Is the grass greener in Maui? Contemplating relocating from Saint Paul. (Honolulu: appointed, 2015)

[maui-intoxicated]

Originally Posted by Texan Hula

Best of luck to you and your wife Maui-Intoxicated....you've been a tremendous help for those of us who are relocating to Maui!

Mahalo

Thank you soo much @Texan Hula

[maui-intoxicated]

And since I said a negative, I want to state some positives.

The food is amazing and the culture is great. These two both being highly subjective as I am eating food with my mouth, not yours and my culture is embodied differently than yours.

If you get a chance to visit the other islands as well the cultural experience is even greater.

[hawaiian by heart]

@maui-intoxicated

In regards to burning of cane. Thats just part of Hawai'i, just like vog,humidity and firework smoke. I find it difficult that people would move to Hawai'i with breathing issues. Because something is always in bloom, the polen has to be murder.

It reminds me of people moving to florida or other areas where there is a high level of natural phenomenal like tornadoes or hurricanes and then are surprised when there house gets destroyed.

[OpenD]

Originally Posted by maui-intoxicated

There is only one major what I call socio issue I have living on the island. Some would argue its environmental or ag issue but I ultimately feel its out of the voter/legislature hands otherwise it would not be done, and that is the infamous burning of cane, sugar cane specifically.

To be accurate, cane burning is part of sugarcane agriculture, which has been a commercial business on Maui since the early 1800s. If the cane burning was stopped, it would put the sugar companies out of business. As it is, there are only two left.

A few observations and I am always open for interpretation and debate.

1. They burn it 24/7

I sympathize with those affected, but I don't feel this gives an accurate picture. For one thing, the burning does not go on all year long, and affects different areas at different times.

Each field is harvested, and thus burned, only once every two years. We plan our harvesting activities over an 8- to 9-month period, typically from March to November, paced to supply a steady amount of cane to the factory. This averages out to roughly 400 acres per week. The number of acres burned at one time is usually about 70 acres, but can vary depending upon field conditions and location, weather, and requirements of the factory.

Hawaii Sugarcane FAQs | HC&S

For another, you can get schedules for burnings and sign up for alerts by phone or text messages from HCS Sugar.

Maui Sugarcane Burn Schedule
Maui Sugarcane Burning | HC&S

[maui-intoxicated]

^^ Alll of this is accurate. It has been going on a very long time, and is culturally signifigant. It also will affect some people more than others. I sneeze and have dry/watery eyes a lot. I had a bit of allergies before coming here so it's just my genome but it surprised me becasue everyone thought my wife would have the issues given she smoked and had an inhaler for asthma. It is me that is quite preturbed by it...basically because I wear contacts and already have allergies.

When you mix the burning with already existing Vog and other fires/smoke on the island it can be quite irritating to breathe. If you are sheltered or here short term or temporarily you may not even notice it unless a local says something or you search it.

Either way you get these types of socio issues everywhere. Another reason it's socio is because people will debate the cause, effect to the earths end.


Within an hour I have had a noticeable/traceable amount of sediment lieing on top of a freshly waxed vehicle.

[maui-intoxicated]

If anyone is from minnesota, the debate about elliminating the cane ag would be like debating MN eliminating the early and alternate-restrictions we have for game hunt/fishing for the tribal communities in MN. It's not like shutting down the casino, surely that would eliminate jobs as well, but its like eliminating the no-limit walleye fishing they have every year.

[Loriandrandy]

Hey there MauiIntoxicated! I'm wondering if you have moved off Maui yet, and if you did, why did you leave?

I enjoyed reading this long thread!

[MitchTempo]

Originally Posted by Loriandrandy

Hey there MauiIntoxicated! I'm wondering if you have moved off Maui yet, and if you did, why did you leave?

I enjoyed reading this long thread!

He posted in another thread about moving back to MN. Looks like mostly the difference in price he was renting a cottage for 2300, and back in MN he could buy a place. Would definitely like to hear a what he enjoyed while on Maui type of thing though. We don't get to hear back from most once they move away you know.

[Green_Mountain]

Originally Posted by hawaiian by heart

@KauaiHiker

I believe the first step to any solution is to at least acknowledge there is an issue, instead of certain people living in denial because life for them is peachy keen.

That requires empathy as well as a world view that prefers evidence to a distorted belief system that everyone in the world just needs to "pull themselves up by their bootstraps".

It took only one trip to Hawaii as well as looking at real estate to feel some concern about the situation for native Hawaiians. It's much like a classic case of gentrification but worse because it's a confined island and people can't just easily move to a cheaper neighborhood 10 miles away. Even the cheap areas are expensive for most people. The biggest challenge is going to be for the newer generations who can't go out and find their own homes because they won't be able to afford them.

To some extent the "market will work it out", in the sense that labor will be needed on the island so there will have to be places where the people that provide that labor will live. But that will still leave many without. Hopefully the islands will see new industry or programs develop that allow the newer generations to continue to live on the islands.

[whtviper1]

Originally Posted by Green_Mountain

That requires empathy as well as a world view that prefers evidence to a distorted belief system that everyone in the world just needs to "pull themselves up by their bootstraps".

It took only one trip to Hawaii as well as looking at real estate to feel some concern about the situation for native Hawaiians. It's much like a classic case of gentrification but worse because it's a confined island and people can't just easily move to a cheaper neighborhood 10 miles away. Even the cheap areas are expensive for most people.

Concern for Native Hawaiians? They are among the most privileged in Hawaii. The pay a $1 per year lease for a residential lot. That's it - $1. If you can't afford $1, then you have issues. (Plus several years of property tax relief, etc). People think of Kailua as "wealthy", yet 20% of Kailua is Native Hawaiian, double the state average.

The empathy could be for hotel workers whose parents didn't push them hard enough to suceed or have enough self will to make something of themselves.