Planning

The most important single issue for the County Council in 2009-2010 is serving our community in ways that build a sustainable future for ourselves and for our families. The whole political process seems somewhat askew at present. Harmonization of the diverse elements in our communities may well be the key toward the establishment of social justice, of equities within our communities whereby each person, each group, feels welcomed in and valued.

In our rush to achieve, so many are actually left behind and neglected. We need a County Council with enough heart and vision to help carry us forward towards these goals, not one based on ill feelings and personal ambition. The Council is meant to serve, not special interests, but our community as a whole, not only those who are powerful, but those who are simply trying to get by.

Building community works for all of us. Maui will not be an island landscape of barriers, but of welcoming, of access to the mountains and to the ocean, to the running waters and what can be gathered(as cultural rights)from pubic lands. There is an expansive nature at work in our islands, one that embraces an abundant destiny shared by all.

Water

The county, helped by the state, needs to take better control of our water resources. And though the State Water Commission is often well intentioned, it has been extraordinarilly lax in addressing the water needs of our rural communities. Indeed, the contested case hearing over East Maui Waters, has gone on for more than seven years. Developers have been allowed to drill right on the edge of the known Iao and Waihe'e Aquifers, over the protests and concerns of the county. Assuming we can be competent in the stewardship of our public trust waters, we must return control over public trust waters to the county, with oversight by the state.

The aquifers throughout the County of Maui are often not only contiguous, but also continuous, that is, they feed into each other. The proposals by USGS to drill numerous serial wells at the base of the West Maui Mountains are suspect, as this may be simply putting more "straws in the same glass."

And East Maui residents who have had their waters diverted for well more than 100 years by HC&S/EMI, are justly suspicious of any schemes to take further waters from underlying aquifers, many of which are already contaminated by agricultural chemicals.

Other than lack of political will, it is hard for me to understand why the County of Maui has not exercised the right of eminent domain, to retake control/ownership of the public trust waters of East Maui and Na Wai Eha (the four great waters of the West Maui Mountains). These waters simply do not belong to the corporations whose ditch systems presently deliver water to us. We also have trust obligations to Native Hawai'ian peoples/Na Kanaka Maoli, to return waters to them, so they can practice their traditional agricultures. At the very least, it is wasteful to be growing a water-hungry tropical grass (sugar cane) on otherwise dry sandy soils when that practice contaminates our aquifers and poisons our air.

Under present conditions of water scarcity and massive development, it would make sense to invoke a moratorium on further water meters for Central and South Maui, other than for affordable housing, and for West Maui, excepting the Hawai'ian Homes Land. 

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Jobs

I believe that the county must work toward a reliable self-sufficiency. Given the tenuous nature of our supply systems and the great uncertainty in global finance, we would do well to begin to take care of ourselves. We can pretty well take care of all our needs if we simply set our minds to the task.

Maybe not many folks remember (or care to remember) the Great Depression, but when we came out of the Depression, we came out united as a country. Helping care for one another was greatly honored. Caring for the Earth and for its products, was exemplified by the CCC and WPA, among others.

Access to land and water are fundamental to building a self-sustaining community. Our sub-tropical climate allows year-round growing of food, and there is ample land for the development of agroforesty, silviculture and perrennial tree crops.

If we care for the 'aina, it will nourish us and our children.

The work before us, to accomplish this, is substantial. Simply the goal of preparing our island to face natural disasters is enormous: running our utility lines underground, creating water storages in all neighborhoods, redesigning against unnecessary erosion and unwanted pollution, not to mention building homes for all our people with enough land around them that there will be "gardens for all."

This is the way we can provide jobs that help our community instead of sacrificing our quality of life.

An old friend of mine once said, "if it's not here, it's not there." By this he meant the inner work of self-examination, of inner growth, and of not seeking outside of oneself what already exists within. The tremendous resources that already exist in our communities, the rich cultural mixes and the ability -- through our families -- to be able to live for others, hold great potential for our joined futures.