 Good morning. I'm Jay Fiedel. This is StakeTech. More specifically, this is Community Matters, and we're talking about how the coronavirus has affected Lenai, the island of Lenai, with my favorite person from Lenai, Alberta, gently. Hi, Alberta. Hi, Julie. That's all with you. Yeah, great to see you again. Been a while, and you look terrific. Thank you. Life on Lenai agrees with you. Alberta has lived on Lenai for a long time. Alberta had been the editor of the newspaper, Lenai, today over there. She's been a farmer. She's grown a lot of what? What did I see there? Papaya, was it? You had all kinds of stuff. I had bananas. I had lettuce. I had beets. I had all kinds of about 30 different kinds of vegetables. Okay, and she disposed of recently disposed of the newspaper so she could run for county council, which she's doing right now. What's it like running for county council, Alberta? Well, it's really, really tough. My last appearance on Maui was on March 12th. I went to Maui Electric Company, where we did a public hearing, public informational meeting about the Hawaiian Electric Companies is doing, redoing their grid plan. So they are doing an integrated grid plan that I have been a member of their stakeholder community. So they tell us all these things. I understand that half of it, it's really more of an engineering thing. And then now we're in the process of going to each community to present the plans and to explain it to the general public. So March 12th was our first and only meeting. So that's a long time ago. You know, I know Kelly King. She's one of the council members there. Is she on for the duration or is she running also? She's going to be re-running, I hope. I don't know whether or not she has a father papers, but she's been a member of the council for the past year. Yeah, she's an energy person. She and Bob King have Hawaii, what is it Hawaii, Hawaii bioenergy or something. Anyway, so I wanted to ask you also about some other things you've been doing. Number one is you're thinking about or organizing a care facility there. I love that idea. I think Linai is perfect for that. You know, people will flock to your shores to enjoy the beauty of Linai. Can you tell us a little bit about that project? Well, it all started with when a friend of mine developed Alzheimer's disease, actually has dementia, and we had to be moved to a care facility on Oahu. He started coffee. He would love to come home. I just want to know, is that a Linai rooster or is that a Linai dog? That's my neighbor's dog. It's very Linai is what it is. It makes us feel like we're right there with you, Alberta. I'm going to lose them. My door is closed. Anyway, okay, tell us more about the senior facility. There's no place for him to come home to, and his wife can't take care of him by herself. So I started really, you know, thinking about it and wondering how we could do this. There is land available. I can't tell you where, but I do have a piece of property available that needs to be available. So I've been talking to the different non-profit agencies on Linai and the healthcare agencies, and this is something that we're doing. So my goal was, I thought that if I called up Joe Blow and it's like if I called you and said, hi, this is Videl. I am Alberta D'Jetney. I'm a member of the Maui County Council. I have this plan. Would you be willing to discuss it with me? If I just called this Alberta D'Jetney jack of all trades, you would have thought to me. I'm hoping to get into two offices to be able to talk to the people who can help me make this happen. And hopefully, you know, it's not a project that will happen next year or the year after, but hopefully in the next three to four years, we will have this facility. And you might be a resident there. I might be. Yeah. Well, you're only over. The other thing you've done on Linai before I forget is you organized this kind of cat clinic, which I thought was really, really a good idea. Can you talk about the problem and the solution and the clinic? Okay. It doesn't start with me. I came in later in the time. My good friend, it's Cathy Cow. She and her husband, Mike Cow, own the Mike Cow Gallery in town. And she lived next door to a lady named Loretta Hillrun. Loretta's husband, Mike Hillrun, was the general manager of four seasons resort. Every morning as they walked around the town, they would see all these stray cats lounging on cars and undercars and on the roadside. And they thought, whoa, we've got to do something about all of these stray cats. They were homeless cats. See, they belong to people, but they weren't really belonging to anybody. You know what I mean? They lived in certain neighborhoods. So they started a state new to release program, which is very successful. And about, oh, maybe about a year after they started it, the state came in wildlife division came in and told them that there were 20 cats living by the Nettisura wastewater treatment plant. And there was also a colony of endangered seabirds living at the sewage waste water treatment plant. So they pretty much told the ladies that go catch those cats and you can keep them. You can't release them. If you don't do that, we're just going to go out and mutinize them. So Cathy did manage to find a place she thought she could keep to catch that, but became a really big community issue with different cultures and personalities. So