2007-07-06 TPACIFIC - Laserfiche WebLink

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There was no forewarning that these ponds were going to be cleaned; and theres a lot of nutrients and theres a lot of limu that can be cultivated in those areas to oxidize the water so that you can minimize the salinity in the water. It has been done, its right down the road. Seaside Restaurant does it all the time and its done naturally with no chemicals. There is a history of businesses and of homes that have reinvented or sort of reincorporated this lifestyle, and it is possible in doing. But it does take a community to do those things. And if the community that youre coming into doesnt know that youre there, it doesnt work if you only come a month before you come to the Planning Commission, you come to our community one month before that and say, hey, we need your help, but weve been doing it for three years. Its a little bit too late, I think. Its a little bit, people will automatically get upset because now theyre in a defense, theyre in a defense because you encroached on their environment. You changed it, and then now youre asking for help. And although, Im not here to say that were not willing to help. Its that we could have helped a longtimeagobeforeyouchangedtheenvironment.AndlikeIsayitsaddensmethatIhavent seen any of these faces, and I only live across the street, and Ive been there for 25 years from the day I was born. Im aware that the brother here is of Polynesian descent, I believe? MOEVAO:Yes. AH NEE:And hes from American Samoa? MOEVAO:Yes. AH NEE:Talofa, Malo. Theres nothing wrong with introducing our Polynesian brothers and sisters into our community. But what does that message as a development, if people are trying to come in to develop, what does that say when they need to grab somebody from another Polynesian island about our people that have been able to restore their ponds and their fishing areas? Theres at least five people on the Kalanianaole Avenue that have rebuilt their fishponds in their communities, that have been a part of that coastline, that have reaped the benefits of taking care of the environment. They could have likely benefited this organization in this development project because they understood the salinity and they understood what the importance of the sediments on the very bottom of those ponds meant to the alaeula, or what it meant to the people and what we used it for, in our gardens as nutrients, and what we could use with it if you should dredge it and take it out. It seems very common sense that the people that have been in the community would know most likely what to do with the property in their community. Now we didnt have a choice when Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole went to Washington, D. C., to receive the Hawaiian Home Commissions Act of 1920. We didnt have a choice in the lands in which the United States government decided what pockets of land areas were they going to give back to the Hawaiians. What we did as native Hawaiians was take what we could get and develop from it and survive. And we could have done the same with this program, this organization. We could have done the same. Its really hard to sit here and know that theres 12EXHIBIT A