Rep. Bertram in the news

Rep. Joe Bertram was on the Maui TV News this week talking to reporters about plans to clean up Charley Young Beach, a popular beach park in Kihei that has become "the party spot" for several groups.

"It's been about 5 years since a Brazilian group came in and set up, actually, a permanent post to do this volleyball, and it was just like every weekend and stuff like that, but it's been a real problem in the last couple of years. All of a sudden it just started increasing to like every single day," he said in an interview with reporters.

According to residents, daily raucous parties, sometimes involving drugs and alcohol, can last until the wee hours. There have been property damages to the area, including trash and human waste.

Local, county and state leaders recently took action, blocking off an area between the residential property and the ocean to clean up and clear the vegetation that separates the beach from the condos, and to restore native Hawaiian plants around the park. In the news broadcast, the fence was supposed to be removed today.

This is what Bertram added during the interview:

"This is actually a very unique park…the beach and the land belongs to the county. The state deeded it over…there's a line that goes, basically, through the middle of the beach and that's county land, so it gives the county a lot more latitude in dealing with this problem because they actually – they are the ones responsible for the beach as well."

"… block off an area, clean up all the stuff from the peeing and the pooping and the stuff that they've done, and clear it [vegetation] out so that they couldn't hide anymore because there was all kinds of drug-taking and all that kinds of stuff, and then see if that would prevent them from setting up the net for a little while and then see what we can do in the meantime."