TAKING OVER

Billed as the last intact example of the mountain-to-sea ahupua'a system on O'ahu, the 1,800-acre Waimea Valley was purchased in 2006 with $14 million pooled together by city, state, federal and private sources.

OHA, which contributed $3.9 million, obtained title to the property, with the National Audubon Society running it. Audubon had been managing the facility on a lease since 2003, when the city first condemned the property from Christian Wolffer, who first set up the valley as an "adventure park" and later proposed luxury homes there.

In September 2007, Audubon announced it would pull out of Waimea. OHA set up Hi'ilei Aloha and Hi'ipaka as nonprofit limited liability corporations to manage it, with Hi'ilei Aloha also as parent company to a Kaua'i poi factory.

The OHA entities formally took over operations on Feb. 1.

In Raduenzel's e-mail to Akana, she said that OHA and Hi'ipaka brought "chaos and dysfunction" to the valley, and spoke of "undermining and mean-spirited management techniques."

Raduenzel also charged that Hi'ipaka was focused on drawing tourists to the valley at the expense of cultural and environmental concerns, saying Hi'ipaka officials have even been attempting to incorporate features that can be found at the popular Polynesian Cultural Center.

"There has been no mention of how to better serve Native Hawaiians, no mention of how to get the most at-risk populations involved in experiences at Waimea to strengthen their cultural identity and deepen their roots to ancestral lands — only discussions of how to best entertain the tourists by having some smiling Hawaiians on display," said the e-mail, which The Advertiser obtained.

Reached by phone, Raduenzel stood by her e-mail but would not comment further on the situation.

Some in the North Shore community took exception to Raduenzel's comments.

Native Hawaiian minister Butch Helemano said the centuries-old Hale O Lono heiau at the front of the valley was left to fall into disrepair by previous owners and managers, including Audubon.

OHA paid for the 'ohi'a and materials to restore the facility, and in June, more than 200 volunteers from around the state helped to restore it, said Helemano, kahu for the heiau.

Helemano said he is also in discussions with Hi'ipaka about setting up a Hawaiian learning school at Waimea that would teach people everything from poi-pounding to spear-making. The program is geared for Native Hawaiians and others from Hawai'i, although those from outside Hawai'i will also be welcome, he said.

"You have to have a venue to be yourself, you have to have a venue to be your culture," Helemano said. "We can't do this in Waikiki on concrete and asphalt."

Betty Jenkins said she and two other longtime North Shore residents and retired educators were allowed by Hi'ipaka to set up a "wahi" in the rear of the gift shop where they and kupuna from around the state gather to share stories with themselves and those who visit.

"Because we're all retired educators, we all want to share what we know through education and through culture," Jenkins said.

She said she was disappointed by what Raduenzel wrote, adding that what she and her fellow kupuna do in the valley is not touristy.

CRITICAL BLOG

But OHA has drawn criticism from those who question the purchase and the operations at the facility.

Raduenzel's e-mail has been used by OHA critics who operate the anonymous "OHA Lies!" blog, where the agency is also being accused of mismanaging the valley while losing $600,000 during the six months ending March 31.

The blog points out that a June report from OHA staff showed Hi'ilei Aloha and Hi'ipaka with a combined deficit of $615,000 in six months.

Trustee Akana, often a critic of OHA management who has denied any association with the blog, said OHA administrator Clyde Namu'o and OHA's land management director Jonathan Scheuer are largely to blame for the loss.

"That facility should be run by professional property managers," Akana said. "OHA has no one on staff that can manage commercial property, and I believe that's one of the main reasons we're losing money."

Scheuer, however, said the $615,000 does not accurately reflect revenues and expenses at Waimea Valley. It simply shows revenues and expenses for Hi'ilei Aloha and Hi'ipaka over six months during which, for four months, those entities did not directly receive revenues from the valley.

What's more accurate, Scheuer said, is a five-month report through June 30 given to trustees last week showing Hi'ipaka's expenses exceeding revenues by about $196,000 for operating expenses.

That figure, however, does not include $287,000 in expenses-to-revenues incurred by Hi'ilei Aloha, which earns only a small amount of money on its own through interest revenue.

Scheuer said it's unrealistic for anyone to think OHA would earn money immediately after taking over and pointed out that trustees had approved a plan that projected a much larger loss of $627,000 through June 30.

OHA trustees last year approved a $4.5 million infusion to Hi'ilei Aloha, Hi'ipaka and Hi'ipoi (the Kaua'i poi venture), and so far about $2.21 million has been tapped.

"We knew before we purchased Waimea, it was operating at a loss," Scheuer said. "But we believe and we continue to believe that by putting cultural issues first, Waimea can turn into a break-even operation."

Any profits, he said, would then go back into supporting cultural and environmental resources in the valley.

FAMILY REUNION

Last week, hundreds of members of the Hewahewa family gathered for a two-day reunion in the valley. The patriarch of the family was a close associate of Kamehameha the Great who was put in charge of Waimea after the king conquered that portion of the island.

But the reunion was not without controversy.

Some family members felt they were not being treated respectfully by Hi'ipaka officials, that the valley should have been closed to the public during the reunion and that they should not have been charged rent for use of the valley.

Kawehi Kanui, of the Hewahewanui 'Ohana Council, said her group's concerns go deeper. Noting that more than 1,000 members of her family once lived on and cared for the land, Kanui said: "Our hope is to work with OHA to put our people on the land in order to protect and practice our culture without interference by Western people, Western laws and Western ways, in a truly living Hawaiian village ... instead of another tourist entity."

Gary Gill, the former City Councilman hired as executive director when the venture started, was asked to quit in mid-April.

Gill said he was never told specifically why he was asked to leave. "The six months I was there, I'd never worked harder and never been more frustrated," he said. "The oversight being imposed was just very frustrating."

Scheuer said Gill and OHA administration had differences in opinion on how the park was to be managed but would not discuss the reasons for Gill's departure.

Gill said he continues to believe it was appropriate for OHA to take over Waimea, adding that the emphasis was on bringing cultural practices back to the valley when he left. "I wish them well," he said.

MORE CONCERNS

Hawaiian activist and former OHA trustee Mililani Trask said she has concerns about the purchase of Waimea Valley as well as OHA's creation of limited liability companies to deal with the transactions.

"The bottom line is that the LLCs represent OHA going into tourist-commercial development business," she said.

Trustees should not be purchasing such lands, she said, and should not be using limited liability corporations to do so.

"This is not in conformity with the way the entire state manages trust assets," Trask said.

Scheuer said because OHA could find no one with a combination of financial, environmental and cultural expertise necessary to replace Audubon, a limited liability corporation made the most sense.

It protects the trust by limiting the liability to the LLCs, and also allows for managers on site to administer day-to-day operations without OHA interference, Scheuer said.

While not a usual practice, Scheuer said, other government entities in the U.S. run nonprofit limited liability corporations, and OHA's attorneys have verified it is legal.

Akana, who said she supported the Waimea purchase but is critical of the LLC arrangement, said she does not know how OHA's exposure is limited when Scheuer, Namu'o and OHA Deputy Administrator Mona Bernardino are listed as the officers of the companies.