she came to me and she asked if I could help, and I went down and see what they were doing. And the first thing I did was said, gather the volunteers that she had accumulated, gather them all up and said, ladies, gather up your things. You need to leave this place. I was like, I'm going to stop crying. That's what I was hoping to do. And we moved out of that area. And then Cathy turned to me and she said, okay, so what are you going to do now? How can you help us now? And he said, I'll find you another place. It took some some doing and some talking, but we went to, I went with another lady, Virginia, her husband was the doctor on the island. We went up to four seasons at Koy and we asked the general manager, Mr. Nolan, Robert Nolan, if we could build a temporary shelter where the stable, there was an old horse training tent. So he looked at us and he said, I think that's a wonderful idea. He practically fell over. He was surprised. He said, yes, temporary shelter. We were there for two years. During the two years, he negotiated a lease with Gaffer and Cook. And we got a four-year, we got a four-acre lease, some towards the Mall of Malhaber. So that's great. We have 650 gaps. That's great. That's really a service to the community and also the cat community, both. It's become the biggest tourist attraction, the biggest tourist attraction. Is that right? No kidding. How interesting. Well, you know, aside from, you know, your newspaper and your running for office, my favorite thing that you're doing is, and the senior facility, all these things are so, they're so nutritious, honestly. And they're perfect. They're perfectly you, Alberta. But the one thing that sticks in my brain is your taxi company, on top of all that, a taxi company. That's a true story, too. Yeah. That's fabulous. It's owned by a man named Greg Delacruz. He's from Maui. He has a taxi company on Maui and is very successful there. So he saw there was a permit available and then he decided to apply for it. He applied for it, got it, but he couldn't find anybody to manage the distance for him. So with the newspaper, I sell my own ads and I saw him driving the taxi and I had told myself, self, the next time you see that cab on the road, take the count and sell that madman's ad. So I said, bring him to the Catholic Church. He's talking to Aryan, you know, I was asking him about his business and that. So I said, what are you doing here? Are you going to go visit Father Jose, which is a Catholic priest? And he said, no, I came to pray for a driver. And I looked at him and said, hmm, that's really funny because for the past two weeks, I've been thinking that I should start praying for a tight time job. So you pray together. Of course, I own the papers, so he got a free ad. And I've been managing the Lulay business ever since, but I love it. It is so much fun. Yeah, sure. You meet people, you talk with them, you just play. You have that tour guide. So I wanted to ask you, how is it going? I mean, the last time we spoke has to be, I want to say, I mean, on the air has to be like four or five years ago, I think, because a long time ago. How are things going? I mean, Larry Ellison was a new person at that time. He just made his deal. And you've had plenty of time after that to see how it unfolds, a lot of projects, a lot of issues, a lot of initiatives. How has it been? How has it been on the night for you in that period? It's been, it really was right. And it has been absolutely, absolutely amazing. It's, you know, I was very, I worked for David Murdock and I was very fond of it. But Mr. Murdock basically was running out of money and could not support this item anymore, especially with the last recession. But he was forced to sell this place. And he really, truly loved it. But when Mr. Ellison came, we didn't know, we didn't know what, what his vision was. We didn't know what he was going to do. Oh my God, he's done so many things. So many four seasons that there's now renamed for four seasons. So it's Lennari. It's, it's been named the top hotel in the United States. Just named the top hotel. And when Mr. Ellison, when it reopened after it was renovated, the rates before renovation was in that 350 to $500 range. When they reopened, it was at $1,000 tonight. And we all sat back and said, oh my God, are we going to be able to attract that caliber of business? And we have, we have, it's absolutely amazing. Four seasons now employs about approximately 800 people from Lennari employs about 400 people. And with this coronavirus, you know how many people are standing in unemployment lines now waiting to get through the unemployment system. That would have been 1200 people from Lennari going into the unemployment mode. And you know what? They're all being paid. They're all receiving a paycheck. So when you look at Lennari, we, we are totally blessed because we still have the state workers are still employed, the county workers are still employed, the 1200 employees basically from that are employees of Larry Ellison's different entity. They're all employed. And there's no other community in Hawaii that can say that. So we are truly blessed and we are doubly blessed because we have not had one single case on this item. Now I wanted to ask you about that. That's, that's, that's really blessed. Why, why do you think that is? I mean, you do have traffic coming back and