La`au Point

EC urged to stop the clock on La`au development

Thursday, November 2nd, 2006

Amongst the main purposes of the meeting was to hear from the Alternative to La`au Development Committee (ALDC), a subcommittee of the EC, that had been recently resurrected by EC board member Joshua Pastrana and other members of the public.

The alternatives discussion began with Matt Yamashita, a former organizer for the group. Yamashita said the ALDC was self dissolved around a year ago after the group reported its findings on potential alternatives. In a memorandum submitted to the EC board in January 2006, the ALDC advised searching out a “conservation motivated” buyer for La`au Point that would work within the general parameters of MPL’s Master Land Use Plan.

At that point, Yamashita said the ALDC turned over the responsibility of pursuing alternatives to the EC board. He said the decision was largely based on the fact that MPL CEO Peter Nicholas had stated that he would only negotiate alternatives with the EC board and not the subcommittee.

Yamashita shared his frustration of working with the EC saying “The ALDC received so much negative criticism (from the EC) - our work was invalidated.”

It was also pointed out that the EC had rushed its 2005 vote to approve MPL’s Master Land Use Plan. The EC voted on the plan one month early, breaking its promise to hear ALDC findings prior to the vote.

At that meeting, EC board member Collette Machado had placed the burden on the ALDC. She stated that the “ALDC’s work was “too little too late.”

Fast-forward back to the current meeting. It is now the EC that is being blamed for coming up short on alternatives. Of the thirty some odd community members present at Thursday’s meeting, all who spoke either admonished the EC for colluding with MPL, outright slammed the organization for misrepresenting the community, or pressed for evidence that the EC has done anything to address the deep rifts that the plan has caused over the past year.

“I have no respect for this organization because they closed their eyes to their own community,” said activist Walter Ritte who argued that the community plan was being jeopardized because MPL was unwilling to take the development of La`au Point off the table. “If you want to look for alternatives, then stop the clock.”

But Nicholas revealed that he has indeed been working closely with EC board president, Stacy Crivello, to find alternatives. He said that there are 15 pages in the forthcoming draft EIS that are devoted to the alternatives for developing La`au Point and that “if a buyer proposes to buy La`au Point for a sum that is equivalent to its development return, then MPL will consider the offer.”

Nicholas also went on to say that MPL wouldn’t set a price until a serious buyer emerged.

Noelani Lee, executive director for an environmentally based non-profit, argued that the absence of a price would greatly impede the search for buyers. “You have to go to serious investors with serious numbers. You know that because you’re a businessman. You need to come up with a price,” she said.

According to Nicholas and Crivello, however, there are already two groups investigating the purchase of La`au Point, neither of which are interested in developing the pristine stretch of coastline. When asked to divulge some of the details about the interested parties, Nicholas said “the potential buyers are not interested in working with anyone in this room I’m afraid,” and added that businesses have right to keep transactions private.

The news of potential buyers caught most by surprise, including Pastrana, the head ALDC organizer. He later commented, “I was taken by surprise. Why not share this information with the EC board members? We’ve got to work together on this.”

Heated community comment continued through the afternoon. At one point, EC board member John Pele announced, beginning immediately, that he was resigning from the board. “I’m resigning because I want to have my own opinions. I just want to be able to be me,” he said.

An active member since 2005, Pele states from the EC website, “I… hope that there will be a solution that will revitalize and protect our island for the future.”

After hours of highly emotional public comment opposing the development of La`au Point the meeting moved on to internal business. At this time EC board member Josh Pastrana took the floor and promptly motioned that support for the Master Plan be put to a public vote and the EC terminate its support for the plan should the simple majority reject it. In other words, the community would directly decide the fate of the Master Plan.

Pastrana reasoned that because the EC represents the community it is the organization’s responsibility to accurately and truthfully measure support for the plan.

Immediately, board members took to discussion. Claude Sutcliff voiced mild support for the motion but thought that an immediate vote would be immature and that “people don’t understand the plan” enough to vote on it.

Richard Cooke III took offense to the motion saying, “we might as well just fold up the EC.” After verbally considering leaving the meeting to prevent quorum he announced “I have a baseball game,” and promptly left. He was followed by Sutcliff.

In the brief confusion that followed, Crivello, who conducted the meeting in a noticeably fair manner, concluded “if we do not have quorum, we cannot vote,” at which time, because of the lack of board members, the motion was dropped.

Because of the abrupt end to the meeting, it leaves to be seen whether the EC board members will wholly take up the responsibility for finding alternatives to the development of La`au Point and whether or not the community will have as say in the Community Based Master Land Use Plan.

Protesters Picket Kulana Oiwi

Tuesday, October 31st, 2006

In the latest event organized by the Save La`au `Ohana, La`au Point development resisters gathered at daybreak Sep. 26 to demand a response from the organizations they feel have betrayed the Hawaiian people. “They’re supposed to be helping us guys,” said homesteader Yama Kahaloa`a. “They’re supposed to be supporting the Hawaiians, but they’re supporting the Ranch.

