Had an interesting chat last week with County of Maui Communications Director Rod Antone. We talked about a number of things going on with Maui and the current mayoral administration, but soon our talk got around to a recent write-up in this space on the Occupy Monsanto protests in Kihei that took place the last week in January.

“Do you really think the county cares about the protests?” Antone asked me.

According to Antone, Maui police officers were not “harassing” the protesters, who were standing on Pi’ilani Highway in front of Monsanto’s Kihei headquarters, wearing masks and waving signs opposing the company’s extensive genetically modified organism (GMO) research and development.

“All the officers said was not to stand too close to the highway and not to camp there,” Antone said. “Otherwise, they can stand in the hot Kihei sun all they want.”

As far as the video footage shot by the protesters showing a Maui police officer telling them they needed a permit, Antone said that was for a porta-potty. “But they can’t camp there, so they couldn’t get a permit for one,” he said.

Given that we’re entering a political season, in which candidates and their supporters often stand on roadsides, mere inches away from speeding cars while waving signs at passing motorists, it’ll be interesting to see if Maui PD takes their safety into the same consideration as the Monsanto protests.

But Antone also added that some of the protesters visited one of Mayor Alan Arakawa’s County on Your Corner meetings, which was held on Jan. 28 at the Queen Ka’ahumanu Center. Antone said they met with mayor and Public Works Director David Goode, among others. Antone also said that a few of the protesters also visited Arakawa’s office (see photo), though he said that he didn’t know what to make of the gentleman on the right (who’s also holding a copy of MauiTime).

“See that plastic thing?” Antone asked. “What is that?”

Well, I’d say it’s pretty obvious what it is: it’s an octopus made of trash bags. And if you can think of a better way to gain publicity for your cause than by draping an octopus made of trash bags around your head and shoulders, I’d like to hear it.

Photo: Rod Antone

It’s amazing how fast the news traveled. Earlier this week, word broke that the giant and usually applauded Susan G. Komen For the Cure–the nation’s biggest breast cancer charity organization–was ending its practice of donating money to Planned Parenthood, which makes breast exams, birth control and abortions available to thousands of lower income women nationwide (Komen gave $680,000 to Planned Parenthood affiliates last year).

The reason? A new policy saying the organization will not donate money to any organization under investigation (Florida Republican Congressman Cliff Stearns, an outspoken abortion foe, is currently looking into Planned Parenthood).

Within hours, the news went viral. Outrage flooded Facebook and Twitter, and donations flooded into Planned Parenthood. Komen execs scrambled to deny their decision had anything to do with abortion. Then Mother Jones reported that Komen was still donating millions to Penn State, which is also under federal investigation, this time for alleged campus crime reporting irregularities. According to The Atlantic, one top Komen executive even resigned over the decision.

Wondering how all this would affect Planned Parenthood Hawaii (which operates three clinics, including one in Kahului, and do approximately 2,600 breast exams a year), I talked to Katie Polidoro, the organization’s director of government relations and public affairs.

“Obviously, we’re disappointed,” Polidoro said. “But there should be no effect here.”

The reason is that except for a small grant in 2005, Polidoro said Planned Parenthood Hawaii hasn’t been taking money from the Komen Foundation (the organization does hand out small breast exam cards from the Komen foundation to women, and Polidoro said that practice would continue).

“It’s disappointing to see a grant partner bow to political pressure, but we hope there will be some sort of change,” Polidoro added.

What’s more, Polidoro said the Komen Foundation’s decision was a national one, meaning there was still the possibility that regional Komen Foundations would continue to give money to Planned Parenthood. In fact, Polidoro said the Komen Foundation affiliate in Connecticut has already promised to keep donating to Planned Parenthood.

To contact Planned Parenthood’s clinic in Kahului, please call 808-871-1176.

Photo: S. MiRK/Wikimedia Commons

When I heard our editor Anthony Pignataro rambling on about the Maui Island Plan, I tried to boil the idea down to something simpler and stupider that I could express with one picture for the cover. Images of cityscapes rising higher then Haleakala, beaches buried under cement and coastal water thick with the byproducts of urban decay filled my mind like some apocalyptic Planet of the Apes fanboy.

Then I took a breath and tried to find a friendlier way to say that the story is about us trying to turn Maui into what we want it to be. I pictured kids building a sand castle kingdom out of lava dust, sea shells and coral bones.

