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I'm sure Governor Cayetano means well about wanting Hawaii to be the next Silicon Valley. However, I'm not sure if he understands the ramifications on housing if our state did, in fact, host the high-tech industry at this level. Don’t Silicon-ize
HawaiiIf Hawaii were to become another Silicon Valley, there would be many changes around here and, if you're not an engineer or other high-techie type, these changes would not necessarily be for the better.
I left Hawaii in 1984 to pursue a radio journalism degree at San Jose State University, which is in the heart of what is now affectionately referred to as "Silicon Valley."
Although the first sign of the birth of Silicon Valley happened in 1953 when the Varian Building erupted at what would later become Stanford Industrial Park, I arrived there when things were still somewhat sane.
Home prices were not yet unreasonable and normal folks, like radio journalists, could actually afford to live there.
But that has changed, along with many other things that once made this area so special.
There are many folks who think that Silicon Valley is the geographical name of an area in California. It is not. It is not Orange County either, as some people seem to think.
Silicon Valley has been described as an area on the San Francisco peninsula, radiating outward from Stanford University. It is contained by the San Francisco Bay on the east, the Santa Cruz Mountains on the west and the Coast Range to the southeast.
Silicon Valley is the Santa Clara Valley of Northern California. Talk to anyone over 50 who grew up in the area long before the tech boom and they will tell you, "There were orchards everywhere. Cherries, peaches and plums, you name it."
At the turn of the century when fruit orchards dominated the area, it was known as "The Valley of Heart's Delight." Today the fruits have been replaced by semi-conductor chips being designed in unattractive buildings, warehousing young urban professionals pursuing their career dreams while striking it rich.
It is an area packed with engineers, with an ungodly high cost of living with virtually no affordable housing, unless you can afford a 740-square-foot cottage for $550,000.
Since these engineering folks make tons of money, child care is known to cost upwards of $15 an hour. You'll pay full price for your infant to see "The Tigger Movie," even if she doesn't sit in her own seat in the movie house. It is all a part of draining the "haves," who definitely "have" money to burn.
Of course, the Hawaii kids who went away to college and have become engineers, whose lives would be complete if they could have their Silicon Valley jobs here at home, would love to see Hawaii become the next Silicon Valley.
But what about the rest -- the stock clerk at Longs, the groundskeeper at the Ihilani Resort or the waitress at Columbia Inn? Will there be affordable places for them to live if Hawaii becomes the next high-tech mecca?
In the San Jose area, indigenous older folks are selling their homes and retiring in Oregon or Washington where they can afford a half-gallon of milk or an evening out. Normal folks can't move to Silicon Valley or stay there. Find a one-bedroom rental there for a reasonable $1,000 and you'll be outbid by a fresh-out-of-college techie desperate for a place, any place, to live. Housing is scarce.
Yes, Hawaii needs to move forward into the 21st century, and it would be great to bring some of our young ones back to the islands. But please, Governor Cayetano, let's think about the impact and consequences before we even begin to foster such a notion as becoming the next Silicon Valley of America.
Stacy Yuen Hernandez is a writer living in Honolulu.