“If people cannot reach their institutions then all our generations, all our posterity is at risk.”

The OHA trustees passed a unanimous resolution in support of the Ranch’s Community Based Master Plan more than a year ago. DHHL has not taken an official position on the Master Plan, but Molokai DHHL commissioner Milton Pa has spoken in support of the plan and appeared in an MPL video promoting the master plan.

Pa, along with Collette Machado were the primary targets of protestors, who weren’t shy about naming names. “Milton Pa: Selling our water, Colette Machado: Selling our culture” read one hand-painted sign. Many variations of the theme could be seen lining the highway at the peak of the protests around 7:30 a.m.

Machado, an OHA trustee, was part of the Land Trust Committee who approved the Plan and president of the Land Trust Board that will govern the community land trust – some 26,000 acres placed in conservation plus other easements – if the Master Plan goes through. Machado is also part of the EC board that helped engineer the Master Plan alongside MPL.

After the protests Machado released a statement to the Maui News in defense of her support of the Master Plan, which she believes has the support of many residents. “I believe this is a reasonable and balanced plan that reflects the values of the majority of the Molokai community,” Machado said.

She called the plan “fair, reasonable and right” and explained that “Molokai will remain rural, and its unique lifestyle will be preserved.”

While activist leader Walter Ritte has in the past accused Machado of duping the OHA trustees into voting for the resolution. Machado denies this completely. “The meeting was public and right here on Molokai,” she said when questioned about the matter earlier this year. “I resent Walter for portraying me as someone who goes backdoor. I would never put my trustees up to something like that.”

The homestead associations on Molokai plan to intervene in the “quasi-judicial” meetings of the State Land Use commission who will ultimately determine whether La`au Point will be rezoned for development. MPL CEO Peter Nicholas has said that “the Plan and anything that its partners propose will continue to support Hawaiian preference rights for water.”

According to Ritte, the conflict has reached a point where it is up to the people to hold their leaders accountable for working with developers. “The people will get what they deserve,” said Ritte. “The longer they hide, the more they lock the doors…the louder we will have to speak.”

According to an OHA spokesperson the office was closed Wednesday morning because staff members were attending a workshop in Honolulu, not because they were hiding from protestors.

At a brief meeting following Wednesday’s protests, participants discussed strategy for ousting Pa and Machado. “We should ask for their resignation,” said Mililani Hanapi. Ritte said he doubted they would resign on their own and expressed frustration that no current law allows the people to impeach either of them.

“If we can impeach the president, we should be able to impeach these people. There has to be a way for the people to remedy the situation when their leaders stop working for them,”  he said.

“If we have to go to the legislature and push a “Collette Machado/Milton Pa Law” then we will. We cannot let them join the developers to the detriment of their Hawaiian constituents.”

Buying back Molokai

Thursday, October 26th, 2006

As the battle over the Molokai Ranch master plan rages on, a newly formed group is working on a plan to ensure that BIL International’s investment portfolio will never again concern the Molokai community.

They want to buy the ranch.

Yes, all 65,000 acres of it, including the Kaluakoi Hotel, the Lodge, the tentalows, the Mo`omomi dunes, the Naiwa Makahiki grounds, the Nature Conservancy preserve, the industrial park, the town of Maunaloa, the ballfield in Kaunakakai, numerous wells and reservoirs, the burial grounds at Kawela, the birthplace of Hula, and La`au.

Hundreds March to Save La`au Point

Sunday, October 15th, 2006

“They walked the way I have seen night marchers walk in Halawa Valley,” he said. When you see them marching, you move aside. Don’t be in their way. They are doing what they must do.”

About 250 people from keiki to kupuna hiked from Dixie Maru Beach through Kaupoa and on to La`au as a protest against the development of up to 200 residential lots there. Several boats carrying protesters in red “A`ole La`au” shirts drove out to watch the marchers when they reached their destination.

Theopista Purdy, the oldest kupuna to make the trek on foot to La`au Saturday, knitted her own “Save La`au” pin for the march. This is her third protest march, she said, because wants to show her “aloha for the `aina.”

Solatorio said that this was the first Molokai protest march to follow traditional Hawaiian protocol. March leaders Hanohano Naehu and Josh Pastrana blew conch shells from Dixie Maru beach, and Solatario sounded his welcome from inside the gates of the sacred Napiko site at Kaupoa beach. Naehu chanted; Solatario answered.

Senator Clayton Hee, a part-time Molokai resident who has served in the state legislature for 24 years, then opened the march with a speech and a prayer. “This is an island that refuses to be homogenized,” he said. “This place is a refuge. On other islands people in need are stealing copper wire from the highways to survive. Here, they are hunting from the mountains. They are fishing from the sea. I try to close my eyes and look 50 years into the future. Our footprints today will make the path easier to follow for the next generation.”

