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You'd think a mental health counselor in Puna would have loads of work! Way too much work to ever get bored. Not the type of clients I'd want to see all day, though. Puna isn't a jolly spot for a single person, really. Not a lot of meeting places or things for singles nor a whole lot of much of anything to do. If you can amuse yourself, though, then it's not too bad. If you need a lot of interaction with folks to be happy, Puna may not be your cup of tea.
A lot of folks in Puna stay busy just trying to get by, though. No County water so they are filling up water jugs and fixing the water catchment system. Building shelter and trying to keep the transportation operational. Weed whacking is unending. Scrabbling for work or trying to garden. One can always take pot shots at mongoose and rats if you get seriously bored. We had a "Red Rider" BB gun that had about a six in drop in 50' so the mongoose and rats weren't in much danger. There were two of us and some neighbors fairly close by so things weren't completely off in the boonies. Pretty close, though. We'd have Ice Cream Sundays and make a big batch of home made hand cranked ice cream on Sundays and folks would drop by and socialize. If it weren't for the Sundays, though, we could have gone more than a week without seeing anybody other than the immediate neighbors. That was about three decades ago, though, so it's probably got a few more folks around there now. We don't usually drive in off the highway when we go past that area, so I'm not sure what exactly it looks like. Not that you cold see much past the trees and ferns anyway.
Everything said above is true, there is poverty and drug use, mostly pot by the older hippie crowd, ice by the younger crowd. Lots of drunks. There is also great wealth in places like Kapoho, Kehena, Puna palisades and parts of HPP and Leilani, though that last one doesn't apply to me Gay friendly? Yes. I'm Gay and this is without a doubt the most Gay-friendly place I've ever been, in fact Puna palisades is referred to by another name that starts with a "P" that I can't probably mention on this site, the subdivision is more than 50% Gay.
Like I said, Hawaii is anti pet. I think that if you stay on the islands a while you forget that other places do not work like Hawaii. I am 62 years old, and have had pets all my life. Lived in probably 20 states, and spent 15 years in Hilo. Never, ever had a pet problem, but then I was never allowed to own one on the Big Island, not even in condos that we owned, as I stated. What you get are PEOPLE problems. It isn't the cat/dog/whatever, it's the tenants. And I've owned property and never had a problem w/ tenants that had pets. There is such a thing as screening your applicants and having enough good sense to see who is going to be a problem, and who isn't. If you don't have the latter you have no business being a landlord.
Look, all this pet fear is just crazy. It isn't like that at all. Where we live now (Florida), nearly EVERYONE has a pet. The people I see every day, day in and day out, are responsible companions to their pets. Pets are all over the place. At the coffee house, on the decks at restaurants, riding around in people's cars. That is NORMAL. What exists in Hawaii is very abnormal. We love our cat, and she's one of the family. Landlords that won't allow you to have one of your family live w/ you are pure evil. This is just crazy fear tactics to control people. A lot of people are elderly and their pet is their best and sometimes only friend. When you get old you lose your friends and family because they are dying off. These people treat their pets well and love them, and spend huge amounts at the vet to make sure they're in good health. To require someone to give up their pet in situations like this is as low as you can go. No compassion at all. But, as we found out when we sold our Kurtistown home, no one would rent to us in Hilo w/ our dog. It took months, but I finally found a good home for him and we had to say goodby to a good friend. Strangers should butt out of people's personal business if you ask me, and having a pet is personal business.
hotzcatz, that is one of the most accurate and on the money assessments of Puna I've ever read. Good goin. That is truly how it is there.
Like I said, Hawaii is anti pet. I think that if you stay on the islands a while you forget that other places do not work like Hawaii. I am 62 years old, and have had pets all my life. Lived in probably 20 states, and spent 15 years in Hilo. Never, ever had a pet problem, but then I was never allowed to own one on the Big Island, not even in condos that we owned, as I stated. What you get are PEOPLE problems. It isn't the cat/dog/whatever, it's the tenants. And I've owned property and never had a problem w/ tenants that had pets. There is such a thing as screening your applicants and having enough good sense to see who is going to be a problem, and who isn't. If you don't have the latter you have no business being a landlord.
