Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Lahaina Is Rising Slowly
Hawaii Business Magazine ^ | 7/1/25 | Cynthia Wessendorf

Posted on 07/13/2025 2:28:02 PM PDT by DallasBiff

Lahaina – On Maui’s bustling west side, life has returned to normal. Traffic is dense between Lahaina and Kapalua, with people flocking to hotels and businesses. The parking lot of the renovated Lahaina Cannery, about a mile north of the ruined harbor, is jammed with cars. In the hills mauka of the highway that hugs Maui’s leeward coast, new homes are rising on empty pockets of land.

But nothing is really normal here. Nearly two years after wildfires destroyed Lahaina’s central historic and commercial district and leveled neighborhoods stretching into the foothills of the West Maui Mountains, residents still struggle to find stable ground.

They’ve endured long months moving from couches to hotels to rentals while hanging on to work, scrambling to find child care and plowing through reams of applications for assistance and reimbursement. Through it all, the terrible memories of Aug. 8, 2023, still haunt the survivors.

(Excerpt) Read more at hawaiibusiness.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Chit/Chat
KEYWORDS: 2023; 202308; 20230808; cynthiawessendorf; fires; hawaii; lahaina; maui
Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't the last two paragraphs of the above in direct contrast to the first paragraph.

Liberal writers in force.

RIP to the victims of the Maui fires and prayers to their families

1 posted on 07/13/2025 2:28:02 PM PDT by DallasBiff
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: DallasBiff

Deep blue. Will those who lost everything demand answers? The guy who wouldn’t release the water. Does he still have his testicles?

A different brand of people will be inhabiting the place-methinks.


2 posted on 07/13/2025 2:35:01 PM PDT by DIRTYSECRET
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DallasBiff

Are they allowing the displaced to rebuild their housing in the exact same area?


3 posted on 07/13/2025 2:37:04 PM PDT by Jane Long (Jesus is Lord!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DallasBiff

Someone on FR advised me that Hawaii has a law, concerning property taxes, that they could only go up so much. Similar to Propoaition 13 in California.

It appears that it’s a law that prevents county commissioner and state legislature thieves from taxing residents out of their homes to try and replace them with folks that have more money or make room for private equity.

I pretty sure there’s video of Hawaiians complaining to the people they voted for trying to run them out of their homes.

So, I wonder what people are going to be paying if they’re allowed to rebuild.

Same goes for the folks in California. The state has been trying to repeal Prop13 for years but the people won’t let them. Explains why they buckle & dime homeowners if they want a tool shed in the backyard.

Shame that the aforementioned thieves in Florida, SC, Georgia, Tennessee, Texas, Idaho, Montana don’t enact a similar law to protect the folks that have been living there for a long, long time.

Let the liberal migrants pay for everything.

Liberals took over Boise because a lot of folks couldn’t afford to live there anymore.


4 posted on 07/13/2025 2:42:56 PM PDT by qaz123
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: qaz123

<>Shame that the aforementioned thieves in Florida<>

FL? What are you talking about?


5 posted on 07/13/2025 3:03:08 PM PDT by Jacquerie (ArticleVBlog.com)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: DallasBiff

If only Brandon had helped them. They’d be so much farther along. It’s awful. :-(


6 posted on 07/13/2025 3:19:13 PM PDT by VictoryGal (Never give up, never surrender!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Jacquerie

Are you saying that property taxes in Florida are low? Insurance?

Liberals have been migrating to all the decent states because they screwed up the ones they’re fleeing from.

Maybe, you’ll bring up how many Republicans are registered in Florida now. Awesome.

If the clown in NYC actually wins, you’ll watch squadrons of WallSt/Hedge liberals, in their private jets landing all over South Florida. Bringing all their BS with them


7 posted on 07/13/2025 3:30:14 PM PDT by qaz123
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: qaz123

<>Shame that the aforementioned thieves in Florida . . . don’t enact a similar law to protect the folks that have been living there for a long, long time.<>

Florida protects its long, long time homesteaders from high property taxes.


8 posted on 07/13/2025 3:54:16 PM PDT by Jacquerie (ArticleVBlog.com)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: DallasBiff
It doesn't go well for disaster victims when there's a Democrat President and a Democrat governor.

Kristi Noem Says 1 in 6 Maui Fire Survivors Had to Trade Sexual Favors for Basic Supplies to Survive 1:43 The Liberty Daily on Rumble

9 posted on 07/13/2025 4:48:56 PM PDT by TigersEye (The Golden Age of MAGA is upon us!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DallasBiff

I almost started a business in the Lahaina Cannery. But they didn’t have 3 phase power.

Anyone who has ever been there with any experience in fire prevention knows it was a doomed city. One, the whole island is ruled by democrat Hawaiians. Most building are 100 year old slat board construction that was never meant to last long. The homeless campers up wing always had campfires get out of hand. It is on the leeward side so no wind and no rain. The county of Mauai gave money to homeless and druggies and ignored brush for decades.

Knowing the locals you can bet they will vote for the same people to fun the recovery. They should be lucky if a developer builds a resort as they actually plan for these events and don’t want their resorts burning to the ground.


10 posted on 07/13/2025 5:31:14 PM PDT by Organic Panic (Democrats. Memories as short as Joe Biden's eyes.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DallasBiff

I was there in Feb, and Lahaina was still closed off to traffic. The Cannery isn’t “Lahaina”. The rest of the Island is open for business, but it will be a long time before Lahaina is back. T


11 posted on 07/13/2025 5:34:26 PM PDT by ETCM (“There is no security, no safety, in the appeasement of evil.” — Ronald Reagan)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Jacquerie

Have their taxes gone up?

Have county commissioners made the determination that their homes have gone up in value by an insane amount and their taxes went up with up, as well


12 posted on 07/13/2025 6:15:50 PM PDT by qaz123
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: DallasBiff

How to replace a population with just one match.


13 posted on 07/13/2025 7:30:04 PM PDT by fella ("As it was before Noah so shall it be again," )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DallasBiff

I’m so sad that the Pioneer Inn and the Baldwin House were destroyed. They has have such an interesting history.


14 posted on 07/13/2025 8:26:54 PM PDT by MayflowerMadam (It's hard not to celebrate the fall of bad people. - Bongino)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson