Letters – 09|06

What our readers have to say

MAHALO FROM MAUI

On behalf of the people of Maui County, I’d like to thank Hawaii Business and Scott Radway for the excellent article (July 2006) that brought statewide attention to our over-burdened Kahului Harbor.

Kahului Harbor has outgrown its capacity; cargo flow has grown by 50 percent in five years; and, we’re running out of band-aid solutions. We (county and state) must devise plans to address the harbor-related needs of our community for both intermediate and long-term.

In 2003 I appointed a task force to study issues created by the rapid expansion of cruise ship arrivals. After 41 meetings they found that the Harbors Division allowed expansion without adequate planning or environmental review. With the added burden of a pending Superferry, in a Sept. 7, 2004 letter to the DOT, I pointed out this lack. Subsequently, the Harbors Division and my administration agreed to work together to resolve the harbor’s short- and long-term issues in a process that will include a thorough environmental review.

A recent decision by the County Council to join a legal action demanding an EIS puts the state on notice that we are not kidding: the Superferry cannot just be forced on us. But, the reservation I have with suing the state over the Superferry EIS is that we need action now. Tying the state up in legal knots before it can take action at the harbor may mean we won’t see any harbor improvements for a very long time.

I’d rather work with than fight with state DOT. Ultimately, it is a state harbor, but we must partner with each other if Maui is going to get the harbor it needs. And, as the DOT presented to us: “The first joint steps of the County/State partnership will be the development of the Kahului Commercial Harbor 2030 Master Plan.”

I fully support a comprehensive environmental study, but quickly, please, because we’re running out of time. Our goal should not be to simply entangle the state in a mire of court actions; it must be to get to the work of upgrading our harbor, now. Our harbor can no longer just be patched; it must be fixed so that it protects our community and our environment for generations.

Alan Arakawa
Mayor, County of Maui
Via email

MIXED REVIEWS

I read your August 2006 “Nota Bene” with interest and found it, frankly, a cop out. Our children admittedly need good role models and teachers in life. Lt. Watada, however, is not to be counted among them.

Lt. Watada’s decision is admittedly “unpopular,” but I question whether it is “principled.” First, principled decisions are not necessarily synonymous with the personal beliefs of their makers otherwise unprincipled people would always make principled decisions. In the same vein, assuming Lt. Watada is personally “principled,” the fact he holds beliefs supporting his decision does not necessarily make his decision “principled,” unless of course you are advocating adoption of a natural law system wherein the beliefs of individuals are higher than man made law. Surely you are not.

Try running the armed forces, a municipality, a corporation, a small business, even your family, if the decisions of those under you not to follow orders are so easily characterized as “principled” using your contextual definition. You can’t, because the basic truth is that stable societies, governments, businesses and families need and rely upon rules.

I don’t fault Lt. Watada for his beliefs. I fault Lt. Watada for not having the maturity and self-enlightenment he now professes before he joined the military. I mean, what did he really think? Or did he think at all?

Michael D. Formby
Honolulu, Hawaii
Via email

DOG, AMBASSADOR OF ALOHA?

I love “Dog the Bounty Hunter” and watch it as much as I can and just read your magazine cover story (June 2006). As someone who lives in NC but loves Hawaii (my goal is to come every 2 years for a visit ) this show does not take away from my view of Hawaii as an ideal vacation spot. I know there is crime in Hawaii but I love watching the scenery of the state. (I like it even when they are stuck in traffic on H-1!) Places like Aruba where they claimed there was no crime and now we find out quite differently, that has more of a negative effect. Dog’s show just makes me want to visit the state sooner despite the lowlifes he captures. Mahalo!

Kevin Johnson
Homes of the South Inc.
Charlotte, North Carolina
Via email

CLARIFICATION: Our August 2006 “Now and Again” said, “DFS Hawaii fell off our (Top 250) list in 1999, and it has yet to bounce back.” DFS Hawaii has not submitted gross sales data to Hawaii Business since 1999, for competitive reasons.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR MAY BE SENT TO: Address: Hawaii Business 1000 Bishop St., Ste. 405 Honolulu, HI 96813 Fax: (808) 537-6455 E-mail: hbeditorial@pacificbasin.net All letters to the editor must include the writer's name, address (at least city or town, and state) and daytime and evening phone numbers. Writers should also disclose any relationship with the subject of their letter. We reserve the right to edit letters for clarity and space and to use them in all electronic and print editions of Hawaii Business.

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