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Petroglyphs at the site of Hāwea heiau last year. - Photo courtesy Van James |
By Lisa Asato / Ka Wai Ola Loa
The first time Jeannine Johnson visited the site of Hāwea heiau, it was an eye-opening experience. "To my untrained eye, it just looked like there was nothing there," said Johnson, a Native Hawaiian and member of Livable Hawai'i Kai Hui, an East O'ahu community group that focuses on stewardship. "It was just trees and rocks and dirt." But, she said, she was in the company of archeologists, who explained the significance of the features around her. "And when you can touch and feel, you can feel the mana from the stones and … I still don't know how to describe it, but my heart was very heavy when I was there. It was difficult to breathe. It was a place that I knew held great sacredness."
Johnson calls recent construction work at the site, which was halted by the city for lack of permit, a desecration. She said it's as if someone "took a bulldozer and bulldozed my church."
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The heiau platform as it appeared last year. - Photo courtesy Van James |
The construction work – which community members say has destroyed several petroglyphs, damaged a platform and pushed debris into a wetland where endangered 'alae 'ula birds live – has sparked inquiries by the State Historic Preservation Division, which approved a preservation plan for the site, and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, which was concerned that it hadn't been consulted in the process as required by law and Hawai'i Administrative Rules.
"Whenever there are properties of significance to ethnic groups, but more specifically to us as Native Hawaiians, then the Office of Hawaiian Affairs shall be consulted in these kinds of things, whenever people are applying for permits or any land usages," said Jerome Yasuhara of OHA's Native, Rights, Land and Culture Hale. He said the landowner is supposed to consult with OHA, but that SHPD should ensure that that occurs. "They're supposed to actively enforce the rules," he said.
Yasuhara described the Hāwea heiau site as a wahi kapu, a sacred place with "strong cultural connection to Kūkaniloko," the ali'i birthing site. "They're basically inextricably intertwined … cultural sites," he said.
The Hāwea heiau was among at least 15 heiau that lined the area of Maunalua Bay, and although stories differ, its name is traced to the Hāwea drum, which was brought to Hawai'i from Tahiti by La'amaikahiki.
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Debris is strewn over a platform as a result of the halted construction work, says East Honolulu historian Chris Cramer. - Photo: Lisa Asato |
Meanwhile, the nonprofit behind the construction said while it erred in not having the proper permit, there is no heiau at the site and that the community has not provided any archeological studies of its own to refute the approved preservation plan. Mike Klein, executive director of the property owner, the nonprofit Hawai'i Intergenerational Community Development Association, pointed to the preservation plan approved by SHPD. He said it calls only for building a wall and buffer zone to protect about 11 petroglyphs. Still, the nonprofit association feels the measures meant to protect the petroglyphs are inadequate and the nonprofit plans to propose stiffer protections to SHPD for approval, he said.
The proposal will "create a better protection for the petroglyphs yet still allow access to look at them. We have not sent that proposal into the DLNR (state Department of Land and Natural Resources) at this time," he said, adding, "We're looking at spending more money than necessary trying to protect the Hawaiian resource."
The approved preservation plan is posted on SHPD's web site, hawaii.gov/dlnr/hpd/hpgrtg.htm, under the link "Preservation Plan for Hale Ali'i Development."
Klein said his company is community-minded, having developed a senior apartments building nearby and the 40-unit Nānākuli Senior Apartments on the Leeward Coast, which charges tenants rent equal to one-third of their income. "Our organization supports Hawaiians in a big way," he said. "We support the preservation plan, and we hope to exceed the preservation plan, provided we get approval from DLNR Historic Preservation Division."
Ann Marie Kirk, a member of the community group Livable Hawai'i Kai Hui, said she and others discovered the construction work and damage in early June and "were shocked to see the bulldozing had taken place … where we as a community were led to believe (was going) to be preserved." She said they called the City and County of Honolulu and "it became clear the bulldozing was going on without permits."
Kirk became visibly upset during a subsequent site visit on Father's Day, in which she and a small group discovered that vandals apparently destroyed a petroglyph of a piko hole high atop a rock outcropping. "This is bad, this is like criminal, man," she said.
