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Residents feel ousted by progress
By Gordon Y.K. Pang
Star-BulletinA planned revitalization of this part of Ewa Villages is making some families feel squeezed out
omes with boarded-up windows and rotting walls line the dusty streets of the once-vibrant Varona plantation camp in Ewa Villages.
Enter a nonprofit organization that wants to revitalize a six-acre section of Varona, about a third of it, by fixing up the aging houses and putting up a preschool, adult job center and other social service facilities there.
But there are at least four families still living there who don't want to leave, setting up the latest controversy involving Ewa Villages.
Supporters of the plan say the project is needed to bolster what most consider the ugliest part of Ewa Villages. Many of the homes are abandoned, some dilapidated beyond repair. A few are known havens for drug dealers and the homeless."If we don't find some good, legitimate use for at least this end of Varona Village, it's very possible this historic site would be lost," said the Rev. David Parker, pastor of Ewa's Friendship Bible Church, who approached the city about the plan.
That's of little comfort to Lucena Tapaoan, 68, whose family has lived 33 years in a home now in the way of the community center. "Can you pray for us, please?" she asked.
Tapaoan and others say the city inherited Oahu Sugar's role to care for plantation workers but instead is now out to get rid of them. And even if the city is promising not to evict them, they fear the new development is choking them out of their homes.
Malcolm Tom, city deputy managing director, said: "We have not evicted anybody and we're not forcing anyone to move. We are encouraging people to relocate to Tenney or Renton (other city-owned parts of Ewa Villages)."
The church's story
"This is a church, how does a church go and evict neighbors?" Parker said. "I care for these people. But the problem is that I can't build a day care around an unfinished house that's going end up right in the middle of a project."If the city and the tenants can't come to a settlement, Parker said, "I guess the city and I are going to have to talk about it."
Because of rules pertaining to federal grants and religious organizations, a separate Friendship Community Services Inc. was set up to allow for receipt of the federal block grant money.
The city would allocate $5.6 million in federal funds to the nonprofit group, which would return it to the city for ownership of the property. The city then could use the money to reduce the outstanding $63.5 million loan the city has for buying Ewa Villages.
The new nonprofit would operate the adult education program, bike-and-skate for youths, a senior citizens program and adult education wood and automobile shops, but programs involving religious instruction, such as the preschool, would continue under the church, Parker said."The government doesn't want to mix these and neither do we," he said, estimating the church would need to raise about $6 million for construction, improvements and religious programs.
The tenants' story
The paint-chipped walls of the home of Macario and Lucena Tapaoan are adorned with pictures of their six children, 13 grandchildren and religious artifacts.The couple pays $57 a month in rent and $20 for water as part of the arrangement of Oahu Sugar Co. had with its employees that the city agreed to continue when it took over in the early 1990s.
Lucena Tapaoan pulls out a 1993 document from the city to her family titled "Certificate of Qualification for Priority to Purchase." Tapaoan said that document is proof that the city promised to allow the tenants to buy the houses they were living in.
But the city never came back to follow up, she said.
Tom said the document entitled the Tapaoans only to move into another home in Ewa Villages, not necessarily the house they lived in or even Varona Village.
Louis Maria, president of the Old Ewa Villages Community Association, said his organization has documents from other tenants that show the city promised to sell them their homes.
"We have three people with binding contracts with the city to buy their houses as is and fix them up," Maria said.
The association is making a similar argument for tenants who have chosen to remain in Tenney and Renton villages, which the city is renovating on its own.Tom said he does not know of any such agreement.
Tapaoan and her husband, Macario, 75, get about $1,000 a month combined in pensions. "You think we can afford to live outside (Varona)?"
Joe Viloria, 32, lives with his mom, Marciana Viloria, the tenant of record on property that's proposed as part of the church project.
"I don't see why they want to purchase this property," Joe Viloria said. "And why is the city giving him the money?"
The city should have first offered the homes to the tenants, he said.
The Vilorias, who now pay $61 a month to live in their home, say they have not received any communications from the city about the proposal. Tom said at least three notices have been given to each of the tenants.
Segundino Corpuz, 75, lives in a section of Varona outside where the church wants to build. But he knows that the city and Parker had originally talked about the church purchasing the entire village and he worries he and his family will be out of the place they've called home for more than half a century.
"Once they start taking over those places, we don't know what's going to happen to us," Corpuz said.Tom said the city realizes it will be tough going trying to get the remaining tenants to move out.
Of 38 tenants of record who responded to a survey, 23 want to stay in Varona and 10 marked undecided. "We have a major challenge and we're working on it," Tom said.
Fred Nagamine, another one of those living in the Varona portion proposed for development, said he has resisted requests by the city for him to move out but he's reached the stage where it doesn't matter.
"I don't care what they do to me right now," Nagamine said, adding that he would just go live with his daughter in a new Ewa Beach subdivision. "I'm 83 years old and what, how long more can I stay?"
Attorney Alex Sonson, who is representing the residents, blames the city. "The reason it's in bad shape is because the city did not fulfill its promise to fix up that village," Sonson said.
What else can be done?
Area Councilman John DeSoto said: "I wouldn't want to go if I pay $56 a month rent."Still, he said, the Varona area is plagued with problems and in need of revitalization.
Parker said: "For those critics of this project, all I can say is get a group together and develop a better project. And if they can come up with a better idea, let's go for it. They'll have my support."
Tom said the city is trying to make the transition for the tenants as easy as possible. They can buy either new or renovated homes in Tenney or Renton at a discount or rent a home at no more than 30 percent of their net incomes or $450 a month for a three-bedroom unit, whichever is lower.
Maria likened the situation to that of missionaries arriving in Hawaii to instruct the natives about Christianity.
Maria said: "This guy comes along in the guise of the church and he's after more land."
