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When
I first arrived to Hawaii, in 2003, the beaches
around here were clean, I could sit on sand. It
was very difficult to rent or own a home if you
had a dog, and most buildings were
dog-forbidden.
Now,
everyone seems to have a dog, and a big one,
usually. The beach and the beach walkway are
full of dog poo. It is disgusting. It is
everywhere. It stinks. It is something to avoid
stepping into. It is completely unsightly. I
never sit on bare sand anymore. And I make sure
to wash off sand well, just in case there was
some parasites and other stuff from dog poo.
The
dogs also run around without a leash and even
jump on strangers to "say hi!" which
is completely counter to proper dog etiquette.
First, some people don't like dogs, some people
are even scared of dogs, and second, dogs can
bite, bark, and cause problems. It is really
rude when the owner doesn't call their
misbehaving pet and yells at the victim that
"It's ok, he/she is friendly." Who
cares! Assume the person doesn't want to know
their dog, if that is a possibility the dog
owner could comprehend. Dog owners are
typically self centered and think their pet is
the center of the universe and everyone wants
to meet it. No, quite on the contrary. Dogs are
like children - children are not supposed to
jump on every stranger to say hi. They are
supposed to behave. Dogs are supposed to stay
close to their owner and never express interest
in strangers, unless the stranger comes over on
their own volition and gets the permission to
pet them. That's good manners.
Speaking
of bad manners and being self centered: hotel
owners are in that category too.
Another
thing littering our beaches around here is
hotels, and all the hoola boola like traffic,
restaurants and shops that go with it.
"The tourist attraction."
I
talked with a lady who lives in Veil, Colorado.
She complained how North Shore is
"boring", there is no shopping, etc.
just Nature. Then she said that Veil used to be
natural, and it was so nice. Now too many
people moved in and now it is so busy with all
kinds of buildings, people, activities, and way
too commercial. I commented: well, just like
you here, newcomers to Veil wanted the
"entertainment" and made it from a
nice town into a commercial hubbub. Do you want
N. Shore to become like that? She bit her lip.
She got it.
So,
nuff hotels. They cause traffic, crowds of
people looking for the same things as back home
- craziness, shopping, entertainment, etc. etc.
People who just trash the place. Local people
see little from the hotels. Maybe some badly
paid jobs, and maybe some cheap crazy business,
that's all, in exchange for killing the land
forever. Then the tourists will go somewhere
else, looking for that Natural special feel
that they don't know how to enjoy and need to
be educated about.
Everyone
is looking about peace and quiet, and something
Special, and when they find it, do they know
how to keep it that way?
I
believe that the future of tourism here will be
to provide that kind of environment and that
kind of education. That's why people came to
Hawaii - for some aloha, relaxing in a pretty
natural setting.
If
tourists want bars, crowds, activities, they
can go to Waikiki. Waikiki is already ruined
and is a tourist ghetto for that kind of
tourist. Nobody is in Waikiki to relax and
enjoy Hawaii. Waikiki can be anywhere else on
the planet. The only thing that matters is that
it is warm so everything happens outside and is
easy to handle. Waikiki could be anywhere else
and nobody would even notice as long as it is
warm and there are palm trees.
North
Shore must stay a pristine natural environment
with turtles and seals and corals and clean
sea.
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