Then I took my son to Airport Beach in Kaanapali and made a four-story building out of sand. As I was taking pictures of it, some snorkling tourist walked right into frame and stood there as though I’d asked her to model. My son waited patiently out of frame until I said “Go for it!” Then he demolished my little building within seconds. After he had leveled everything out, he stuck the flag back in the sand as if to say, “Don’t worry, it’s still here in spirit.”

Your friendly neighborhood art director,

-Scrappers

You read that right, kids: on Tuesday, Feb. 21, Congresswoman Mazie Hirono (D, 2nd District) will celebrate Mardi Gras by holding a fundraiser for her U.S. Senate campaign with Patrick Simmons of the Doobie Brothers.

“The very first rock concert Mazie attended featured the Doobie Brothers,” states the press release announcing the fundraiser, which will take place (of course) at the Kihei house belonging to Shep Gordon. You may know him from such celebrity manager gigs as Alice Cooper, Ben Vereen, Kenny Loggins and Raquel Welch (local musician Tom Conway, dubbed by Anu Yagi as Maui’s “Six-String Sensei,” will also attend).

Who knew that Haiku resident Simmons A) supported Hirono’s slightly-left-of-center politics and B) disliked the prospect of former Republican Governor Linda Lingle winning a seat in the U.S. Senate so much that he’d show at a political fundraiser? Actually, the Center for Responsive Politics says Simmons gave former Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich–one of the more lefty guys to run for the White House in the last, oh, century–nearly $4,500 since 2004, so his presence at a Hirono event isn’t that surprising (Gordon is no stranger to politics either, having given Hirono $500 back in 2007).

Anyone willing to donate at least $100 to Hirono’s campaign (“not deductible for federal income tax purposes”) can attend, and those ponying up $1,000 or more can attend a special 5:30pm “pre-reception” with Hirono and Simmons (the whole event runs 6:30-8:30pm). For more information, email Josh Handelman at josh@mazieforhawaii.com.

I keep a number of famous quotations posted around my office at work, and one of my favorites has always been from Voltaire: “It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.” There’s something both heroic and chilling about calling bullshit on the powerful–especially when we live in times when government officials at all levels are becoming more aggressive towards skeptical citizens who find themselves disagreeing with the official line.

Government’s anti-speech actions range from military and espionage agencies spying on domestic organizations (especially if they’re Muslim) to police officers arresting people who try to record said police officers going about their official duties. Newspapers and blogs are filled with stories detailing these kinds of adversarial encounters, and they seem to be getting worse.

You’d think a laid-back place like Maui would take a more relaxed view to political protests. Not so. Last year, Maui Police Officer Nelson Johnson physically assaulted MauiTime Publisher Tommy Russo when Russo wouldn’t stop filming Johnson in the very public Wailuku Municipal Parking Lot.

This year, MPD has taken to harassing a group of activists calling themselves Occupy Monsanto, who spent last week camped out on the public highway fronting Monsanto’s operation–home of all sorts of genetically modified seeds–in Kihei.

Seriously, these guys were just standing on the roadside waving signs. That’s it. They weren’t tearing down fences, throwing rocks at cars or marching onto private property. At most, there were a couple dozen people out there at any given time.

Yet the harassment got so bad (activists filmed two incidents in which cops told them to move along and posted the footage on their Facebook page) that the activists now have legal representation from the American Civil Liberties Union’s Hawaii office, which wrote to the County of Maui’s Corporation Counsel’s office on Jan. 24 to protest the actions by the MPD.

“The protesters are approximately thirty feet from the roadway,” ACLU Hawaii staff attorney Daniel Gluck wrote. “Our understanding is that this is public property and that no statute, ordinance, or rule prohibits this protest or limits this type of activity to certain times of day.”

The county reacted quickly to Gluck’s letter (ACLU Hawaii is also representing former Kihei resident Tess Meier and her husband Jamie in their fight against the City of Honolulu for busting up their perfectly legal “Go Topless Day” protest last August), writing back a mere 24 hours later. Of course, Corporation Counsel attorney Moana M. Lutey denied that any harassment had taken place.