Community historian Chris Cramer noted that even a modern vandalism was scraped away. "Someone came with a sander or some type of instrument and sanded it off. You can see the cuts, they're all fresh," he said, adding that the vandalism occurred in the week before Father's Day. "Why would someone want to destroy something so old," he asked.
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Ann Marie Kirk, her brother Jim Kirk, and Chris Cramer, in foreground, discover a petroglyph that had been recently vandalized at the site. - Photo: Lisa Asato |
Kirk said SHPD has said Hāwea heiau is destroyed, but she described that as a misconception because the site itself is sacred – not just the walls and the petroglyphs but the land itself.
In an email, SHPD Administrator Pua Aiu said: "SHPD cannot speak to the sacredness of the site for modern practitioners. However, I think there is a misperception that because SHPD staff and other archeologists have not been able to locate the Hāwea heiau, that the site being preserved is not significant. This is not true. The petroglyph field and house site (and data recovery suggest that there are some other things) at site 2900 are extremely important, and we believe they are part of the Hāwea heiau complex. A petroglyph field in and of itself is extremely significant and worth preserving. It's unfortunate that much debate has been about whether or not a heiau was damaged, when in fact a significant site was breached."
Kirk and Cramer sent a letter to Aiu on July 9, calling for a new preservation plan to be drafted by SHPD "with the voice of cultural experts, archeologists, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, community members and other interested parties" to make sure that the heiau and its associated archeological sites be "preserved properly."
In an interview, Kirk said the community had been requesting a preservation plan for the site from SHPD since 2007 and received it days before construction started. "Had we seen this preservation plan that was given to the developer, we would have halted it and said this is unacceptable," she said. "This is the issue that SHPD has not done its due diligence in protecting Hāwea heiau. It only protects the platform" when it should protect the whole site, including walls, petroglyphs, stones arranged in a circle and other archeological features hidden under kiawe.
"What was the criteria to decide what (cultural sites) should be saved and shouldn't be saved?" she asked.
Aiu said no cultural assessment was done on the site, which is triggered only when an environmental assessment or environmental impact assessment needed to be done. Because a cultural impact assessment was not triggered, "we viewed the site in terms of the archeology that is either there or not there," Aiu said.
The area is planned as a private park in conjunction with an adjacent project by 21st Century Homes, the for-profit arm of Hawai'i Intergenerational Community Development Association. The developer's plans to build luxury condominiums on the parcel, which is near O'ahu Country Club and Costco, has stalled over a height variance.
Kirk and Cramer said it's not too late for the developer to do the right thing and preserve the site.
Kirk said she would like to see the area preserved in as much a natural state as possible and serve as a "cultural resource for the community."
"The developer has a great opportunity to give something back to the community," she said.
Developers Who Threaten Our IslandsWorst 6 of '09:
Sick Developers
By: Sick Developers
1.Tari Sri Quek Leng Chan- Owner of Guoco Leisure/ Molokai Ranch. Cut water and sewer to residents and planned to build 200 mansions even though farmers in the area have no water.
Quek Leng Chan
Net Worth $2.4 billion Age 67 Marital Status Married, 3 children Head of conglomerate Hong Leong Group Malaysia gets big part of fortune from stake in its Guoco Group, whose stock slipped 20% in the past year. In June 2007 stepped in as executive chairman of GuocoLeisure. Upped stake in U.K. casino and online gaming company Rank Group, fueling speculation that he may bid for it.
2. Joe Brescia- Kauai developer building over burials for spec houses.
3. Henry Sheldon-Haseko Hawaii attempting to destroy the best limu area on the island in Ewa for a luxury marina.
4. Mike Klein-Bulldozing into Hawea Heiau-Hawaii Kai.
5. Oaktree Capital- Trying to subdivide 700 acres of ag and culturally important lands for their hotel on the North Shore.
6. Eric Morrison/Jereremiah Henderson-Continental Pacific of Florida trying to force elderly residents into going along with their plans for mansions on Kahuku beach or they will lose their homes.
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