Look, all this pet fear is just crazy. It isn't like that at all. Where we live now (Florida), nearly EVERYONE has a pet. The people I see every day, day in and day out, are responsible companions to their pets. Pets are all over the place. At the coffee house, on the decks at restaurants, riding around in people's cars. That is NORMAL. What exists in Hawaii is very abnormal. We love our cat, and she's one of the family. Landlords that won't allow you to have one of your family live w/ you are pure evil. This is just crazy fear tactics to control people. A lot of people are elderly and their pet is their best friend. They treat them well and love them, and spend huge amounts at the vet to make sure they're in good health. To require someone to give up their pet is as low as you can go. No compassion at all. But, as we found out when we sold our Kurtistown home, no one would rent to us in Hilo w/ our dog. It took months, but I finally found a good home for him and we had to say goodby to a good friend. Strangers should butt out of people's personal business if you ask me, and having a pet is personal business.
Hawaii is NOT anti-pet by any means!
LANDLORDS may be anti-pet, which is an entirely different story.
Whether you have a pet or not is DEFINITELY the landlord's business!
It affects the value of their property due to potential damages and the cost of LIABILITY INSURANCE in case your perfect little angel BITES someone!
The other dynamic people fail to understand is that it is a landlord/tight rental market. In those situations, landlords don't have to rent to people with pets since their is an oversupply of renters without pets. If rentals sat empty - either rent gets lowered (which is sometimes difficult if the landlord has a loan) - or they open up to more renters with pets.
Smarino, what do you mean " strangers should butt out of people's personal business" when you are talking about landlords renting their personal property? Are you suggesting that I, as a landlord, don't have the right to tell my tenant that they can't have a dog or cat?
I own a rental property in Colorado and we no longer allow our tenants to have pets. We allowed people with their "small, well behaved dogs that never cause any trouble" and in return we have carpet that's ruined by urine and wood window sills that have been scratched up so badly that they need replacing. The pet deposit doesn't start to cover our expenses. These are carefully screened tenants with good jobs and good credit.
Nope. Not true. If anything, I've found that Hawai'i is kind of dog-crazy. I've lived all over the country myself, but it wasn't until I moved to Hawai'i that I saw so many people driving around with chihuahuas on their laps, or carrying little shih tzus in big purses into stores and restaurants (), or out walking big gnarly pit bulls with spiked collars and throat-guards, as if headed for the fight ring. And the Honolulu Humane Society has a campaign currently advocating that it be made made legal for people to bring their dogs into restaurants. That seems to me unlikely to happen, since it is an FDA rule that dogs can't be in any area where food is sold, but it speaks to the entitled attitudes of many dog owners.
And the rule that you can't have more than 10 dogs at your home unless you get a kennel license doesn't seem overly oppressive.
Plus, the state legislature recently passed a law that goes into effect in November, allowing a landlord to charge up to a month's rent as a pet deposit, on top of the existing one month security deposit, may loosen thing up a little for pet-owners who want to rent. That was certainly the intention. But my guess is that it won't make much of a difference, as long as there's no shortage of tenants who have no pets.
But many pet owners, as non-owners can attest, are crazy. They anthropomorphize their animals, ascribing all kinds of human characteristics to them, referring to them as if they were human, and worst of all... expecting everyone else to subscribe to their wacky delusions. They blind themselves to the odors and noise they create, the physical damage they do, the health dangers they cause... and in the case of cats, in particular, the enormous damage they have done to the Hawaiian ecosystem, especially to the native songbird population.
Flea infestation in the carpet, unremovable urine stains in the wood flooring, deep claw gouges in the doors and window sills and floors, noise complaints from the neighbors, liability claims for animals that cause injuries... why should any landlord chance that? Especially if they live thousands of miles away and can't personally monitor their property. That's probably more true in Hawai'i than anywhere else I can think of.
In any case, if you want to own animals in Hawai'i, it's best to buy, somewhere they are allowed. Sorry if that doesn't fit your picture of how it should be, but as the old saying goes, that's the situation that prevails.
Loads of mainland/transplant hippie-types that seem to come and go, lots of drug use (of all kinds) still relatively safe if you don't do anything stupid and stay away from drugged-up hippie-types and drugged-up locals. Very few jobs that pay more than $10 an hour. Every other vehicle has a dog sitting on the driver's lap...
Lots of mainland transplants that think they can buy a cheap piece of land and live in a tent while they "attempt" to build their dream 12x12 shack by themselves for 3+ years...(although they wouldn't do that in their own neighborhood back on the mainland). I guess, being realistic, Puna District has a lot of misfits that believe the laws don't apply to them.
I guess they have the same kind of people in Hawaii, that we do here in Florida. It's opinionated, people like yourself I hope to avoid! Yes I usually drive around with a "dog on my lap". Also my idea of a nice place is a "tiny house". Yeah, you'd probably call me a hippie too. I'm retired, and I learned a long time ago. A Mc Mansion and four cars in the garage, do not make one happy!
