DIY park repairs: community organizing.

• Author: Winkler, Jeff
• Position: Citings - Brief article

AFTER FLOODS mined facilities at the Polihale State Park in Hawaii this past December, residents and business owners waited for help from the state to repair the mess. The state said the project would take two years, adding that repairs probably wouldn't begin until the following summer. So citizens pulled an impressive do-it-yourself job and completed the estimated $4 million in repairs themselves. It took them eight days.

Residents depend on the park's tourism for much of their income, so the community project was undertaken out of necessity. The locals donated generators, trucks, cement mixers, and other equipment, plus their own manpower, to the task. "We can wait around for the state or federal government to make this move...