forth. You could have a case, but you don't. Why not? Because we're under quarantine. The whole county is under quarantine. So there's no traffic going through Motahi. And there's no traffic coming to Lennari unless there is central workers. So it's very closed down. All of the construction right now is closed down on this item. But they're gearing up for the next push. Their offices are still working because they're ordering equipment and supplies and things that they need for the big push after this is over. But we've been like the other islands. We've had testing here. I went to get a test on Saturday. We have quarantines. We have to stand in line to get into the stores. So the message is, you know, stay healthy, stay healthy, stay healthy. It's hard because we're in isolation here. So people, families can't get together as much as they would like, but we can still go down to the ocean to fish. The men are still going out in the hunk. Five minutes out of town, you can go for a walk. You can walk up to Kauai and visit Mr. Ellison's little miniature horses and donkeys. It's great. We are truly blessed to be upon you. So how are you spending your time? Are you spending your time indoors? When you go out, are you wearing a mask? How does the lockdown affect you, Alberta? When I got back to the Natyairis Amawi for the HIKO meeting on March 12th, I came back on March 13th. I went through a luncheon. And after the luncheon, I walked out of there and I felt so deeply ill that I called my grandson to take me to the emergency room. I went to the emergency room and I had interest in the food. And three of the people who were also in the same party with me, they also had a food. So for the next 12 days, you know, I was basically in isolation because we didn't know for sure what kind of food we had. So we all isolated ourselves. And it was, I watched about 10 hours of television every day. I wasn't feeling well enough to read. I couldn't work on anything. So I just watched television. So about 14 days later, I got up and I said, I have to have a schedule. So I picked them up for one morning and night. So I started doing that again. You know, I'm the kind of person I jump out of bed at six o'clock in the morning and I hit the road running. And I went until seven or eight o'clock at night. And also, I had office free time. It's really difficult. I live alone. So who do I talk to? And now I have Zoom. Well, now you have Zoom. Have you been making a lot of Zoom calls? Have you had meetings on Zoom with people? Yes, I'm joining a Toastmasters club on Maui. And it's going to be hotline. Beautiful. It's like a perfect storm. I'd rather, I think I'd rather have a testable flu than COVID anyway myself. So that worked out okay, which it must have been worried for a while. Well, I was really lucky. I went to the emergency room because right away I got, you know, Kamathlu and I got antibiotics, sent home in total, came drink lots of liquids, take care of yourself, just rest, rest, rest. And people who had the same kind of flu didn't get medication until four or five days later. So they were sick for much longer time than I was. So, you know, Alberta, you're a journalist for many years, a newspaper owner. He observed everything that happened on Linai and really, you got in to see what was going on. You knew Murdoch, you know, Larry Ellison, you know, all the players there. It's a small town and it knits together very well. But beyond that, you know, you get all the media from Honolulu. And beyond that, you get all the media, all the television media reports from, you know, the country. So you have this kind of ideal situation where you can sit there, use your journalistic analytical skills, and see the world from a special vantage point. It's a sort of clarified vantage point, I think. And so I want to ask you about your opinions on some things, if you don't mind. For example, how well has the federal government done in responding to the COVID pandemic crisis? Do you have any thoughts about that? Federal government, they haven't done anything for us. Have they done anything for anybody? No, I mean, the county's been on top of things. America, you know, Mike has been really wonderful, but I wish you would like start making videos like the Kauai there. The Kauai has done a wonderful, wonderful job on keeping his community together. So I'm wondering why, because we have no coronavirus, I wonder why some of the regulations can't be loosened up for us, at least on our home island, we can have a little bit more freedom. That's my personal opinion. Yeah, it's okay. I mean, we're just schmoozing here. And what about the state? What about, you know, David E. Gay, what about his Bruce Anderson director of health and Josh Green and all that? I gotta confess, I love Josh Green. Josh Green has been on our show many times, many times. It's very interesting. And David E. Gay was on our show when he first ran for office. We did a thing called, I don't remember this, we did a thing called statewide conversation. Then he came on our show and it was his idea, it was a good idea. He broadcast his, you know, political views, his platform points to the whole state, just like this, streaming. And then he had a system where people could ask him questions from all parts of the state, sort of like all the sewing circles met, you know, and they all got together and