Neighborhoods for young families (Kailua: houses, school, university)

[pj737]

Originally Posted by whtviper1

Hmmm, 1 incident the past 3 years the Pali closed from a tree in the well publicized incident. And by the way, it affected mostly town bound traffic in the afternoon, which is the reverse commute.

I have 3 ways to town via tunnels, Hawaii Kai has 1 when there is an accident - well, I guess 2 if you take Kalanianaole the long way, then that gives Kailua 4 ways out. (But the other 3 faster)

Try driving to Hawaii Kai from downtown in the evening rush from town. Yikes.

1 incident in 3 years? Oh c'mon viper. You've completely lost all your marbles. That is so grossly untrue it's not even funny. Anyone that lives in Kailua can attest to the consistent closures (one lane and full hwy closures) of the Pali. Lane and full closures are much, much MUCH more common than that on Kal Hwy. In fact I can't even remember once that they shut the entire Kal Hwy down except for the two tsunami warnings we had (where ALL coastal roads were shut down) and in 1987 with the huge New Year's Eve flood. If there is an emergency road repair, huge accident or death due to accident, the lanes are contra-flowed... something they never do on the Pali because of the nearly contiguous median barrier that runs the entire length of the highway. Maybe if you want better population control in your home community, you'd be better served to tell the truth on these forums. Wouldn't that benefit you more anyway? You should also let the OP know that if you take any of the alternative routes (as you stated) you will be stuck in heavy traffic on the H-1 coming back towards the east because of the miles and miles of necessary backtracking SPECIFICALLY in the most congested corridor of Oahu. Nobody moves to Kailua for the short commutes and reduced travel time.

[hotzcatz]

Personally, I'd much rather drive into town from Kailua than Hawaii Kai. I'm guessing it would be a bit of a shorter time frame, but the experience from Kailua to downtown is much nicer than from Hawaii Kai to downtown. However, it's better not to drive at all.

Of all the places mentioned on the leeward side, Manoa probably has the most "sense of place", although they are heavily Asian oriented. In any case, it will take a couple years before local folks warm up to transplants just because of the expectation of them leaving in a year or two. However, having kids helps, you'll be able to meet more folks who also have kids.

Why hasn't Kaimuki been mentioned? That's next door to Manoa and very close to the U of H area (wasn't that where he was going to be working?) Has it's own sense of community and has houses instead of apartments. Kaimuki connects to the back of the University area by back roads so he'd never have to do the highway crawl at all to get to work. But I could be confusing the OP with someone else who was planning on working in Manoa, I'm going to go get more coffee now.

[hawaiian by heart]

@pj737

Get used to it, viper does that to every new person, especially locals. Kind of like a puppy marking his territory, but a little rolled up newspaper should do the trick. Hes kinda like the all knowing wizard of oz in CDF Hawai'i.

[pj737]

Originally Posted by hawaiian by heart

@pj737

Get used to it, viper does that to every new person, especially locals. Kind of like a puppy marking his territory, but a little rolled up newspaper should do the trick. Hes kinda like the all knowing wizard of oz in CDF Hawai'i.

He really wants the OP to move to his neighborhood because they make enough money to afford a $1.3M house. They won't drag down their property values and rents like all the poor middle class people do.

Every other sub 6-figure vagrant would get the whole "keep off our island you peons" spiel.

It's sad, actually.

[pj737]

viper, here is another "once-every-3-year" closure for Pali -

Honolulu-bound Pali Highway to close Sunday

By Star-Advertiser staff

POSTED: 04:25 p.m. HST, May 31, 2014

Motorists heading to town from Windward Oahu will encounter a closed Pali Highway for much of Sunday, and they should expect delays and seek alternate routes, state transportation officials said.

The Honolulu-bound Pali will be closed 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday so that crews can make emergency repairs to tunnel light fixtures, according to the state Department of Transportation.

The town-bound closure will take place between Kamehameha Highway and Waokanaka Street. Motorists are encouraged to use the H-3 Freeway or Likelike Highway as alternate routes.

You can't even find this article in this morning's paper or online edition... BECAUSE IT'S NOT NEWS.

LOL

[carbonez]

coastalslacker,

I live in Niu Valley and have 5 kids. I am haole and transplanted from the Midwest 3 years ago. I commute almost to the UH area and I am at my desk at 7am. It will take approx 12 minute commute around 7am when school is out. Could push 17 minutes when school is in. Niu valley is a great area to raise a family and people are very welcoming if you embrace the culture and respect other people. I will say however there are typically never any houses for sale in Niu Valley. I think currently there is one in the entire valley and that makes for high prices for what you get. Aina Haina would have more selection. I would also consider Kuliouou.

[coastalslacker]

Thanks to everyone for their replies. We are going house hunting next week and have watched with growing despair as five out of the top 10 houses on our "possible" list have been snapped up in the last couple of days.......

Still so many intriguing options in some very different neighborhoods. Should be.....fun?

[kakers]

Houses go FAST here. There will be new ones that will come available, but the quickness that houses go for (whether renting or buying) means there's just not the luxury to wait and see what else there is, you just have to jump on one you like. What we did was we looked at a few first, got a feel for what we were looking for and the area we wanted so then the next time one came up we knew we'd like we jumped on it ASAP.

~Katy

[lost_traveler1]

me thoughts in red

Originally Posted by coastalslacker

1. The commute. Aina Haina looks to be about 5 miles closer to downtown - is this significant (in your opinion). Yes I'd look at Aina Haina vs. deeper into HK. The drive time is affected by the amount of traffic lights the farther into HK you have to go.

Manoa commute time clearly is better, you avoid the University traffic but there is only one lane going in and one lane going out.

I don't know how you Kailiua people can enjoy the constant braking and weaving down the Pali, it irritates me.


2. Bikable? Do people bike in from Hawaii Kai? Is it reasonably safe? Reasonably. Many sport cyclists but not sure about commuting for work since once you get out of Kalanianaole the side streets are not that bike friendly.

3. Sense of community. Yes Hawaii Kai does have sense of community even better with engaging in more activities with your young children. The communities related to sports (soccer, baseball, basketball) are grouped with people from around Aina Koa thru Kuliouou as one association, and anything from Kuliouou to interior HK would be the other.

Manoa also has a pretty good community but I don't know much of the details except most families that live there are more associated with their children's private school groups.

4. What is the area like just East of the Honolulu zoo? Not the fancy neighborhood between Diamond Head and kapiolani Park, but just north of that. That tiny area is the goldmine of "town" living to me. Right along Monsarrat Ave, would be ideal in my view because of the close proximity to the kapiolani park. They have a ton of events like the okinawan and ukulele festival held there not to mention the open air concerts. There is a dog park there too. The beaches have less tourists on that side and you can always venture into Waikiki to play pretend tourists. Once you get further up towards kapahulu though the homes there do have 3~4 generations of people living in cramped tiny homes with 4 -5 cars per property, stay away from house hunting there but kapahulu does have great places for dining. Propbably doesn't have much of a community though.

5. How much does it rain in Manoa? Is it always cloudy? Is there a significant difference between Upper and Lowe Manoa? Yes has probably the most amount of clouds second to Kailua. Lots of mosquitoes.

Any assistance is certainly appreciated. It'll all work out, but the more info we have to synthesize, the better. We're going house hunting in a couple weeks.

Cheers.

[whtviper1]

Of course, one cannot walk to this in Hawaii Kai (taken, 3:05 pm, 6/8). Note how cloudy it is.