Mōʻiliʻili, Hawaii is a neighborhood of Honolulu CDP, City and County of Honolulu, Hawaii, on the island of Oahu.
The commercial district at South King Street and University Avenue in Moiliili is the closest such district to the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. The H-1 Freeway is located between UH Manoa and the business district.[1]
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For a 40 year period before 2007, various members of the area community considered developing Moiliili into a college town environment. Around 2002 Evan Dobelle, the president of the University of Hawaii system, said that he would prioritize developing a college town. He also discussed the idea of moving the UH system offices from UH Manoa to Moiliili. In 2007 Kamehameha Schools bought 1.7 acres (0.69 ha) of land from Pacific Theatres, including the Varsity Theatre and the Varsity Office Building, increasing its landholdings in Moiliili to its present state.[1]
Moiliili is located between Waikiki and the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
Kamehameha Schools owns 11.4 acres (4.6 ha) of land in Moiliili. Much of the property is along South King Street and University Avenue.[1]
A small and local community, composed of numerous small businesses such as florists, imported goods, ethnic foods and surf gear and apparel, the major focus of the small community is centered around the area of University Avenue and King Street, .[2]
Located beneath the busy intersection of South King Street and University Avenue lies a complex system of caves known as the Moiliili Karst. Originally the underwater stream was fed by the Manoa stream, but it has since been rerouted. A natural pond was formed and the popular Willows restaurant centered around this natural phenomenon. However, construction to the UH athletic fields and surrounding businesses caused collapses and rerouting of the underground waterway, and forced the owners to cement in the pond, making it now an artificial pond. Several species of fish and plant life live in this underground system of caves. This cave system in not open to spelunkers and is accessible only by a city sewer grate.
The McCully Mōʻiliʻili online neighborhood of Our Town 808 was launched in 2008. It houses T.A.G. (Totally Against Graffiti), Moiliili Citizen Patrol, Pride in Moiliili (over 600 neighborhood pictures posted). The Old Town Mōʻiliʻili Business Association submitted an online community concept based upon Our Town 808 to the Island Innovation Fund in 2010. The concept featured Mōʻiliʻili as a model for online neighborhood community building.
In May 2009, Mōʻiliʻili Matters, a community-based online social network, was officially launched. Among its first members were a number of community and business leaders including: Senator Brian Taniguchi, Hawaii Senate; Senator Carol Fukunaga, Hawaii Senate; Representative Scott Saiki, Hawaii House of Representatives; Representative Scott Nishimoto, Hawaii House of Representatives; Ron Lockwood, Chair of the McCully-Mōʻiliʻili Neighborhood Board;[3] and others.
The Honolulu Weekly called it "The Might Mo': An often-overlooked neighborhood."[4]
One of the Mōʻiliʻili neighborhood's issues has been illegal garbage dumping. Mōʻiliʻili Matters played an active role in exploring the issue and collaborating with community stakeholders. After monitoring the discussion forum on illegal garbage dumping, the Founder of Mōʻiliʻili Matters collaborated with Kamehameha Schools (Mōʻiliʻili's largest landowner) to address the problem.[5] The collaboration produced an informational postcard regarding bulky item pick-up dates and guidelines[6] The postcard was mailed to more than 15,000 households.
As a result of the collaboration, Mōʻiliʻili Matters received media attention. On September 27, 2009, the Honolulu Advertiser published an article titled, "Web site aims to unite Moʻiliʻili."[7] A few days later, June Watanabe, a Honolulu Star-Bulletin staff writer also wrote about the team effort.[8] KHON-TV Reporter, Kirk Matthews interviewed Kamehameha Schools spokesperson Kekoa Paulsen and Mōʻiliʻili Matters Founder Derek Kauanoe for its "Be Green 2" segment titled, "Partnering to clean up city sidewalks."[9]
After Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann announced he would introduce a bill penalizing property owners for illegally dumped bulky items,[10] the Honolulu Weekly's Ragnar Carlson once again wrote about Mōʻiliʻili Matters briefly in an Editor's note and recognized the social network for raising the illegal garbage dumping problem.[11]
Mōʻiliʻili Matters co-hosted a Congressional candidate debate on April 13, 2010. On February 28, 2010, U.S. Representative Neil Abercrombie resigned from Congress creating an early vacancy for his seat. Although 14 candidates ran for the seat, Ed Case, Charles Djou, and Colleen Hanabusa were identified as front-runners.[12][13] Derek Kauanoe moderated the event.
The area is serviced by Honolulu's The Bus service.
Hawaii Department of Education operates public schools.
The City and County of Honolulu operates Moiliili Neighborhood Park.[14]
On January 9, 2010, a Mōʻiliʻili resident, Angie Yiyin Zhang was crowned the 2010 Narcissus Queen at the 61st Annual Narcissus Queen Pageant.[15]
