Review of Kailua (Hawaii Cnty), Hawaii

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Kona = apartheid !!!

- 1/31/2009
I recently spent 2 years in Kona. I fell in love with it but its no place for working class people. The housing is so expensive that they had create a 60 mile (one way)free bus system. It transports the working class from the other side of the island (Hilo) to Kona and its free. The poor(meaning working class) catch the bus in Hilo, ride one and one half hours to Kona to work the day and then ride back. This is the same system of aparthied they had in South Africa. One problem with housing is that 20 year old mainland kids will do anything to live in Kona and will work 90 hours a week for next to nothing and then pay HUGE.......I mean HUGE amounts for rent to share a crummy mother in law apartment with 6 others. Most of Hawaii is comprised of transients like me that dont stay very long. Starbucks and Walmart have really put the damper on island charm and people are downright rude. Everything reminded me of L.A. Everything is about the $ $ $. If you have a lot of money you can live with your rich snotty neihbors in a gated community, if not you can live in Hilo (which is not cheap) and commute 3 1/2 hours a day. There is no cheap place to stay on the entire west side of the island. Oh and dont forget the world class traffic jam, its called the "Kona crawl". I feel bad for so many of the Native Hawaiians who have lived there for generations and are now moving to the mainland because they cant afford Hawaii anymore.
Dj | Portland, OR