Kauai eviction case could use some aloha

The Dalai Lama talked about "Advancing Peace through the Power of Aloha" during his recent visit. What a wonderful opportunity for all of us to look deeply at how to become more compassionate and peaceful human beings.

As the Dalai Lama said, aloha is wonderful, implementation is harder. In introducing the Dalai Lama, Kelvin Taketa, chief executive of the Hawaii Community Foundation, said peace built on aloha takes action and conscious effort — a willingness "to meet our most intractable challenges head on, with mutual respect for differences and the grace to find common ground."

The best way to begin is with issues facing us today. On Kauai, one searing issue is Grove Farm Co.’s ongoing eviction of eight longtime residents/tenants at Koloa Camp, to make way for 50 fee-simple houses.

The tenants being evicted include the daughter of a Koloa Plantation irrigation supervisor; a Vietnam veteran and Native Hawaiian who sailed with Nainoa Thompson on the Hokuleʻa, and whose great-grandfather brought the steam plow from Germany to Koloa to industrialize the first plantation in Hawaii; and an 83-year-old plantation widow who has lived in the camp for 60 years. All are working or retired people who have lived in Koloa for much or most of their lives. They are part of us. Is there no way to include their happiness and well-being in the solution?

Some tenants have left under duress, but would return if there was a viable way for them to live onsite. At issue is the gentrification of Koloa-Poipu as a place for mainly the rich.

The tenants are willing to change; they know things cannot remain the same. They want Grove Farm to be able to build single- family homes in Koloa. What they have been requesting is that Grove Farm meet to explore ways to include the tenants in the solution. The Kauai County Council made the same request via a unanimously approved resolution. Grove Farm "respectfully declined" the Council’s request; it seems single-mind- edly focused on eviction.

What are some of the possible win-win alternatives?

» Give a life estate to Catherine Fernandez, 83, who has lived at Koloa Camp for 60 years for compensation within her means.

» Cluster a group of rentals onsite, which the county could own and manage for those tenants who cannot afford to buy.

» Work with the county, within legal and ethical parameters, to fast-track re-zoning of the Grove Farm-owned parcel across the road for some or all of the 50 units Grove Farm wants to build.

The tenants are not set on any particular "solution" because they don’t know what will work for Grove Farm, and a "win-win" is not possible until that is known. How do you know unless you talk?

How do we apply aloha or "loving-kindness" to Koloa Camp? It is a question to explore through dialogue. The Dalai Lama has said that dialogue is important to finding peace. Unfortunately, Grove Farm owner Steve Case, CEO Warren Haruki and its board of directors all have been unwilling to dialogue. It seems too easy for Grove Farm’s corporate leadership, living on Oahu, to make the tenants into "them" — trouble makers demanding more than they deserve, obstacles to needed development, faceless names or numbers that can be rationalized away — not people who are part of "us."

We in Hawaii are lucky to have the historic and cultural foundation of aloha. But aloha needs to be defined and lived anew by each generation. In this complex world, the answers are not likely to come easily. But I believe it will come for Koloa Camp if we have the courage to try new ways and meet each other with "mutual respect and the grace to find common ground."