“None of the protestors [sic] have been arrested, cited, or threatened with arrest or citation for protesting at Monsanto,” Lutey wrote. “Instead, the protestors [sic] have simply been asked to comply with the same rules that apply to sign waivers (i.e. maintaining a certain distance from intersections for traffic safety, do not stand in the middle of a divided highway, etc.).”

Yet the video posted on the Occupy Monsanto website clearly shows a Maui Police Officer telling protesters they had to leave. “You’re not supposed to be here,” the unidentified officer tells one of the activists. “You need a permit.”

Lutey wrote that “it is my understanding that the protestors [sic] have been leaving at nightfall” and that “it is my understanding that the protestors [sic] leave of their own volition and not as a result of any threats by MPD.”

In fact, the same video posted on the Occupy Monsanto Facebook page shows the same MPD officer telling the activists “no camping”–meaning, they have to vacate at night.

Where is the “traffic safety” issue here? Since when does someone need a “permit” to stand on the side of the road?

If it’s legal and fine for political candidates and their minions to stand on roadsides waving signs, then it should be legal and fine for the Occupy Monsanto people to do so on the public roadside outside Monsanto’s property. Seems ACLU Hawaii agrees with me.

“No government official has given any basis for the statement that the safety of the protesters, the drivers, or the general public is at risk,” Gluck told the Corporation Counsel’s office.

Photo: Ian MacKenzie

When most people think of a plan, they probably imagine a one-sheet, perhaps with a clear and unambiguous map or schematic attached. Weighing in at 342 pages, with detailed maps, photos, graphs, tables, charts and appendices and nearly impenetrable text, the Maui Island Plan is something altogether different.

Put simply, the plan is a thorough look at the future of Maui over the next generation. In discussion and development since 2006, the plan holds great promise for those who want to see rational and equitable development on an island marked by tremendous land use contrasts.
“One particular facet of Maui was prioritized by nearly everyone who participated in our community meetings,” states the plan’s Executive Summary, drafted in December, 2009. “[T]he desire to maintain the small towns and open countryside that is such a large part of who and what Maui is, while at the same time providing vibrant urban areas that will provide an equally positive quality of life for those who make their lives in our larger towns.”

As has been well reported in the Maui News, the Maui Island Plan is also years behind schedule. After countless public hearings and discussions of the plan by both the General Plan Advisory Committee (GPAC) and the Maui Planning Commission, it stalled in the Maui County Council’s General Plan Committee. The council elected in 2008 took up the Maui Island Plan, but only got as far as Chapter 7 before their terms expired.

Incoming General Plan Committee Chairwoman Gladys Baisa (her predecessor, Sol Kaho‘ohalahala, was turned out of office in 2010) decided to start over. As a result, the council’s General Plan Committee has finally stopped covering old ground (though as you’ll see below, that doesn’t mean the plan’s text hasn’t changed in disturbing ways). On Feb. 2, the committee begins examining the sure-to-be controversial Chapter 8–“Directed Growth Plan.” It’s the plan’s most regulatory section, which includes 10 maps showing proposed “urban growth boundaries” that will make explicit where land developers can build. Future hearings will take up the proposed boundaries of each of the island’s regions in turn.

To get a handle on such an intimidating planning document–and an explanation as to why the Maui Island Plan is so important–we spoke with GPAC member Lucienne de Naie. De Naie and the rest of GPAC became intimately familiar with the Maui Island Plan’s evolution.

Lucienne de Naie

MAUITIME: We can’t believe the County Council’s General Plan Committee is finally going to start breaking new ground, so to speak, on the plan.

LUCIENNE DE NAIE: The people who went to the GPAC meetings, the Planning Commission meetings–I think they’re wondering why it isn’t done yet.

MT: Do you have a sense that things are going well?

DE NAIE: It’s good they’re finally getting near the end, but will people even know what’s happening? You know, there were 40 pages of names of the people who testified at GPAC on this. Our meetings were on evenings and weekends. But the council meets during the day, and only really gets developers and their representatives to attend. It’s disappointing to those of us who were on GPAC.

MT: Why is it important that we do the Maui Island Plan?

DE NAIE: The state mandates that we do a general plan. If it’s done right, it will be something that will guide the people in the Planning Department. And they’ve told me that they want guidance. The document will say, these are our priorities. If you want to change them later, you have to amend the plan.

