23 thoughts on “New Haiku Stairs Emergency Air Rescues Followed Criminal Trespassing”
Andy M
Why should the state and county pay for the costs of rescuing hikers that illegally trespass? I’d send the police there in the morning and arrest and fine every single person coming down the stairs. The problem is that the county isn’t enforcing the law and that creates the problem. It’s just sad that people have no respect for the neighbors and neighborhood, and the islands. Go back and stay on the mainland and stop destroying our aina
I think the idea of saving the stairs through a private group is a great idea, why spend all the money to take the stairs down, do what many tourist locations in the country have done, and limit the amount of people that can go up, and charge a fee!
Margie, please read the whole article. Charging a fee does nothing about the fact that it’s unsafe. People have died. Many. And the trailhead is in a neighborhood.
If they really want a good hike they should come to the Big Island and hike the roads of Ocean View. The roads ascend from 1500ft to about 5000ft(?). The roads are paved wonderful scenery, even some scary wildlife (locals) and they won’t have to be rescued (unless they trespass on private property). Some of the most stunning views in the islands. Plus they can have a friend pick them up at the top or bottom.
The Spirit of Aloha is supposed to go both ways between Hawaiian residents and visitors. It usually does and is a wonderfully fulfilling thing for heart and soul for both parties. Unfortunately, residents do not deserve to have noses thumbed at them and their neighborhoods overrun by selfish individuals with no respect for locals or their traditions. You can teach neither civility nor consideration after a certain point, like maybe 12 years old.
Remove the stairs. If it costs $1,000,000 to do it, start enforcing the $1000.00 fine per offense. You only need 1,000 violations to fund the project and there would be some sweet irony there. And bill for the rescuers, helicopter included. There’s a deterrent!
You could charge $500-$1000 for tourists to hike this trail and many would gladly pay for this experience. There are ways to solve this problem and keep the stairs safely in place. Access could be properly managed so that the neighbours don’t have people cutting through yards etc. It would be a shame if these stairs were removed.
The cost associated with rescuing these type of people should solely be on them and them alone. I’ve seen way too many posts on social media from people that do this illegal hike. When I call them out on it, the response if often what one would expect from the type of people who can’t follow rules or guidelines. I have zero sympathy for people who trespass and then end up getting hurt. That’s called good old fashioned karma
Actually it isn’t Karma (the sum of a person’s actions in this and previous states of existence, viewed as deciding their fate in future existences) but rather Schadenfreude (pleasure derived by someone from another person’s misfortune)
I’m one of those “silly” visitors that if it is against the rules/law or disrespectful I don’t do it. The view sounds great from these stairs. It’s a shame the plan to repair them and have visitors access them fell through. I hope this plan can still be attained.
I am all for personal freedoms and for people to risk their lives if they want to do that and it gives them a thrill. What I as a taxpayer I don’t want is to pay their medical and EMS rescue bills. Demolish the Stairway to Heaven, and may God bless Jimmy Page.
Sounds like the solution is very simple – send the cops up at about 10am, and have them cite every single person coming down $1000 for the rest of the day. Do it enough days and either the problem will stop or you’ll have a new revenue stream.
After reading this article, it causes me to theorize that the delay of the proper authorties to demolish this dangerous ‘thrill jaunt’ is what is sometimes called by some to be the ‘manana’ (tomorrow) behavior of the islands. I’ve been asking myself where all that tourist lucre goes, so when the article says they spend !/4 million+ on ‘seccurity’, now I know. It seems that as long as those stairs are there, they are going to be an ‘attraction’ for scofflaws and bragging rights for yahoos who get injuried, then the EMS people have to go ‘rescue’ them, our tax and tourist dollars spent on people who only get a ‘slap on the hand’. If you rip out a good section of the stairs, you can’t climb them. End of problem, and it wouldn’t cost that much
Why should the state and county pay for the costs of rescuing hikers that illegally trespass? I’d send the police there in the morning and arrest and fine every single person coming down the stairs. The problem is that the county isn’t enforcing the law and that creates the problem. It’s just sad that people have no respect for the neighbors and neighborhood, and the islands. Go back and stay on the mainland and stop destroying our aina
I think the idea of saving the stairs through a private group is a great idea, why spend all the money to take the stairs down, do what many tourist locations in the country have done, and limit the amount of people that can go up, and charge a fee!
Margie, please read the whole article. Charging a fee does nothing about the fact that it’s unsafe. People have died. Many. And the trailhead is in a neighborhood.
If they really want a good hike they should come to the Big Island and hike the roads of Ocean View. The roads ascend from 1500ft to about 5000ft(?). The roads are paved wonderful scenery, even some scary wildlife (locals) and they won’t have to be rescued (unless they trespass on private property). Some of the most stunning views in the islands. Plus they can have a friend pick them up at the top or bottom.
The Spirit of Aloha is supposed to go both ways between Hawaiian residents and visitors. It usually does and is a wonderfully fulfilling thing for heart and soul for both parties. Unfortunately, residents do not deserve to have noses thumbed at them and their neighborhoods overrun by selfish individuals with no respect for locals or their traditions. You can teach neither civility nor consideration after a certain point, like maybe 12 years old.
Remove the stairs. If it costs $1,000,000 to do it, start enforcing the $1000.00 fine per offense. You only need 1,000 violations to fund the project and there would be some sweet irony there. And bill for the rescuers, helicopter included. There’s a deterrent!
Peter
You could charge $500-$1000 for tourists to hike this trail and many would gladly pay for this experience. There are ways to solve this problem and keep the stairs safely in place. Access could be properly managed so that the neighbours don’t have people cutting through yards etc. It would be a shame if these stairs were removed.
The cost associated with rescuing these type of people should solely be on them and them alone. I’ve seen way too many posts on social media from people that do this illegal hike. When I call them out on it, the response if often what one would expect from the type of people who can’t follow rules or guidelines. I have zero sympathy for people who trespass and then end up getting hurt. That’s called good old fashioned karma
Actually it isn’t Karma (the sum of a person’s actions in this and previous states of existence, viewed as deciding their fate in future existences) but rather Schadenfreude (pleasure derived by someone from another person’s misfortune)
I’m one of those “silly” visitors that if it is against the rules/law or disrespectful I don’t do it. The view sounds great from these stairs. It’s a shame the plan to repair them and have visitors access them fell through. I hope this plan can still be attained.
I am all for personal freedoms and for people to risk their lives if they want to do that and it gives them a thrill. What I as a taxpayer I don’t want is to pay their medical and EMS rescue bills. Demolish the Stairway to Heaven, and may God bless Jimmy Page.
Sounds like the solution is very simple – send the cops up at about 10am, and have them cite every single person coming down $1000 for the rest of the day. Do it enough days and either the problem will stop or you’ll have a new revenue stream.
After reading this article, it causes me to theorize that the delay of the proper authorties to demolish this dangerous ‘thrill jaunt’ is what is sometimes called by some to be the ‘manana’ (tomorrow) behavior of the islands. I’ve been asking myself where all that tourist lucre goes, so when the article says they spend !/4 million+ on ‘seccurity’, now I know. It seems that as long as those stairs are there, they are going to be an ‘attraction’ for scofflaws and bragging rights for yahoos who get injuried, then the EMS people have to go ‘rescue’ them, our tax and tourist dollars spent on people who only get a ‘slap on the hand’. If you rip out a good section of the stairs, you can’t climb them. End of problem, and it wouldn’t cost that much
Well since it’s illegal to venture the stairs, let the trespassers pay the entire cost of the rescue. Seems only fair.