Creating a New Plan for Hawaii

Imagine that the economy is growing rapidly. The scenic landscape is being affected at many turns. Traffic is quickly becoming more congested. Yet housing for the majority of people is not available. The atmosphere is infused with a sense of reaction to too much growth and growth of the wrong kind.

This was the situation in the 1970s, when – in a period of rapid growth – we enacted the Hawaii State Plan. I submit it may be the situation in 2006.

The Plan dealt with fundamental questions: Growth for whom? Growth to what end? What would the long-term impacts be? The State Plan was a carefully thought out attempt at growth management. We put the big pieces of public life into one picture and worked with them as rationally as possible.

At least partially as a result of the State Plan, strong planning efforts channeled development in more acceptable places and more acceptable ways. Housing programs were strengthened. The runaway rate of population growth slowed significantly.

The Plan guided decision-making throughout my three terms as governor. Unfortunately, the underlying feelings that propelled the State Plan dissipated along with the symptoms of rapid growth.

Now, two decades later, I hear more and more complaints about the impacts of undigested growth. Often these complaints are not only about Oahu, but the Neighbor Islands. Frustration with traffic has increased significantly. Land-use issues are kicking up here and there. While the construction industry runs along strongly, attracting more and more resources, the actual supply of new housing is down. Young people are being driven out of Hawaii, and there is no sense of what the future holds. All of these factors combine to raise the question, "What can be done?"

Although the Hawaii State Plan law is still on the books, it is process-driven. It requires public involvement and active leadership. So in the interest of detaching myself, I won't propose that we dust off the State Plan and put it back to work. But what I am suggesting is that, as an Island society, we need a device that is roughly comparable. I will call it simply, "A New Plan for Hawaii."

A new plan for Hawaii would invite people high and low to the table. It would balance innovation with a deep sense of history. It would include survey research that samples what the public wants, without preconditioning people's responses. It would link grassroots Hawaii to the top levels of decision making. It would be organized in tiers, with the overarching concepts at the top. It would relate subject matters appropriately, meaning across the departmental lines of government. Similarly, it would encourage communication across jurisdictional lines.

It would stimulate decision makers to consult with one another. It would encourage good ideas to rise without partisan labels. It would allow a Democratic Legislature and a Republican administration to talk with one another in an atmosphere of collaboration. People on all sides could be humbled by the magnitude of the challenges facing us. It would recognize that not much gets done without the collaboration of the public sector and the private. It would also recognize that as citizens of islands, consultation with one another is more immediately urgent than in continental society.

The 1970s were a period of rapid change, and yet the leadership roles of labor, business and government were seemingly more defined. There was little doubt about who would show up at the table. If events awaken us to the need for a new plan, I wonder who, today, we would find there.

George R. Ariyoshi, chairman and cofounder of Convergence CT and Cellular Bioengineering, is the former president of Prince Resorts Hawaii Inc. He is active in international business circles, particularly in Asia. An attorney by profession, Ariyoshi served in elective office in Hawaii from 1954 to 1986. He served as governor of Hawaii from 1973 to 1986 and was the first Japanese American to be elected governor in the United States.

Do you like what you read? Subscribe to Hawaii Business Magazine »