By: Jeanine

Jeanine — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 08:11:35 +0000

In 1995, I moved into my husband’s home in Makakilo after we got married. Kalaeloa was known as Barbers Point back then and was controlled by the military. I remember a guard at the gate, shopping at the Commissary, swimming in the pool, and taking advantage of the military privileges there since my husband was in the Navy Reserves. Barbers Pt. was a safe, clean place. Even then, however, it was a dry and brown place due to its location on the dry Leeward coast. After the base closed, I had high hopes for the planned development of the land. I’m still waiting . . . Now that there is no guard at the gate, and no military to maintain the land, Kalaeloa (as it is now called) has fallen into disrepair. I am not sure of the reasons why but suspect it is due to lack of funding from the govt. and because no one is really in charge of the entire place–bits and pieces are used by various entities. But then I could be wrong–it seems like Kalaeloa has been forgotten. By the way, Kapolei is green and well-planned. However, I am glad I moved out of the “Second City”–the traffic is horrendous, the schools are overcrowded, and the homes lack character. Even in the “planned” development of Kapolei, things didn’t all go as planned . . .

Comments on: Naval Air Station Barbers Point: How Did it Become a Ghost Town?

By: Jeanine