08/08/2023
I wanted to give an update to the Creative Ohana page, if anyone is still following it.
There has been some activity at the store lately and I want to clear up any confusion there might be about the goings on at the location.
In April I was approached by Paulette Marie. She is a homeless person and wanted to use the driveway to sell her silk clothing out of her van. At the time I was considering reopening the store for lumber sales and a smaller version of Creative Ohana and was in the process of cleaning out the shop and gearing up to start opening up the front space again. Paulette had some ideas about creating a space with outside vendors and trying to set up a first saturday type event in Kalaheo.
I ended up giving her a 3 month trial period agreement, where she would come to the Creative Ohana location and she could set up a umbrella or pop up tent on the driveway and sell her skirts. she would pay a daily rate for the use of the space and we agreed she would sell a couple times a month or maybe once a week. The agreement we had stated that at the end of each day she sold she would pack up and move on, she would also not have any access to the inside sales area or access to the building at all, she stated she did not need it as she was self contained in her van..
About the second month she was there, she started to bring van loads of stuff including broken furniture and things she would buy from Habitat. she would paint these items, hang them up or arrange them all over the place and call them decorations. I tried to put a stop to it but she just kept going and every day there was another pile of stuff she would go through. She then started talking to the property owner and took everything he would say completely out of context. She would lie to me about what he said she could do on the property and started to try and get the property owner to change my lease agreement to allow her access to the bathroom and front shop space, and also to essentially move into the carport with all of her stuff.
Because she was violating the agreement we had, I terminated her agreement on July 1st and ordered her to vacate the property. At that time the property owner was in agreement that she had to go, but gave her until the end of July to remove her items and vacate the property stating she had so much stuff and would take her time to pack up. Around the 3rd week of July the property owner approached me and informed me that he was going to allow her to stay until the end of October. He also stated I was to just be patient with the situation and allow her to do her thing and that she would be out of there in October., but cleaning up in the meantime.
She is now posting online stating she is rebuilding at Creative Ohana and wants anyone with extra unwanted items and plants to bring them to Creative Ohana so she can sell the items for whoever drops stuff off. I am at my wits end but have to wash my hands of the situation as its out of my control at this point. All I will say is that Paulette Marie is doing her thing, apparently with the permission of the property owner but Creative Ohana has nothing to do with her or endorses or supports her actions in any way. She is trying to use Our name but I have instructed her to not to do so. I doubt she will listen. That's the update for now
