An open letter to Kyudo practitioners on Oahu

Dear Practitioners of Kyudo in Hawaii:

We are residents of Kaimuki, living close to where the proposed new Kyudojo is currently scheduled to be built.  As you might have heard, many people in the region surrounding Mau'umae Nature Park have reservations about this transformation of some of our island's increasingly rare greenspace.  Moreover, the more we have learned about the project, the stronger the opposition has become.  A petition opposing it now has over 1000 signatures, and a recent survey by our City Councilman of 2000 residents shows 78% opposed.

We love this park.  It is built on land given by the State to the City explicitly for the purpose of developing a Nature Park, a development that was a labor of love by volunteers in this neighborhood.  (See this Star-Bulletin article.)

In the discussions about the project, we have learned that Kyudo is a Zen practice, with a focus on mindfulness.  What we do not understand is how anyone with this spirit and mindset would want to impose themselves on a community in this way.

When the Hawaii Kyudo Foundation representative speaks in public hearings about the proposal, he says things about the park that are not consistent with our experience.  He says it is not used: this is not true, we live here and the park gets plenty of use, though perhaps not on weekdays when we are at work or school.  He calls it a "dog park": it isn't, though some of us do like to bring our dogs to the park.  He characterizes it as a fire hazard: indeed there have been two fires here in the last 55 years, one in 1972 (before it was a park), and one in 1994, where the fire department was able to use the hiking trails to get access and put the fire out very quickly; neither was where the new dojo is planned to be built.  Frankly, from the way he describes it he doesn't seem to like or respect our park.  This makes us sad.  We love this park. 

There are many spaces on the island which are already given over to organized activity, which already have parking lots and security systems and graded land, or really need some new uses.  For example, there is a 6 acre unused DOE property at 4104 Puu Panini Avenue which local residents complain about at their Neighborhood Board meetings.  Wouldn't such a site be better location for your facility than a nature park?

We ask you to have a serious conversation among yourselves as to whether you are really comfortable with taking green space away from a community in this way.

Thank you for your attention.