Moratorium call simple grandstanding
Office of Hawaiian Affairs Trustee Peter Apo called for a 30-day construction moratorium to be imposed on Mauna Kea. I’m curious what is the end game after the 30-day construction moratorium expires. The anti-astronomy groups don’t want the Thirty Meter Telescope built on Mauna Kea — even though the University of Hawaii, TMT and the Department of Land and Natural Resources have bent over backward to appease concerns.
The Thirty Meter Telescope project went through a seven-year public vetting process, which included a lengthy contested case hearing for the conservation district use permit. The hearing officer upheld the Board of Land and Natural Resources’ findings, so the BLNR granted the CDUP and the site lease.
The University of Hawaii also implemented a comprehensive management plan for the Mauna Kea Science Reserve. This was mandated after the Keck Outrigger decision. The comprehensive management plan has imposed strict conditions on future telescope projects on Mauna Kea. The TMT will be the last new telescope constructed on Mauna Kea; future telescopes will recycle existing facilities and footprint.
In short, I strongly believe OHA trustee Apo’s call to place a temporary moratorium on the construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope is pure and simple grandstanding.
Aaron Stene
Kailua-Kona
Big Islanders should have seen it coming
Most Big Islanders can’t claim they didn’t see the news coming. Campaigning for the Board of Education in 2008 I sensed a problem in the making with “Billy the Jester.” That it took this long to manifest itself in such an indelibly public manner was a bit of a surprise still I always wondered when the other shoe would drop, not if it would. And the sound of its fall was a resounding clash, hopefully, with real legal ramifications.
Add a bunch of moronic legal minds tending to Hawaii County business while spending without any oversight (four years and $400,000 for an AV system that never worked) while writing dubious laws (driving penalties for having a tiny dog sitting on your lap) and countless situations already studied near to death still getting re-examined over and over when they should be put out of their misery and buried permanently (the Waimea bypass). Just who’s in charge? And who’s watching the bank while foxes inside party ($900 on a credit card for a hostess bar in Honolulu)?
Hopefully, these wakeup headlines and TV snippets become a real call to action for everyone. That’s our money being spent so foolishly and we cannot afford to be sheep any longer. There are answers to most problems but evidently none being heard by our current administration who seem to consider county coffers a private banking service. It’s time for change and the 2016 election will be the crucible in which that change can be forged.
Make these recent disclosures about county administrative malfeasance and misappropriations a topic to discuss with all your friends unless you admire a ballsy disregard for ethics and laws that should be applied — not scoffed at. We often see T-shirts proclaiming: “Be the change you want to happen.” Get going to make sure change does happen or we’ll be the ones to blame when nothing works and county debt soars while misused taxes rise like the oceans inevitably will in coming years.
Paul Bryant
Papaaloa