Ulua Beach lower parking lot to close for work

The lower parking lot and roundabout at Ulua Beach in Wailea will be closed Wednesday due to the installation and replacement of lighting fixtures in the park. The parking lot will reopen Thursday, according to the Department of Parks and Recreation.

The beach park will remain open during the project.

Haleakala park increases recreational access

Haleakala National Park is once agan welcoming visitors — but not yet for sunrise or sunset viewing. The National Park Service, in according with federal and local health guidelines, has made the following areas accessible to the public from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday:

>> Summit District from the park entrance to the summit at the 10,023-foot elevation. Park entrance fees continue to be temporarily waived.

>> Headquarters Visitor Center public restrooms at 7,000 feet (the visitor center building remains closed).

>> Haleakala Visitor Center public restrooms at 9,740 feet (the visitor center building remains closed).

>> Hosmer Grove Trail and the supply trail from Hosmer Grove to Halemauu Trail junction (Halemauu Trail remains closed).

>> Leleiwi Overlook Trail.

>> Pa Kaoao (White Hill) Trail.

All other areas in the park, including the Kipahulu District, the crater and all backcountry areas remain closed. For more information, visit nps.gov/hale.

DOE-provided meals continue at select sites

The Department of Education’s Grab-and-Go school meals program has been extended at select sites to transition into the summer food service program that starts this week.

Takeaway meals are being provided through Wednesday, with the Seamless Summer Option starting Thursday and running through July 17. The free weekday meals are available to students regardless of eligibility for free or reduced- price meals. Children do not have to be enrolled at the school distribution site and do not have to be public school students. (For special diet accommodations, email specialdiets@k12.hi.us.)

Student meals may be picked up without children present, but parents and guardians must provide a verification document such as an official school letter or email listing the children enrolled, a recent report card or attendance, birth certificate, student or state-issued ID card or driver’s permit/license.

Breakfast hours are 7:30 to 8 a.m., and lunch hours are 11:30 a.m. to noon, excluding holidays. The Maui sites are Iao Intermediate, Kalama Intermediate, Lahaina Intermediate (begins June 8), Lokelani Intermediate (begins June 8) and Waihee Elementary (begins Tuesday).

Meal sites at Hana High & Elementary and Kahului Elementary are closed through summer break.

Most business will be allowed to reopen Monday

Monday marks a new day in Maui’s push to revive more segments of the economy, after Gov. David Ige approved Mayor Michael Victorino’s updated Public Health Emergency Rules that allow most businesses and services to reopen at the start of the workweek — with health and safety modifications in place.

This means restaurants can now offer dine-in service, which originally was to resume Friday. (Bars and nightclubs remain closed.) Also OK’d to reopen: fitness facilities, tattoo parlors, nail and hair salons, massage therapists and other personal services.

All county parks and beach parks also will reopen Monday; however, Waiale Park will remain closed to accommodate the temporary emergency shelters. Also open: dog parks, playgrounds, skate parks, Sakamoto Pool and the Kihei, Lahaina and Pukalani aquatic centers. County community centers and gyms remain closed.

Remember: No gatherings of more than 10 people, no organized or contact sports, and no commercial activities, camping or use of grills at county parks and beach parks.

Maui activist honored with UH endowment

Native Hawaiian poet and activist Dana Naone Hall is being honored with a $3.2 million gift from the Laurence H. Dorcy Hawaiian Foundation to establish a new endowed Hawaiian studies chair in her name at the University of Hawaii at Manoa’s Hawai‘inuiakea School of Hawaiian Knowledge.

The Dana Naone Hall Endowed Chair in Hawaiian Studies, Literature and the Environment “will teach new generations of Hawaiians about their ancestors who honed social, environmental and cultural management skills over a thousand years,” said Hawai‘inuiakea Dean Jonathan Osorio in a news release.

Naone Hall was editor of UH’s Hawaii Review literary journal and has published poetry in national and international literary journals. Among her many contributions are 2017’s “Life of the Land: Articulations of a Native Writer,” winner of an American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation.

She has worked for decades to protect Hawaiian burial sites, primarily on Maui, when planned development threatened access by Native Hawaiians and the public to culturally important sites.

“We are humbled and honored to have this new endowed chair honoring such an influential and inspirational educator and advocate,” said UH President David Lassner in the release. “As an endowed chair, it will have an impact stretching across generations, creating a new cohort of Dana Naone Hall emeriti chairholders. These leaders and future alumni from our programs will infuse new energy into the application of Hawaiian knowledge, enriching not only our Hawaiian communities, but our world.”

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STAY INFORMED

Due to COVID-19 precautions, Maui County Council meetings are being held only online via BlueJeans.com. To watch or provide video testimony, enter meeting ID; for phone testimony, dial number provided and use meeting ID. Council meetings also can be seen live on Akaku Channel 53 and mauicounty.us/agendas.

>> Climate Action and Resilience Committee meets 9 a.m. Monday for presentations on sea level rise, shoreline erosion and managed retreat; and on status of Kamaole Beach Park I dune restoration. (Meeting ID: 498 712 703; phone testimony: 408-915-6290)

>> Water, Infrastructure and Transportation Committee convenes 1:30 p.m. Monday to discuss community facilities districts and an update to the Water Use and Development Plan for Maui, and other matters. (Meeting ID: 461 923 498; phone testimony: 408-915-6290)

>> Environmental, Agricultural and Cultural Preservation Committee convenes 1:30 p.m. Tuesday to discuss effects of the coronavirus pandemic on county’s environment, agriculture and culture, including visitor impacts and food security. (Meeting ID: 840 546 502; phone testimony: 408-915-6290)

>> Planning and Sustainable Land Use Committee meets 9 a.m. Wednesday to consider ordinance changing zoning for proposed Kilohana Makai Workforce Housing Project from open zone to R-1 residential district for 7 acres at South Kihei Road and Kilohana Drive to make the property’s land use designations consistent. (Meeting code: 994 504 421; phone testimony: 408-915-6290)

>> Affordable Housing Committee meets 1:30 p.m. Wednesday for a presentation from developer of Kula Ridge Affordable Housing Subdivision, consisting of 57 market-price lots and 59 affordable-housing units on 48 acres in Waiakoa. (Meeting ID: 798 867 277; phone testimony: 408-915-6290)