After a group chant, marchers took to the trail for Kaupoa Beach. Many said they appreciated that Molokai Ranch chose to open its gates along the route for the protest. “While we don't condone trespass on private property, we are working with the group to ensure their safety, as well as the safety of our employees and our guests,” said Molokai Ranch Community Affairs Manager John Sabas in a press release made public the day before.

Protesters reached a seemingly vacant Kaupoa Beach Village after 20 minutes. The group drank water provided by the Ranch, passed a canopy near the beach under which ten ranch employees sat observing and found Solatorio greeting at the gate to La`au. Solatorio said he was happy, sad, and hurt. “Happy,” he said, that “you could all come out like this, sad that it has had to come to this and hurt that the community is being torn apart.”

The march continued for about half an hour until the wide dirt road ended. Protesters regrouped and surveyed pristine Kamaka`ipo Beach to the south and the rough waters of La`au Point to the north. The trail became wide enough for only one at a time, and the eighty degree heat and direct sun started to show wear on the marchers. Spirits remained high, however, and the group was rewarded with an awesome view of waves smashing lava boulders at La`au Point. A group of three pulled up nets with lobsters while six boats whizzed back and forth across the water.

Three bays over, a Hawaiian hale with a ten-foot-wide “Save La`au” banner became visible. Children were already there jumping off rocks and playing in the water at what has become known as Shipwreck Beach. Piles of white coral marked a trail across the bluffs forming the south side of the island, and a final steep decline led into the 500-yard-long sandy cove, where protesters took to any available shade and drank water.

A good place to survey the action was behind terraced rock walls built in the style of a Hawaiian fishpond. Fifteen-year-old Halelu Sibayan spent three days at La`au constructing the wall with eight other students. “We are learning how to save our land and put our mana into it,” she said. “Our kupuna left this legacy to us for a purpose.”

Honest dialogue between all parties should resume

Thursday, October 12th, 2006

Thank you for your coverage of the Community Plan and the La`au issue. The more information that is available, the better we can all evaluate “The Plan.”

I am saddened by the rift this plan has caused in our community. The social impact of this development is already being felt with the choosing of sides as to whether or not La`au should be developed. We see negative impact as insults fly and signs in the community are defaced. This is not good for Molokai. Something has gone wrong with the Plan and it should be revisited. It does not matter how many meetings there have been or how many hours have already been expended to get to this point. Honest dialogue between all parties should resume with more attention devoted to alternatives to the development of La`au Point, which seems to be the chief objection to the Plan. It is inevitable that change and development will come to our island, but once an area is developed it is lost forever. There will be no second chance to do this right.

La`au Point OCCUPIED: Molokai Anti-development group digs in for the long haul

Tuesday, September 19th, 2006

In an act reminiscent of Kaho`olawe-era protests, a new generation of Molokai activists have set the stage for an extended occupation of La`au point, an area that would be sold as a luxury subdivision under the Molokai Ranch’s “Community Based Master Land Use Plan.” Supplied by a small flotilla of fishing boats, over 50 people spent shifts building a Hawaiian hale on this contested land over the last week.

The hale will serve as base camp for the opposition movement and will be the final destination of a community protest march planned for Oct. 7. Activists plan to practice subsistence hunting and gathering for the duration of their indefinite stay. Their slice of land has been nicknamed Shipwreck Beach after a marooned sailboat half-buried in sand 30 feet ashore.

“We want to do the things we’ve been saying we must do if we are to keep our culture – our families – alive,” said Walter Ritte, an opposition leader who has spent the past 30 years fighting development on Molokai. “We stopped the bombing of Kaho`olawe, we stopped the cruise ships and we will stop gentlemen’s estates from going up at La`au.

“This occupation is a tactic for the warriors. I am hoping that this becomes for the young people here what the land use battles of the 70s were to us.”

Members of the group Hui Ho`opakele `Aina had been harvesting mangrove and bamboo for the past several weeks in preparation for the event. But when it came time to break ground on the La`au Point Hale, Ritte says he shunned the idea of a set strategy. “You can plan these things but they’re going to have a life of their own.” La`au means plant in the Hawaiian language, and Ritte says the hale suits the name. “This is our plant right here,” he said. “This is our seed. The people of Molokai are the ones who will decide what happens to it.”

The occupation planners did their best to make sure the stars were aligned in their favor: Aunty Clara Ku, one of the strongest elders in the effort to stop “friendly fire” test-bombing on Kaho`olawe and leader of a six-hour access march from Mo`omomoi to Kawakeu believed 13 was a lucky number – every major opposition move of that era happened on the 13th. “So what if it’s the middle of the week?” said Ritte. “If we go on the 13th, Auntie Clara will be with us.”