asked him questions. And he answered the questions. I said, what a great model, you know, that, I mean, but you know, the problem was it never happened again. And therefore, you know, one suggestion I would give you is to do that, to use that, because people, it's a no expense kind of thing. And people, you know, you can reach people, they can reach you, it's an engagement both ways. And it takes me to, you know, the whole thing, you know, you mentioned you're using Zoom, you're getting really good at it, you look great at it, you must have the right lights and camera and everything, but right, of course, or light. Well, it works. So my question to you is, you know, we are going through a crisis. And even though it's, you know, it's Linai is in great shape, it is blessed. It's so interesting to find that, you know, I'm so delighted for you. But query, how are things going to change going forward? What's, what's going to happen in this state that we should that we should see in the future that we should take advantage of that we should work to achieve? We're going to have a change, right? The pandemic is changing everything. We talked to a woman in Brussels an hour ago, and things are changing all over Europe. Things are changing on the mainland. Things are changing. So how do you think those changes will, you know, play out? What will it be like in Hawaii? What will it be like in Linai? You know, seriously, gay, Maui County is totally oversaturated with visitors. And I think now that all of the visitors are gone, it's taken us back to another time. You know, I lived on Maui from 1968, but I was out on the Hannah side. But when we went to Kahaluwai to go shopping, to be in Kahaluwai, it would take us less than seven minutes to drive from Kahaluwai to Wailuku. Now it can take as long as half an hour. To drive out to Hannah now, there's a thousand cars on the road. We, this gives us a really good opportunity now, not just in Maui County, but on Oahu and on Kauai and on the Big Island, to step back and look at tourism as a whole, and think about how we can improve the quality of the visit for the visitors that are coming, rather than continually trying to increase the quantity. We are oversaturated. So pull back, pull back, pull back. Give people a better product. Do you understand where I'm coming from on this? Sure. A lot of people feel that way. Ostander was on the show. He said the same thing, you know, formerly the Bishop of State and all that. But you know, in an hour's time, Mufi Hanuman, who runs the Hawaii Tourism and Lodging, HLTA, Lodging and Tourism Association, which is not limited to Waikiki. I mean, it's all over the state. And it is a, you know, it's a group of hotel owners and people who have investments in tourism, who are really getting hurt right now, who want to come back, who want to reopen, you know, and have that flow of tourists again. And the cash flow, after all, they would argue that tourism is the engine of our economy like it or not. So what would you say to Mufi Hanuman? What would you say to an owner of a hotel, you know, who, big and small, it's not just the big ones, it's the small ones too. What would you say about this? What should they do? How should they see this? Should they close down? Should they limit the number of tourists? What do they do to make Hawaii a better place in the face of what we have learned in COVID? Get back to basics. Remember that a hotel is only as good as the people who work there. So take care of your employees. Take care of the people who are working for you, so that everybody talks about the aloha spirit, the spirit of aloha, hospitality. You don't get that when you're pumping 1,000 visitors in and out of your hotel every day. What about the people on your front line? How do you treat them? How do you treat, you know, my husband was in the management in the hotel business. And he said the person at the very top is the person at the very bottom, the person in the kitchen washing the dishes is just as important as the person on the top. So start thinking about your employees as being part of this scheme that can provide a true spirit, the true hospitality. Do that. Do that. That's what made us famous not too many years ago. Hotels like the Hali Kulani, you know, they all have this terrific sense of style. And if you look at, if you look at our hotel industry statewide, we have so many properties that are owned by foreign entities, they don't care. They take their money and they go back to whatever country they're in. Come back, come back to Hawaii. Come back to Hawaii. Wonderful and that's the reason, you know, when, when Mr. Ellison came to Lenae and started doing his thing, they named the company Kulama Lenae. And I thought, what kind of a name is that? Kulama Lenae means the cherished Lenae. And that's what they do. So if you can get this feeling across the state, cherish the community that you live in, cherish the people who work there, cherish the people who live there and the rest will come. You know? Yeah. Alberta, gently, we cherish you. You are, you are the symbol for so many years of all the good things in Lenae. I hope we can connect with you again and follow all your adventures all around Lenae and elsewhere. Thank you so much, Alberta. Oh, you're welcome, Jay. We need to visit more. Yes, we do. Next time soon, Alberta. Take care. Aloha. Bye, bye.