Friends of Kewalo Invites the Public to its Information Gathering Potluck BBQ

Sunday, February 2nd, 2025 11 am – 3 pm

News Release from Friends of Kewalo

(Honolulu, Hawaii) Friends of Kewalo invites the public to it Information Gathering Potluck BBQ on Sunday, February 2nd , 2025 from 11 am to 3 pm.

Hundreds of Kewalo Basin Parkgoers and community members will gather to learn more about Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA)’s plans to change the law that will allow residential development up to 400 ft tall in Kaka’ako Makai.

The event will include guest speakers (including Kaka’ako area legislators), visual displays, open discussion, and complimentary hamburgers and hotdogs.

OHA had their opportunity to present to the community their plans for Kaka’ako Makai. We will be hosting this event to educate the community and people as well.

The issue: protecting open spaces for Hawaii’s future generations by preserving the law that bans residential development in Kaka’ako Makai.  A 2006 Hawaii State Law protects the land from residential development. Friends of Kewalo, a 501 (c)(3) grassroots non-profit, along with partner community organizations lobbied for the passage of the law.

OHA has introduced 3 bills SB534, HB605, and SB211 this legislative session. 

“The Kaka‘ako Makai area has a lot of complex environmental concerns due to its history as a garbage incinerator and dump site. The fact that the EPA has labeled it a ‘Brownfield’ already indicates potential contamination. Without a proper Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), it’s hard to assess the long-term risks that development might pose to both the local environment and community health,” says Friends of Kewalos Board Member, Darren Tanaka.

For full petition, see https://www.change.org/p/protect-open-spaces-for-future-generations?source_location=tag

Friends of Kewalo is a non-profit organization formed by and comprised of recreational users of the Kewalo Basin Park “Kewalos” area. Its’ mission is to Protect, Preserve, and Malama Kewalo Basin Park and the surrounding shoreline and ocean, to ensure that the recreational user will continue to have access and the ability to enjoy the area for future generations to come.

For more information visit www.friendsofkewalos.org.

###

SB534: Text, Status (HOU deferred until 2-4-25)

HB605: Text, Status (Triple referred.)

SB211: Text, Status (Six referrals!)