating a rush for affordable "slices of paradise" that never really happened. That's why you see subdivisions laid out on the maps that are often little more in reality than a grid of gravel roads bulldozed through the rainforest. And the parts of those undeveloped "subdivisions" that are furthest from the highways and the established population centers tend to be the roughest.

Once you have your feet on the ground, it's easy enough to find out where the bad "neighborhoods" in Puna are, and to avoid them. But there's no need to be afraid of a whole district because of a few tough areas. And there's no need to buy into negativity and disdain, when that isn't the way real residents talk about it.

Feeling stuck here? Not anyone I know.

Here's a detailed map of Puna : Big Island Hawaii Hilo Puna District Map