Is Moiliili considered a College Town

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Permalink Reply by Gregory Cuadra on January 11, 2010 at 6:47am

Jonathan: I think Moiliili is a middle class, working neighborhood. The resisdents like it because of it's central location and the variety of shopping, eating, and recreation locations is very close proximity. Most of us can walk to work and or the store.

I do think due to the amount of affordable rental units, the students and faculty of the UH do tend to rent here, and allot of the owners of said properties do count on those students/faculty to fill their units.

Do I consider Moiliili a college town? No! There are a few shops close to Puck's Alley that cater to the students, but the majority of the neighborhood does not.

I do think the UH could be more involved in the community. I would like to see them participate more in community activities, like Aloha Aina Recycle Days, TAG, ETC. What I would like to see less of, are events like the blue planet event where students and professors drew a blue chalk line all around the neighborhood, defacing our sidewalks and polluting our drainage system. The UH should strive to be a partner in this community, as every prospective student who comes to UH drives through Moiliili with their parents to visit the UH. The way the community looks is a direct reflection on the state of Hawaii, the community and the UH

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Permalink Reply by Jonathan Yabiku on January 11, 2010 at 9:20am

Thank you for this valuable insight! As an architecture student, I had the opportunity to work with Wahiawa last semester and we talked about making their community more walkable and to revive their business district from a variety of bars and adult entertainment industries to a wider range of small businesses, much like Moiliili. Part of the discussions we had were to establish physical connections between the community. These connections were based primarily on the quarter mile walking circle which in plan, would represent a five minute to ten minute walking distance. Part of the way to make the community more walkable was to add a small community shuttle, highly visible bike lanes, beautifying the streets, adding street furniture, providing infill development, and move public parking in the rear of businesses. Do you think if there were more pedestrian friendly sidewalks and more physical connections to the University of Hawaii that we could lay the foundations to creating a college town?

Personally, I think that the H-1 Freeway has been acting like a giant wall between Moiliili and the UH. Also, does the Moiliili residents often attend University functions. Do you think there could be more cross connections between each? Finally, in what way does Moiliili, besides through businesses, reach out to the University population?

Thanks Gregory!

Gregory Cuadra said:

Jonathan: I think Moiliili is a middle class, working neighborhood. The resisdents like it because of it's central location and the variety of shopping, eating, and recreation locations is very close proximity. Most of us can walk to work and or the store.

I do think due to the amount of affordable rental units, the students and faculty of the UH do tend to rent here, and allot of the owners of said properties do count on those students/faculty to fill their units.

Do I consider Moiliili a college town? No! There are a few shops close to Puck's Alley that cater to the students, but the majority of the neighborhood does not.

I do think the UH could be more involved in the community. I would like to see them participate more in community activities, like Aloha Aina Recycle Days, TAG, ETC. What I would like to see less of, are events like the blue planet event where students and professors drew a blue chalk line all around the neighborhood, defacing our sidewalks and polluting our drainage system. The UH should strive to be a partner in this community, as every prospective student who comes to UH drives through Moiliili with their parents to visit the UH. The way the community looks is a direct reflection on the state of Hawaii, the community and the UH

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Permalink Reply by kathy on January 11, 2010 at 5:01pm

I think if you are looking for a college town for UH, you would look at Manoa. Most college towns are closer to the college and have amenities that college students want. Most of the students from UH are commuters. The majority of them have cars ( do you have any info on what percentage of the students drive cars to school?)
and therefore they can expand their geographical reach to other areas. Your idea of a shuttle (like they have in manoa) could help to create that college feel. I think I heard that the Varsity theater site was owned by Bishop Estate and the "train" was going to end there. Bishop Estate with its vast investments in many college towns can help to create that college town feel.

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Permalink Reply by Jonathan Yabiku on January 11, 2010 at 9:47pm

Thanks Kathy,
I appreciate your feed back. I think that Manoa does have the proximity advantage and the UH is under the Manoa neighborhood district, but my goal in researching college towns is to help minimize the use of the automobile, or the dependency on the automobile, not only for college students but perhaps the residents of Moiliili. Given Moiliili's closer proximity to other towns such as Waikiki, Kaimuki, Kapahulu, and Makiki, I think Moiliili is the better town. I think the amount of established businesses make Moiliili a much more interesting and possible town to cater to the students needs.

Thanks for the information on the train?

Thank you very much Kathy. Are you going to Dereck's event at the Willows?