In a stroke of good fortune the north and south swell lulled simultaneously on the big day and the loading and unloading efforts went smoothly. But it was the arrival of a “busload of young, strong fishermen” that made construction efforts possible, according to Ritte, who was thrilled to see that the original occupation crew was not just the usual suspects.

“We’ve been going to meetings for two years, talking and talking. I never saw these guys at the meetings, but when the 13th arrived, they were here. These are the guys who actually spend time in La`au, and they were the only ones who could have pulled this off.” The men are calling themselves “frontliners” and they spent much of the first day chasing sinking mangrove logs to the bottom of the sea. The occupation organizers had brought ropes and floats and hoped for the best, but the effort came down to the strength and skill of the Molokai boys who had grown up in the water. “They don’t realize how amazing their skills are,” Ritte said.

MPL CEO Peter Nicholas and MPL Community Affairs Manager John Sabas organized a Hawaiians-only meeting between the ranch’s “employee’s council” and the occupation crew the day before groundbreaking, but the meeting ended in a stalemate. The groups agreed to disagree.

Molokai Ranch has made no physical attempt to stop the occupation. At press time activists and visitors were moving in and out of the camp freely despite “No trespassing” signs dotting a well-defined trail to La`au. A 1.5 hour hike from the hale leads to Dixie Maru Beach, the nearest place to park.

Locals call La`au “the icebox” for its abundant game and proximity to the Penguin Banks, the best fishing area on the island. Ancient burial grounds and other important archaeological sites give another nickname – “the leaping place of spirits.” Kaipo Kekona of Maui, who traveled to the occupation site from Maui in an outrigger sailing canoe, said developers must not understand the significance of the area. “If they try to take La`au then they have a lot more coming to them – physically and spiritually – than they could ever know.”

Molokai Hawaiian Homesteaders and other supporters of the vocal “Save La`au” movement also say that the Molokai Ranch’s development plan will threaten their limited water supply and devastate important cultural resources on the only island where native Hawaiians still have a majority.

Molokai Ranch insists that the land use plan was developed in collaboration with the Molokai community and that it is a socially and culturally responsible project. Indeed, the development comes with several incentives for the community, including an offer to preserve nearly 55,000 acres of as a community-based land trust and a promise to revamp and reopen the old Kaluakoi Hotel.

MPL worked with the Molokai Enterprise Community (EC) to involve the community in building the plan. It was later approved by a volunteer committee in a 19-to-6 vote. Some longtime anti-development activists are even on board, including EC director and OHA trustee Collette Machado, who calls the plan “a realistic settlement of a thirty-year struggle.” John Sabas, who led activist efforts in his youth, now works for Molokai Ranch as its Community Affairs Manager.

Land Use attorney Isaac Hall, who once defended the anti-La`au group Hui Ho`opakele `Aina in a successful battle to stop the development of a high-end country club on the ranch’s lands above Kualapu`u, is now representing the ranch in regards to its Master Plan. He believes the master plan has broad support and “offers more to the community than the land use struggles that have been going on for years.”

But Steve Morgan, who played an instrumental role in the La`au Point occupation at Shipwreck Beach, said Molokai does not want to sacrifice some land to preserve other land. They want to preserve all of it – and they will stop at nothing to do so. He noted that for the past 30 years no developer has managed to touch the land offered to the trust, and that anyone who tried would have to go through the same difficult land use process that the ranch is going through now.

“The ranch knows they could never develop on those lands,” he said. “That’s why they’re offering them up.” He added that the size of the offer means that Molokai’s refusal to accept the deal will set a precedent. “It will tell them whether we will compromise who we are.”

Ritte, who has in the past fought alongside those who now support the Master Plan, says that some of Molokai’s activists have bowed to political pressure that encourages compromise and that others simply do not trust the next generation to carry on the battle. “In order for the activists to come to a split, people have to be tired of fighting,” Ritte said on the first day of La`au occupation. “But anyone who doesn’t think the young people here have what it takes to continue our battle should have been out here this morning. If they could have seen the commitment, the pure energy of the young guys who came out here today, they’d be changing their tune.

Spirits are high at Shipwreck Beach, where activists have seen a steady flow of supporters hike in to bring supplies and lend a hand. Just before setting up camp at La`au, Ritte spent a day at the UH Law School consulting lawyers Denise Antolini and Casey Jarman who have agreed to help Hui Ho`opakele Aina and say there will be opportunities for legal intervention at three levels in the state approval process the ranch must pass to develop the land. Appeals could stop the process for several years or more. “At this point it would be a miracle if the ranch’s plan goes through,” said Ritte. “If we don’t win on the home turf, then we’ll win in the courts.”

Linda Lingle Endorses Master Plan; Criticizes La’au Opposition

Friday, August 18th, 2006