Kailua-Kona street artist Joel Piller usually spends at least five days a week at Kahaluu Beach Park. Set up along a pavilion sidewalk, across from the Kahaluu Bay Education Center and the Kahaluu Snack Wagon, he makes pen and ink
Kailua-Kona street artist Joel Piller usually spends at least five days a week at Kahaluu Beach Park. Set up along a pavilion sidewalk, across from the Kahaluu Bay Education Center and the Kahaluu Snack Wagon, he makes pen and ink geometric drawings of protective mantra mandalas, island scenes, marine life and tribal symbolism. Nearby are signs, “free donations welcome” and “items on display are available on a donation basis only.”
Piller, 41, takes $1 to $100 donations for his work, but claims more than half of it is given away to admirers and friends.
Piller said he has never sold his art at the beach, parking lot or on the street. Nor does he pay taxes on the donations, claiming he’s exempt. He earns his living as a property manager and his wife is a substitute teacher.
Kahaluu has been a source of inspiration for him for the past 11 years and recently where he’s waging what he says is a constitutional battle.
Piller recently filed a complaint of misconduct to the Hawaii County Police Commission alleging a police officer wrongfully issued him a citation for soliciting business in the park. He has also sent complaint letters to Mayor Billy Kenoi and the American Civil Liberties Union alleging county Department of Parks and Recreation officials and workers, as well as Kona police officers, are harassing and threatening him. He claims they are violating his civil rights, the right to freedom of speech and artist expression.
According to the county code, engaging in or soliciting any business in park areas, except in accordance with the provisions of a permit, contract, or other written agreement with the county, is prohibited.
Parks and Recreation Director Bob Fitzgerald said there are only two permitted concessions in the park — the Kahaluu Snack Wagon and the Kahaluu Bay Education Center that rents snorkel gear.
All profits from the snorkel concession go toward educational programs and restoration efforts at Kahaluu, as well as implementing the park’s master plan, he added.
The permits are typically awarded through a yearly bidding process that helps control the number of vendors in the area and ensures the park’s primary purpose of public recreation is not obstructed or limited, Fitzgerald said.
Several Parks and Recreation employees and police officers have observed how Piller is conducting himself in the park. They consider his actions soliciting business, which is illegal without a permit, contract or other written agreement with the county, Fitzgerald said.
Fitzgerald also cited receiving complaints about Piller from people renting the pavilion, permitted vendors and the public. He said the county is concerned about the location of Piller’s display, which is allegedly blocking the Americans with Disabilities Act-required access to the women’s bathroom.
Piller said authorities have tried to keep him for blocking the sidewalk, roping off the area for “construction reasons” or placing trash and recycling containers there as a deterrent. Piller also said he was previously cited twice for peddling in Kahaluu Beach Park, but the charges were dismissed with prejudice.
A record check of the Department of the Attorney General’s Hawaii Criminal Justice Data Center showed no convictions related to the above citations.
Prior to residing on the Big Island, his art was found on the sidewalks of Southern California, mostly Pasadena. There he was arrested for vending without a license and blocking the sidewalk.
Piller doesn’t want to move or stop what he’s doing, and says he shouldn’t have to. He said the county is trying to shut down other street artists, weavers, lei makers and other cultural practitioners publicly sharing their work, voice and aloha.
He said such a loss would affect not only Kona’s ambiance, but the sense of place.
