2003-11-21 TCONTINENTAL - Laserfiche WebLink

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That home on this agricultural lot in Maui just sold for almost how many farmers could afford to spend a million dollars unless youÓre growing heroin or marijuana or something on your land, you know? So my concern is that this new development in our area has, theyÓve gotten this land for pennies on the dollar and theyÓre selling it for maximum amounts of money. And theyÓre not really marketing it to farmers and local people, itÓs all been marketed on the mainland. I have a friend that went down to the, in the Pepeekeo area and was looking for land and she met with someone, I donÓt know who it was, allegedly the owner of the land so maybe, but I donÓt know the personÓs name; and when she parcel of land was and he told her, and her jaw dropped to the ground. He said, ÐOh, I have many people on the mainland willing to pay that kind of mon So, you see, itÓs not being marketed to people that live and work here, itÓs being marketed to people to come here. And I have nothing, no problem with people coming here if they come to be a part of what we are in Hawaii, and not to bring Los Angeles, or New York, or something here. Here, we are Hawaii. WeÓre not about shopping malls and weÓre not about big fancy houses. WeÓre about families and being a part o in growing up on our island, you know, fishing and swimming and hiking and hunting; and those things are being taken away. Another concern I have is that the people came here and bought all this C. Brewer land. I was at a meeting in Papaikou and a man said to me, ÐThereÓs all you people have not done anything with it,Ñ as if we were fools for not having developed the land ourselves. There just has recently been made available to the public; and in that time that it became made available, it was snapped up by all of corporations with very deep pockets, which we donÓt have. So IÓm learning how not to hit people, so I didnÓt punch him for saying that to me. But I really felt like it, because I felt it was an insult to me as a person that lives here and an insult to all of the people around here who have not had a chance to purchase the land. And the other thing is that a lot of these people came and theyÓre telling us whatÓs going to happen with the land. Now, granted, I realize itÓs their private property now and they own it. But theyÓve come into a community where we have had a c We did this from Hilo to Waipio Valley. We have a document with testimony from residents from the whole coast. Nobody has asked to see for the land. Nobody has come to the Honomu Village Association and said, ÐWeÓre planning a subdivision. How can we work with you? How c what goes on in your community?Ñ They just are coming and telling us what theyÓre going to do, and that I donÓt think is fair. If they want to be a part of our community, come talk to us, meet with the people that grew up there, meet with the community. And letÓs try to do something together, instead of just like, this is how itÓs going to be because maybe we have a better idea. And itÓs just a lot of people are moving into the area, they are insulting our ways here; and I just, IÓm a little on the defensive, I admit, because I was born and raised on Oahu and I saw what happened there; and IÓve been to Maui and IÓve seen what happened there. I mean, the roads are so clogged and the houses and the development; and we have an opportunity to take all of this beautiful agricultural land 15