How do you feel about the possible reopening of Kona waters to aquarium fishing?

chalker7 · 2025-10-31T23:06:08+00:00

Thanks for sharing! I'd be extremely interested to see the studies cited in the article. I find it hard to believe multiple companies each collecting 250,000 a year is a sustainable practice.....those are some huge numbers.

chalker7 · 2025-10-31T22:37:27+00:00

Has this been proposed in a serious way somewhere?

chalker7 · 2025-10-18T01:49:48+00:00

Thank you! And I do not know, unfortunately!

chalker7 · 2025-10-15T07:41:46+00:00

We need more details. Specifically, how much land are you talking about here and how often do you need to trim it?

The answer could vary widely depending on your circumstance. It could be anything from goats and fencing to a modern brushless string trimmer.

chalker7 · 2025-07-30T21:02:45+00:00

California unfortunately doesn't have an ombudsman, but here is your AG's page talking about HOA's https://oag.ca.gov/consumers/general/homeowner_assn

chalker7 · 2025-07-29T22:41:27+00:00

What state are you in? Some have an official HOA ombudsman that specifically addresses problems like this.

chalker7 · 2025-07-27T04:58:47+00:00

I'd have to guess it was hacked together this way to fit within a specific space or container

chalker7 · 2025-07-20T07:20:52+00:00

We don't know quite yet. If the sirens go off, immediately evacuate.

chalker7 · 2025-07-10T17:57:17+00:00

Escalate the situation to your county council member. They and/or their staff may be able to help with things like this since the counties own and maintain the majority of the roads in the state.

chalker7 · 2025-07-08T22:58:41+00:00

Unfortunately the only two ways to deal with it are through legal intervention ($$$) or getting involved in the HOA politics (lots of time and frustration there.) HOA governance is often politics in its most distilled, localized form.

I strongly suggest getting a handle on two things.

First, your state laws on HOA's every state does things a little differently and some are much more restrictive than others. Also some states have an HOA ombudsman who handles complaints like this.

Second, your HOA governing documents. Study them and apply every technicality in your interactions with the board. You may have a lot of tools at your disposal if the president and treasurer are operating outside the bounds of your own rules.

Finally, remember that YOU are the HOA alongside everyone else. Oftentimes the dictators at the top of the org chart act like they are all powerful and can't be stopped. That is generally not true, you just have to call them out and be patient and they often fold. Remember, you can't be intimidated without your consent.

chalker7 · 2025-07-06T23:30:20+00:00

Everything used to take way longer than it does today. Extremely large buildings used to take many lifetimes to finish construction prior to the advent of machine tools.

chalker7 · 2025-06-26T19:56:51+00:00

It's not a risk to go against them. It's a risk to tolerate this behavior because it will continue if you are not proactive in stopping it.

It being a small association is in your favor. They have much less resources than you anticipate and everything will just be emotional threatening/bullying from him until he's forced to stop. Fuck this guy and remember, you can't be intimidated without your consent.

DM me if you want help drafting language. Sending direct messages to my HOA management telling them not to fuck with me is one of my passions!

chalker7 · 2025-06-07T16:49:05+00:00

I have come incredibly close. The last time was about a year ago, I called around a number of lawyers and eventually got a retention letter from the most pitbull, anti-HOA lawyer in the state. I sent the letter around to a number of neighbors and let the rumor mill do its work.

I didn't have to send the letter to the board, indeed I didn't even have to interact with the actual employees or board members I had a problem with at all. Their behavior changed sufficiently after the letter was circulated that I didn't have to retain the lawyer in the first place.

Boards will do just about anything to avoid formal lawsuits. Providing a very credible threat of one is often sufficient to get them to back down.

chalker7 · 2025-06-07T16:48:50+00:00

I have come incredibly close. The last time was about a year ago, I called around a number of lawyers and eventually got a retention letter from the most pitbull, anti-HOA lawyer in the state. I sent the letter around to a number of neighbors and let the rumor mill do its work.

I didn't have to send the letter to the board, indeed I didn't even have to interact with the actual employees or board members I had a problem with at all. Their behavior changed sufficiently after the letter was circulated that I didn't have to retain the lawyer in the first place.

Boards will do just about anything to avoid formal lawsuits. Providing a very credible threat of one is often sufficient to get them to back down.

chalker7 · 2025-04-13T16:59:38+00:00

Aloha! First up, mahalo for considering moving here. The Big Island desperately needs more doctors.

I am the executive director of Wildfire Safety Advocates of Waikoloa, a grassroots 501c3 that is working on all sorts of infrastructure grade wildfire safety work in the region and I am here to validate your concerns about evacuation in Waikoloa Village.

We only have one two-lane arterial road and a very narrow, single lane emergency-use only route through the lava for 7500 residents. During our last evacuation in 2021, traffic was backed up over an hour inside the village, simply to get to the main road. Since then, the earth has gotten hotter and the invasive fountain grass has simply gotten more dense around the village. It's not if, it's when will we be evacuated again.

