Gov gets Kauai earful on PLDC; let’s see if he hears

If you just wait long enough, everyone will be served up.

So when Gov. Neil Abercrombie rounded up some of his state Cabinet and headed off to Kauai, as he did last week, you have to wonder. Of all the islands in our glorious archipelago, why Kauai?

Next to Molokai, Kauai is the biggest bastion of the "Let It Be" movement. It was in 2007 at Nawiliwili Harbor that the Superferry’s future floundered, as surfers blocked the popular but controversial boat’s passage and set off a series of challenges to then-Gov. Linda Lingle.

Lingle’s trip to Kauai was marked with threats to arrest those who did not obey when the Superferry pulled into port. In comparison, Abercrombie was simply bringing his Cabinet to visit.

The headline in the Garden Island newspaper told the result: "Abercrombie leaves public meeting amid boos."

The issue of concern, as it has been all summer, is concern among environmental groups and Native Hawaiian organizations, including the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, that the broad exemptions within the new Public Land Development Corp. law will allow rampant development.

The irony of the argument was captured by William Aila, director of the Department of Land and Natural Resources. A Hawaiian activist who supported and led many of the protests against development of Makua Valley in Waianae, Aila is someone who brings a certain "Brother, I’ve been there" credibility to the table.

Decades ago, Abercrombie himself earned his street cred protesting the Vietnam War while teaching at the University of Hawaii.

The pair was not firing up a crowd with rhetoric; they were urging rational discussion, which to a public that felt betrayed and ignored, only served up more cat-calls and jeers.

"I understand your passion; I have been on the other side of the table; most of us on this table have been on the other side of the table," Aila said, according to a recording of the 90-minute meeting.

"The only way we are going to move forward is if we give each other respect and follow the processes," Aila said.

Audience members said they feared the broad powers of the PLDC would be used to reinstate a plan to put hotels among the pristine park lands atop Kokee.

"It is very difficult to argue against anything that is on the far edge of reality, because all you can do is say you are not going to do it," Abercrombie said in response, arguing that hotels on Kokee would never be allowed if the county refused to provide water to them.

Kauai County Councilman Mel Rapozo attended the meeting and praised the concept of the PLDC to provide a new way to pay for needed housing, but even he had fears.

"It also allows for time shares and hotels. The problem I am having is that Act 55 (the PLDC law) is taking away the county’s planning and permitting. The five-member board doesn’t know Kauai. The seven Council members know Kauai and we are accountable; this board is not," Rapozo said.

The argument is a good one. If members of the public dislike a PLDC scheme, they are powerless. While there are provisions for public hearings, nothing forces the PLDC to follow public testimony. Hawaii has already coined its own word for impotent public hearings: "shibai."

The political problem then falls back to Abercrombie: The PLDC was championed by him and is now strongly defended by him.

The governor made some of the right moves several days ago by writing to the PLDC board to urge more openness and clearly define what the state and private developers want to do.

Many more specifics are needed to quell the mounting opposition. With new plans for another round of hearings on amended administrative rules, today’s timeline appears too tight to allow any real discussion of actual projects until after the 2013 Legislature adjourns.

So whether some efforts at compromise are enough to forestall the calls for abolishing the PLDC is one of the many decisions for the upcoming Legislature.