HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0420.007 2020-2022 cow.qso
From: Janice Glennie
Sent: Monday, January 17, 2022 9:38 PM
To: Council Testimony,Villegas, Rebecca COUNTYCLERK
Subject: Filming communication 420 COUNTY OF fiAIVAI'I
RECEIVED
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Re: Film industry testimony Comm. 420 hate
Aloha council members,
I spoke at length regarding this communication in October. As I said then and continue to believe, there's no reason to
imagine that the film industry leaves no environmental or social footprint. In fact, the industry can run ramshod over
the lives of local residents and the natural environment. It can, and does, ignore or get around regulations meant to
protect the public's right to use and access their wild and recreational spaces as well as neighborhoods and urban
areas.
To reiterate, the communities experience with the Wind on Water TV series in the `90s, was a disaster. The beaches
and nearshore waters were off-limits to the public for much of the filming. Special Management Area shoreline
protection rules were flouted, view planes were dramatically changed including excessive lighting and set
paraphernalia so imposing that we could see it from our house at 1800' elevation over a mile away. The atmosphere
was of the public intruding on a private domain. The only reason the debauchery didn't continue is that the series was
so junk.
Many of the places film companies choose to use for their profit-making ventures are inhabited and/or visited and
depended upon by endangered native species like monk seals, honu and sea birds. Even the use of drones and strong
lighting can have unintended, harmful consequences on animals already threatened by changes in their environment.
The public and film companies seem to be unclear as to where drones can and cannot be used, but it appears that
drones can't be legally used in any county, state or federal park. Airport areas that include nearby parks including
those on the east side near Hilo airport—including possibly Banyan drive area where filming is currently being done
—also appear to be off limits to drones, but this needs to be clarified.
Enforcement of every rule is crucial and, in this case, needs to be clearly laid out. Back in the bad, old Wind on Water
days, DOBOR seemed more like it was guarding NBC than monitoring them. There was at least one DOBOR
employee employed by NBC during the filming to control the public, not vice-versa.
The State and County bend over backwards to lure film corporations with no expectation of payment. Hawaii doesn't
need the PR of brain-dead movies and TV shows that do nothing but diminish and make a mockery of the intrinsic
value of Hawaii's land and people.
Damage, displacement, and inconvenience from filming isn't always quantifiable or immediately realized, but can be
costly nonetheless. Spreading invasive species (like Little Fire Ants) from urban to wild spaces, damaging critical
habitat, or taking up an area where an endangered species comes to shore during filming can be huge. Who pays for
the possibly years-long eradication of pests or rehabilitation of a species that might be undermined by filming
activity? The illegal wall built at Mahai'ula during Wind on Water was never removed and is still crumbling into the
sea over 20 years later.
I care deeply that our young people have creative and career outlets for their talent, but the film industry in Hawaii
has been a shadow of sustainable. Until and if it can be made more island-friendly through strict, enforceable and
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