Sign Of Success At Ahuimanu Hills
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Del.icio.usAhuimanu Hills put up a sign during this campaign season, but it’s one that should last for years to come and not make anyone mad. It reads, ahem, “Ahuimanu Hills.”
The new green-and-white concrete sign and bird symbol stand at the entrance to the single-family neighborhood behind Valley of the Temples. You can’t miss it as you turn left off of busy Hui Iwa Street. A few months ago, however, it had completely deteriorated after 32 years of wood rot. There it was -a hole in the wall, crumbling letters, no budget and no homeowners association to respond to it.
“It was an antique,” explained John Chun, the sign’s unofficial caretaker who has lived in Ahuimanu Hills longer than anyone else. “Kids have grown up with it, gone to college. Over the years, we tried our best to fix it until it was beyond our expertise.” (Neighbors Douglas Hoe and Steve Golden and his son also helped Chun repair and paint it as needed.)
So John and Terri Chun talked to banker Martin Pe’a across the street, and to attorney Craig Wagnild next door, and to Jean Serikaku around the corner (and their spouses) and came up with a plan. Listen up, you folks with sign envy.
In April, Chun’s band of volunteers circulated a letter to all 179 households, proposing a plan to contract for a new sign, to be determined on the cash collected. Pe’a created the nonprofit community association special project fund (since there’s no HOA or common property); Wagnild wrote up the liability provision requested by the owner of the land under the sign, and Serikaku solicited three bids for the renovation.
By June 30 they’d collected $7,010 from 68 percent of the residents, and the concrete sign job was awarded to AS&D Hawaii Stone Products (run by neighbor Joe Miller) for $5,364 plus $1,500 for 15 years of maintenance. The remaining $146 was given to KEY Project, which also works to improve the community at large.
“All the credit goes to the contributors in these economic times,” Chun said. “Some gave much more than their fair share, and everybody wanted it done.”
By the end of July it was finished. Miller said he took special care to replicate the original bird symbol and lettering - traced carefully by the Chuns before the originals fell apart. He also covered it all with five coats of “very good sealant” to discourage taggers.
“All around, we’re very happy,” declared Serikaku. “I told John maybe we can give him another job - go around and tell people with messy yards to get with it.”
Chun’s answer? “Oh, no!”
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