Farewell - First Stop

Another long-time Kailua store is going out of business -- this is truly heart-breaking.

We shall say farewell to First Stop Convenience Store.  They have been around for 26 years!

http://www.kitv.com/money/25164449/detail.html

When does this trend stop?

Do we really want to lose the character and charm of Kailua?

Even if you've already done so, please consider calling, writing or emailing Kaneohe Ranch, and your elected officials, etc. to express your disapproval and unhappiness surrounding these recent events (all contact information is listed on this blog site), .

This trend will continue unless, as a community, we persevere in expressing our deepest concern for the health and well-being of our Kailua -- Please voice your sentiment!

more FACTS

The Kailua community IS NOT OKAY that a 130,000 sq. ft. big-box store is wanting to build in Kailua!! If this happens, whether you've been raised here, whether you've raised your children here, or whether you've simply chosen to make this community your 'home',  the Kailua we remember so fondly with its 'small town' sense of place will be lost forever ...

• to traffic congestion (we have NO INFRASTRUCTURE to sustain the 20% projected increase in traffic!) 
• to the fast-paced 'city life'
• to MORE 52-seater tourist buses entering our "bedroom community" - - currently, Kailua receives 4 buses/day departing Waikiki @ 9:30am, 11am, 12:30pm and 4pm ...  includes 1-1/2 hour tourist shopping spree & Kailua Beach (these large motorcoach buses traverse our small rural streets to Kailua Beach for a 15-minute stop)  
• to the "mini-Waikiki" evolving NOW right before our eyes!
• to LARGE corporations & land-owners working under the radar, w/o accountability to the community, to push their for-profit agenda

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!

Star Advertiser - letter to editor

September 3, 2010

Kailua doesn't need a Target

I have a question for Mitch D'Olier in regard to the shopping convenience for Kailua residents if Target comes to town ("Name in the News," Star-Advertiser, Aug. 27). He says Target will make it possible for us to find everything we need there, like kitchenware, office products and kids' clothes.

Well, what about Macy's, just a half block from the proposed Target site? I can find a great selection of kitchen and housewares there, and also at Hardware Hawaii, even at Longs. Macy's has kids' clothes. And for office products, I would go to the professionals in Honolulu anyway -- Fisher Hawaii. Small stuff I can already find at Don Quijote or Longs.

Mollie Foti
Kailua

Star Advertiser - letter to editor

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Kailua worries predate Target

Star-Advertiser writer Vicki Viotti asks Mitch D'Olier, president and CEO of Kaneohe Ranch, "What was the threshold that Target crossed" that resulted in community opposition. He answers, "I'd love to know" (Star-Advertiser, Aug. 27).

We answer as current residents of Kailua where our family has lived continuously since 1929, and as participants in the 2003 survey and the 2004 community planning process.

From our perspective, the threshold was crossed and the tipping point reached before Target even entered the picture. In the last five years, Kaneohe Ranch has developed a new Longs and parking garage; Pier 1 and California Pizza Kitchen; the current construction of a 32,000-square-foot Whole Foods Market plus 8,000 square feet of retail space; and 151 Hekili Street -- 19,000 square feet of retail and office space at one of the busiest intersections in Kailua across from the proposed Target.

We call on Kaneohe Ranch to take a time out and commission an independent assessment of the impacts of its redevelopment on the quality of life in Kailua and the community values defined in the 2004 Community Plan. Because, as he notes, "the real customers are Kailua residents."

Barbara Pope and Deborah Pope
Kailua

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