SOURCE: LINDA HARMON harmonl001@hawaii.rr.com
POSTED: 20 JANUARY 2008 - 6:30pm HST
Tomorrow it might begin!
image above: View east on Koloa Road towardssome of the threatened Monkeypod trees.
Photo by Juan Wilson
Site work to start on Koloa Shops Monday Come out tomorrow morning at 6:30am to help save the trees! I just received a call from Gay Young, one in a phone tree for Koloa Save the Tree Group and member of Outdoor Circle Group alerting us to the construction team coming in tomorrow to put up a dust fence and maybe do some prunning. My friend who does prunning for a living told me that once they start the chain saws and say they want to take the trees down they will come down rapidly. The call put out by Koloa Save the Trees is for everyone able to go there to be there at the site in old koloa town at 6:30am tomorrow morning, January 21. Call or and email your friends and neighbors regarding the matter. |
SOURCE: JUAN WILSON juanwilson@mac.com
POSTED: 9 JANUARY 2008 - 4:30pm HST
Message from The Nelson Companies Inc.
image above: A plaza proudly featured on the Nelson Companies website as an example of their work
by Juan Wilson on 9 January 2008 The Knudsen Trust has planned the development of a shopping plaza in Old Koloa Town, which will result in razing of over two dozen large, old Monkeypod trees. Community members have been involved in a vigil protesting this action. Linda Harmon, one of the activists trying to save the Koloa monkeypods made a personal call to the developer The Nelson Company Incorporated. She was unable to reach David Nelson but did get through to a woman in charge of public relations for the firm. In Linda's account: "I just got in touch with Nicole, the marketing specialist of the Nelson Companies Inc. I told her who I was and where I lived and said basically that I knew she was an expert at her job of marketing and would therefore realize the value of working with the community to preserve its rich tree heritage, how it would excite the community if the developer would work with the county to change the design of the mall to preserve most of the trees. She thanked me for calling and said she had no comment at this time. Call 248-539-9020 ext.316 to reach her extension." It is instructive to look at the NelsonsCompany's website. It is divided between property management and development. On the development side we are treated to examples of Nelson work. http://www.nelsoncos.com/index2.shtml
There are several shots of this pathetic project made of Dryvit (vinyl paint over fiberglass cloth over beadfoam over studs). It's made to last a decade.
Here's another angle on the Remax realty franchise. I wonder if they are in business anymore. This paved over site was not the only project Nelson was proud to display.
Here is an afternoon view of the plaza with a CVS drugstore. Just look at the insensitively executed landscaping. Is this the work of anyone capable of good site design, landscaping and planning on the Garden Island in the middle of the tropics? I think not. The real agenda of this company is on their website but buried in code.
Under "New Developments" the Nelson website lists "The Shops at Koloa Town". There they illustrate how to make a project look good even if it is a dog. That is what renderings are for. Nelson makes it look like they are saving the trees on the site while actually planning to cut them down. The plan shows almost every monkeypod tree they have marked for destruction still standing in the middle of the central parking lot. This is an architectural lie. It might be true in fifty years if the owner plants and maintains new trees i the middle of the blacktop parking lot, but it is not what will be built by the developer. The tree planting plan dated 12/28/07 provided by the developer show the bulk of these trees down. See Monkeypod Count for details.
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Here is a more substantial development by comparison. This appears to be faced with brick with some metal roofing. This may be passible as architecture for a mainland plaza in the middle of nowhere. But here?
We are doing it again! Come be a part of our 12 hour vigil! David Nelson, the Michigan developer of the Koloa Marketplace is scheduled to be on Kauai on Monday, January 7th. This is a possible date for the cutting of the monkeypod trees on the site. A vigil is scheduled for that day: WHEN: MESSAGE: CONTACT: REACH OUT TO: OWNER Stacey Wong - trustee Susie Wojtowicz - lease administrator Nelson Development |
see also:
Island Breath: Koloa Trees = Koloa Town 1/2/08
Island Breath: Short count on tree canopy 12/31/07
Island Breath: Candlelight Vigil for trees 12/29/07
Island Breath: Monkeypod S.O.S. 12/27/07
Island Breath: Monkeypod Threes Threatened 12/18/07
Island Breath: Koloa Village Plaza Plan 8/9/06
Island Breath: Koloa-Poipu Moratorium 7/23/06
Island Breath: KCC Cuts beloved Monkrypods 5/31/06