Jonathan

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Permalink Reply by kathy on January 12, 2010 at 2:19pm

Hi Jonathan, here are my thoughts:
It is called the Rail, I call it the train.
I think most people in Hawaii theoretically, want to walk, everyone knows it is healthier. The main forces discouraging walking are: the sun, the heat, the lack of resting places, the safety factor, the time factor, not being able to hop a bus when you get tired.
Hong Kong, a city with a massive population, has great transportation, is very interested in making the city walker "friendly". There is a lot of walking going on there.
In Hawaii on the plus side we have lots of sun and on the minus side, we have lots of sun.
The bus stops have seats that can give a quick rest to the walkers now that the homeless have moved out... but not many places to sit or to rest while walking besides that. In Hong Kong, people sit in restaurants for longer periods of time 1.5 hours vs 30 minutes here, I think that hk people rest their weary legs in the restaurants, in Honolulu, they might rush you out after 45 minutes. ( not sure)
In Honolulu, The Bus is very expensive ($5.00 round trip if you pay cash) If it were more economical more would use the bus ( I would!). Some alternatives fares should be employed. HK has the octopus bus pass and you can sync that to your octopus watch, or credit card or phone (maybe credit or debit card.. not sure on those last two.)... If I buy a monthly bus pass in Honolulu it is calculated by the calender, so I will drive, unless I am sure I will buy the pass at the beginning of the month and will use it enough to offset the high monthly cost.
We need a comprehensive approach to encourage people to walk that includes having enough places to rest, being able to hop a bus if they get tired, having bus schedules on time and also a way to find out if that bus is coming. In the old days the buses would all come in a group, I think they have improved. ( some places do have technology working - via cell phones that can check where the bus is.)
The Moiliili areas reaches from UH to Ala Wai Canal so either way that is a lot of walking to get to King Street. My suggestion to get more people involved in walking to the business area is to show people how to get there without the cars. If the Moiliili area was having a festival like they did last weekend, they could have free buses to transport people to the area. Not just from designated parking lots, but from the regular bus stops. The biggest opponent to public transportation is the fact that for most people in Honolulu it is cheaper and more convenient to drive. Thanks for your help with our community, I am sure the merchants in Moiliili will like your ideas. I wonder if there is less sales traffic now that star market has closed? Was Star market a main feeder to the other shops in the area? Do you have a website dedicated to this information?
Thanks
Kathy

Jonathan Yabiku said:

Thanks Kathy,
I appreciate your feed back. I think that Manoa does have the proximity advantage and the UH is under the Manoa neighborhood district, but my goal in researching college towns is to help minimize the use of the automobile, or the dependency on the automobile, not only for college students but perhaps the residents of Moiliili. Given Moiliili's closer proximity to other towns such as Waikiki, Kaimuki, Kapahulu, and Makiki, I think Moiliili is the better town. I think the amount of established businesses make Moiliili a much more interesting and possible town to cater to the students needs. Thanks for the information on the train?

Thank you very much Kathy. Are you going to Dereck's event at the Willows?

Jonathan

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Permalink Reply by kathy on January 12, 2010 at 2:27pm

i agree!

Jonathan Yabiku said:

Thank you for this valuable insight! As an architecture student, I had the opportunity to work with Wahiawa last semester and we talked about making their community more walkable and to revive their business district from a variety of bars and adult entertainment industries to a wider range of small businesses, much like Moiliili. Part of the discussions we had were to establish physical connections between the community. These connections were based primarily on the quarter mile walking circle which in plan, would represent a five minute to ten minute walking distance. Part of the way to make the community more walkable was to add a small community shuttle, highly visible bike lanes, beautifying the streets, adding street furniture, providing infill development, and move public parking in the rear of businesses. Do you think if there were more pedestrian friendly sidewalks and more physical connections to the University of Hawaii that we could lay the foundations to creating a college town?

Personally, I think that the H-1 Freeway has been acting like a giant wall between Moiliili and the UH. Also, does the Moiliili residents often attend University functions. Do you think there could be more cross connections between each? Finally, in what way does Moiliili, besides through businesses, reach out to the University population?

Thanks Gregory!

Gregory Cuadra said:

Jonathan: I think Moiliili is a middle class, working neighborhood. The resisdents like it because of it's central location and the variety of shopping, eating, and recreation locations is very close proximity. Most of us can walk to work and or the store.

I do think due to the amount of affordable rental units, the students and faculty of the UH do tend to rent here, and allot of the owners of said properties do count on those students/faculty to fill their units.

Do I consider Moiliili a college town? No! There are a few shops close to Puck's Alley that cater to the students, but the majority of the neighborhood does not.

I do think the UH could be more involved in the community. I would like to see them participate more in community activities, like Aloha Aina Recycle Days, TAG, ETC. What I would like to see less of, are events like the blue planet event where students and professors drew a blue chalk line all around the neighborhood, defacing our sidewalks and polluting our drainage system. The UH should strive to be a partner in this community, as every prospective student who comes to UH drives through Moiliili with their parents to visit the UH. The way the community looks is a direct reflection on the state of Hawaii, the community and the UH

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