Currently I live in a 1200 Sq ft home with my 93 year old mother and my dog Buddy. I wouldn't part with Buddy, if my life depended on it! He is my sole companion. The community I live in is a so called "deed restricted" community. I have to ask permission for everything I do including the color of my home, and what I plant in the garden. I just recently planted a "florida friendly garden" which is permitted by law. I had to quote the law to them, to get permission. I still had to give them a detailed drawing and a list of plants I intended on planting. It's this I want to get the hell away from. I'm tired of neighbors who notice every gay friend who visits. I can't even have a barbecue without people snooping and making comments! I like St Petersburg, but once again you have a pet issue. There I'd have to live in a condo, and none of them allow pets. As far as size 1200 square feet is way too much space. I have lived comfortably in a 350 square foot apartment! I prefer a house however.
Yes I looked at Pahoa, because my friend said it's "friendly", that there are lots of "hippies" and that it's much more laid back than the rest of Hawaii. I'm simply trying to find out about houses there, and just what to expect. I would never buy something sight unseen! Likewise I would not move, unless I knew it was where I wanted to spend the rest of my life. When I mention drugs, I'm talking about hard drugs, not pot smokers. Some of my best friends are pot heads, and drunks! I neither smoke pot or tobacco,and do not drink myself. I like country, I like tiny houses. I do have concerns about water, and sewage. I wouldn't want to move into a place that just has a cesspool! My idea of the perfect place is a tiny tin roofed house, with lots of windows and a high ceiling. Don't know if that is Pahoa or not. Have seen a few places listed that would work, but don't know the area.
I guess they have the same kind of people in Hawaii, that we do here in Florida. It's opinionated, people like yourself I hope to avoid! Yes I usually drive around with a "dog on my lap". Also my idea of a nice place is a "tiny house". Yeah, you'd probably call me a hippie too. I'm retired, and I learned a long time ago. A Mc Mansion and four cars in the garage, do not make one happy!
Currently I live in a 1200 Sq ft home with my 93 year old mother and my dog Buddy. I wouldn't part with Buddy, if my life depended on it! He is my sole companion. The community I live in is a so called "deed restricted" community. I have to ask permission for everything I do including the color of my home, and what I plant in the garden. I just recently planted a "florida friendly garden" which is permitted by law. I had to quote the law to them, to get permission. I still had to give them a detailed drawing and a list of plants I intended on planting. It's this I want to get the hell away from. I'm tired of neighbors who notice every gay friend who visits. I can't even have a barbecue without people snooping and making comments! I like St Petersburg, but once again you have a pet issue. There I'd have to live in a condo, and none of them allow pets. As far as size 1200 square feet is way too much space. I have lived comfortably in a 350 square foot apartment! I prefer a house however.
Yes I looked at Pahoa, because my friend said it's "friendly", that there are lots of "hippies" and that it's much more laid back than the rest of Hawaii. I'm simply trying to find out about houses there, and just what to expect. I would never buy something sight unseen! Likewise I would not move, unless I knew it was where I wanted to spend the rest of my life. When I mention drugs, I'm talking about hard drugs, not pot smokers. Some of my best friends are pot heads, and drunks! I neither smoke pot or tobacco,and do not drink myself. I like country, I like tiny houses. I do have concerns about water, and sewage. I wouldn't want to move into a place that just has a cesspool! My idea of the perfect place is a tiny tin roofed house, with lots of windows and a high ceiling. Don't know if that is Pahoa or not. Have seen a few places listed that would work, but don't know the area.
If you have a dog in your lap and have a rear-ender, what happens to the dog. Or if the air-bag deploys, or perhaps the dog IS the airbag or sorts.
I wouldn't want to move into a place that just has a cesspool!
There are some terrific houses that have perfect functioning cesspools. You'll need to get educated about our different septic/sewer/cesspool systems in Hawaii before you eliminate any of those choices outright.
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Gay friendly? Yes. I'm Gay and this is without a doubt the most Gay-friendly place I've ever been, in fact Puna palisades is referred to by another name that starts with a "P" that I can't probably mention on this site, the subdivision is more than 50% Gay.
), or out walking big gnarly pit bulls with spiked collars and throat-guards, as if headed for the fight ring. And the Honolulu Humane Society has a campaign currently advocating that it be made made legal for people to bring their dogs into restaurants. That seems to me unlikely to happen, since it is an FDA rule that dogs can't be in any area where food is sold, but it speaks to the entitled attitudes of many dog owners. 