You know, there are some very innovative ideas, especially in the economic section. Things like, if we’re importing something, can we look at maybe creating it here? We may not be able to, but at least we have it as a goal.

I did a little talk at the Rotary Club, and I read some of the text from the economic section. I was mobbed by people. “Great ideas!” they said. “That would really help!” I think they were shocked that there was more to the plan than just bringing more tourists here. Which we can’t really do any more than we’re already doing.

MT: Why is that?

DE NAIE: Because one out of every three people on Maui right now is a tourist. One third of the island’s population at any given time is tourist. On Kauai, it’s more like one out of nine.

MT: How have you seen the plan evolve?

DE NAIE: I’ve watched the council soften the language. Councilmembers Sol [Kahoohalahala] and Wayne [Nishiki] made a lot of substantial stands to keep language that had been vetted by the public process. There was also a push to keep the plan more general, saying that specifics should be reserved for the community plans, which are still eight years away.

MT: Actually, that’s a lot. Let’s start with the language part. What do you mean by “soften?”

DE NAIE: I mean water down the language. Watery language gives no guidance to the Planning Department. For instance, changing the word “require” to “encourage,” as in “encourage buildings to be resilient against natural catastrophes.” Encourage? What does that mean? There’s no protocol for the Planning Department to “encourage” someone. Some things should be required. “Encourage” just isn’t the right word when it comes to, say, wetlands. There’s also no definition for “encourage” in the plan [the Glossary section of the Maui Island Plan doesn’t actually appear in the document posted on the County of Maui’s website for the general public].

MT: And you see that happening a lot in the plan?

DE NAIE: “Encourage,” “consider,” “suggest”–when you use words like that, planners wonder if it’s even worth their while to bring these things up.

There was an earlier provision to prohibit gated communities. People thought they just didn’t fit into Maui life, and we put in language to prohibit them. That’s been changed to “consider regulating” gated communities.

MT: What’s the danger here?

DE NAIE: Confusion. When you have plans with clear language, it’s easier to make decisions. Some people don’t like that because clear language can limit decisions. Clear language can be restrictive.

But clear language protects the commons. Many of us old-timers aren’t ready to relinquish that concept. But fuzzy language also hurts private property.

For years, people have tried to get developers to provide notifications to neighbors when they build ag subdivisions of more than four lots. It makes to give notice to these people, because they know the rain and traffic patterns and so forth. And giving notice isn’t expensive, either: it costs, what, $100 for a sign?

But the language in the plan requiring developers to give notice has been watered down. It’s not gone, but it’s watered down. The plan now says developers should “consider” giving notice. That’s not the same thing as requiring them.

MT: Ok, now let me play Devil’s advocate. Why shouldn’t specifics like those be reserved for community plans?

DE NAIE: Well, some of what they’re planning spans two community plan districts. For instance, people on the North Shore want a regional park. Part of that is in the Wailuku plan, part of that is in the Paia plan. If you want to talk about a bike path there, then you have to include the Makawao plan. Same thing for the Upcountry road: some of it is Upcountry, some is in Kihei. We need a regional approach.

MT: Alright. The County Council’s General Plan Committee is finally at the point where they’ll discuss “urban growth boundaries” for the first time. What are these?

DE NAIE: They were developed in the last 15, 20 years as part of “New Urbanism.” This process gives a rough sketch of Maui development. Then, within these lines, what do people want? People could build outside the boundaries, there would have to be huge public demand first.
Yes, I understand that it costs a lot to bring development on line. Maui’s infrastructure is old and outdated. As I like to say, we’re building a resort economy on plantation infrastructure.

MT: So the growth boundaries will come up for discussion on Feb. 2?

DE NAIE: No. The Feb. 2 meeting will not discuss any maps. That will begin Feb. 16 after [planning director] Will Spence submits his maps!

Also, it’s really disturbing that a plan which up until last week had several categories of growth boundaries now has just two: Urban and Rural. Obviously, One size does not fit all of our diverse communities.

But six days before the meeting the public found out about this radical change to language, which  had broad support from community testimony was reviewed and adopted by GPAC and the Maui Planning Commission and was supported by two planning directors and county planning staff. Now on a week’s notice, with the public mostly unaware, it’s all proposed to change!

MT: Well, that’s depressing. Has something like this ever been tried elsewhere?

