Thousands sign Hawaii petition to delay West Maui reopening date

The area of West Maui, where a wildfire swept through the town of Lahaina, is set to reopen Oct. 8, on the two-month anniversary of the Hawaii disaster. Lahaina will remain closed, but some residents say it is too soon to welcome visitors to this side of the island.

Hawaii Gov. Josh Green made the reopening announcement earlier this month, stating, “If we support Maui’s economy and keep our people employed, they will heal faster and continue to be able to afford to live on Maui.”

Since then, thousands of residents have signed an online petition demanding more time. “West Maui is not ready to reopen right now,” Jordan Ruidas told SFGATE this week. She was born and raised in Lahaina and lives in the West Maui town of Honokowai, about 10 minutes north.

Ruidas started the petition, as part of her Lahaina Strong community organization, last weekend. She was compelled to create it after hearing Green say that he had met with 200 individuals who voted almost unanimously that they wanted West Maui to reopen and go back to work. “I was like, no way,” Ruidas says. “I sent it to the team, and I was like, ‘Guys, we need to do something about this. He’s saying [the people of Lahaina] voted for this, and I don’t think this is true.’”

(The governor’s office released a statement to Hawaii’s KITV-TV that the decision was based on conversations with people across the Lahaina community and denied that the decision was made after a singular meeting.)

Since the Lahaina tragedy, visitor arrivals on Maui have plummeted to about 2,000 to 4,000 per day, when the number was hovering around 6,000 to 8,000 previously, and concerns about the economic impact on the island have heightened. West Maui holds about half of the island’s total visitor accommodations.

Within 24 hours of launching the petition, it received 3,000 signatures. As of Sept. 21, it had over 6,000 signatures. 

Ruidas said she is using the petition to give a voice to Lahaina families, many of whom work in the tourism industry. More than 6,500 people are displaced across Maui in 29 hotels and in Airbnbs, and many will have to move again by the time West Maui reopens. She hopes the petition will make the governor delay the reopening date.

“We feel it’s a little insensitive and a little backwards for them to ask us to go back to work when we don’t have these basic needs set in stone for us,” Ruidas says.

There’s no date in Ruidas’ mind when West Maui should reopen to visitors. Instead, she says, it should be about prioritizing residents’ essential needs first. She wants the government to secure stable long-term housing for the displaced and to provide safe schooling and child care options in Lahaina, as well as clean water, before reopening West Maui.

“A lot of residents who were allowed to go back into their homes in Lahaina do not have clean water,” she says. “How are we going to invite these tourists back when we don’t even have clean water for ourselves yet? Just basic living needs like that we feel need to be looked at before we even think of a date to open up to tourism.”

Ruidas says she is not opposed to tourism in other parts of Maui being open and says visitors are welcome there. “At this time, we’re just asking for West Maui to have a little more time so we can heal, we can collect ourselves, and we will be ready, but we just ask for this time while we figure things out,” she says.