Posts Tagged ‘Hawaii Polihale State Park’

No Thanks, We’ll Take Care of It Ourselves

Monday, April 13th, 2009

We'll Restore Access Ourselves

We'll Restore Access Ourselves

Polihale State Park on the Kauai Island of Hawaii has been closed since last December when severe flooding destroyed the access road to the park and damaged other facilities. Hawaii’s Department of Land and Natural Resources estimated that it would cost $4 million to repair the road and other facilities and that it would likely take two years to secure the necessary funding and complete the work. The delays threatened the existence of the small businesses that rely on park access, such as small businesses that operate kayak tours, photography businesses and food service businesses. So the affected small businesses and local residents contributed machinery and manpower and began and completed the repair work within eight days – for free. When I read of their extraordinary work, it reminded me of the importance of learning from the experiences of our peers in the small business community. In Prepare for the Worst, Plan for the Best: Disaster Preparedness and Recovery for Small Businesses (Wiley, second edition, 2008), I cited the example of small businesses in Europe that relied on access to a local theme park to operate. Their restaurants and other concessions were at risk when the theme park could not recover quickly from a major disaster, underscoring the importance of business interruption coverage. Entrepreneurs in Hawaii came up with an even better solution.