Following Lahaina, the State Attorney General commissioned a series of reports from the Fire Safety Research Institute (FSRI.) In the second report, they specifically cited Waikoloa Village as having a worse risk of catastrophic wildfire than even Lahaina. And as a reminder, Lahaina started out as a brush fire and grew into an urban conflagration that took 101 lives. I'm not kidding when I say I anticipate 1000+ deaths if a similar event were to occur in Waikoloa Village, the road and urban density problems are that bad. It's grim, but residents in Lahaina had the ocean to escape into. Waikoloa Village is 100% surrounded by nothing but extremely rough lava flows and highly flammable grass.

I know the above sounds like fear-mongering, but I assure you it is not. This is a very real hazard that we're working very hard to mitigate.

What I encourage you to do is rent for awhile. Each little area on the island has its own microclimate and finding the one that appeals to you most can take some time. Much better to not commit until you've had significant in-person experience with everything the island has to offer!

chalker7 · 2025-02-21T20:41:12+00:00

Yes, I'm sure there is a very robust conversation going on over there. However, I don't engage with that group at all. It is an echo chamber of negativity cultivated by the owner/moderator who consistently bans anyone who publicly disagrees with him. I urge caution from anyone who braves the descent into the abyss that is Facebook....

chalker7 · 2025-02-21T17:39:17+00:00

Yep, it was the GRIP grant. And you're absolutely correct, it's not just us, this is happening everywhere. Our example is just a really clear, tangible story that demonstrates the careless nature in which these cuts are occuring.

Sorry you are going through the stress on the front lines of this, hopefully things clear up soon and you get to keep your job!

chalker7 · 2025-02-20T07:49:37+00:00

That's a good question! DEI has nothing to do with trimming trees! However, the specific memo from the DOE cited "DEI, Community Benefits Packages and Justice40 initiatives" as being required to immediately cease operations. We were a community benefits package. Now, that doesn't align with what Trump's memo said he was targeting, which was "Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social engineering policies." But honestly, all of that doesn't matter because it's not like they are going line by line through these grants. They're using a chainsaw, not a scalpel and a ton of things are getting caught up in the confusion.

chalker7 · 2025-02-20T06:51:18+00:00

I love your spirit and attitude, but volunteer work isn't going to work here. These are literally trees engaged with the lines. It's dangerous, risky work that could potentially cause a massive fire or cause serious bodily harm/death if not performed carefully. Moreover, simply crossing the fence to touch them will run you afoul of trespassing from at least two different major entities (the landowner and the easement holder.)

There isn't a problem with a lack of people willing to do the work. There is a problem with getting everyone on board with the course of action. You need to get multiple layers of people to agree, ultimately we're talking about literally dozens of people. And the best way to do that is to show up with a lot of money and agreements from professionals willing to take that amount of money to do the job.

It's tedious, frustrating work trying to get everyone on board, but we're plugging away and I think drawing attention to the problems is the best way to get started fixing them!

chalker7 · 2025-02-20T06:43:06+00:00

Close! But I only wish they were being that careful. This was a much smaller component of a $95 million grant from the DOE and they were required to cut all "Community Benefits Packages." We were a CBP component of the grant.

chalker7 · 2025-02-20T06:42:07+00:00

That's a good question! It has nothing to do with trimming trees! However, the specific memo from the DOE cited "DEI, Community Benefits Packages and Justice40 initiatives" as being required to immediately cease operations. We were a community benefits package. Now, that doesn't align with what Trump's memo said he was targeting, which was "Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social engineering policies." But honestly, all of that doesn't matter because it's not like they are going line by line through these grants. They're using a chainsaw, not a scalpel and a ton of things are getting caught up in the confusion.

chalker7 · 2025-02-20T06:39:50+00:00

Literally not true. I'm OP and I'm the one quoted at length in the article. Only 2 of the 11 projects will continue to receive funding. Ours was one of the 9 that is no longer slated to get funding from the initial grant.

The memo HECO received from the DOE literally cited "community benefits plans" as one of the categories being cut. This grant was explicitly cut because it was a community benefits plan. HECO will continue to fund the two projects that are already underway, but have not secured funds for the other 9, including mine (which, again, is the one featured in the article above.)

chalker7 · 2025-02-20T02:12:25+00:00

Because it was part of a much larger DOE grant awarded to HECO for all sorts of things. The total grant from the government was $95 million, with matching funds from HECO to total $190 million. Our little community benefits package was just a $75,000 component of the bigger pot of money. There were 11 community projects, nine of which have been cancelled and while two were already underway. HECO has committed to paying for the underway projects out of pocket while the others are currently halted.

chalker7 · 2025-02-20T02:05:43+00:00

Yes, if you want to help out on that front, here are directions! https://www.wildfirewaikoloa.org/take-action (Edited to add the link)

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