DE NAIE: Kauai did a whole community plan, but they didn’t make it enforceable. So it sits on the shelf now. We want to have a living document. We want innovative thinking.

MT: Like the possibility of making or growing things here that we currently import.

DE NAIE: Yes. Cluster development is another idea. Currently, agriculture land is divided into two-acre lots. Instead of doing that, cluster development lets the developer cluster all the housing in one section and then allows the open space to radiate outwards. It offers more flexibility–slicing and dicing ag land isn’t always the best way to keep the characteristics of the land. Cluster development is a tool if you want to support it.

MT: Sounds like, on the whole though, you’re pretty pessimistic about where the Maui Island Plan is going.

DE NAIE: There’s a lot at stake. A lot of good people with good ideas have gone into this, and in the end, some good stuff will survive. Really, I’m excited about the potential to dream a new future, dream a new economy.

MAUI ISLAND PLAN
Maui County Council General Plan Committee begins discussion of on Thursday, Feb. 2 at 1:30pm in the Council Chamber. Call 808-270-7838 for more information.

You can see the Maui Island Plan here.

You can also see Maui Tomorrow’s extensive writings on the Maui Island Plan here.

To the people I keep seeing who take advantage of service animal certifications: You should all be ashamed of taking advantage of a program that is specifically designed for people who have disabilities or special needs. Going online and getting false documents for dogs that are untrained and unqualified is outrageous. What happens when your dog bites someone while they’re wearing a service vest? Or when the dog goes the bathroom on a flight because they were never trained properly? You are all selfish and should stop taking advantage of a much needed program that benefits people with real needs. Do the right thing or leave Maui because we don’t need your kind here.

Illustration by Ron Pitts

A group of feral cats

The SPCA Maui would like to see a no more homeless pets on Maui and see the creation a no kill shelter on the island. You can see what this is all about this Friday from 608pm at the Maui Beach Hotel Elleair Ballroom. SPCA Maui for an evening of humane education and camaraderie.  Hear what’s new with Maui’s animal welfare groups and more about SPCA Maui.

Free Light Pupus-No Host Bar

For more information on SPCA Maui’s “Evening for Maui’s Animals or spay/neuter assistance programs contact:

SPCA Maui at 280-0738 or info@spcamaui.org.

SPCAMaui.org                    POB 1679  Wailuku  HI 96793                        (808)-280-0738

Henry Perrine Baldwin High School front lawn, Wailuku, Hawaii, on National Register of Historic Places by Joel Bradshaw

Who knew Baldwin High School was so old? Lahainaluna celebrated their 75th with a town parade in ’06, perhaps Baldwin will do the same.  A kick-off meeting to begin planning H.P. Baldwin High School’s 75th Anniversary celebration will be held in the school’s library workroom on Tuesday, February 7, from 5 to 6 p.m.

The 75th Anniversary festivities will be tentatively held in the fall of 2013.

Alumni, staff, and other individuals interested in helping to plan the anniversary events are encouraged to attend this first planning meeting.

For more information, call Terry Miller at 984-5656 ext. 256 or Lynn Araki-Regan at 280-1299.

In November we reported that Subaru would donate money every time someone bought a car in the month of December. Subaru also had a popularity contest on their Facebook page where you could vote for your favorite non-profit. That “Share the Love” event brought in $6,700 to the Hawaii Wildlife Fund and $2,300 to the SPCA Maui in car sales and an additional $5,000 for the Hawaii Wildlife Fund for winning the fan favorite.

We are delighted to give back to the community by supporting our local non-profit partners,” said Glenn Inouye, senior vice president of Servco representing the Subaru Hawaii Dealers. “The Facebook contest, in particular, was very well received by the public. It was a very close and exciting race right up to the very end.”

Subaru Hawaii’s Share the Love event donated $250 for every new vehicle sold by Subaru Hawaii dealers from Nov. 1 to Dec. 31, 2011. In total, the Share the Love event raised $25,300 for a group of great causes. In addition to Hawaii Wildlife Fund and SPCA Maui, the other three non-profits were Hawaii Literacy, the Oahu SPCA and the Hawaii Island Humane Society.

The public also had an opportunity to vote for their favorite participating non-profit organization on Subaru Hawaii’s Facebook page. At the end of the sales event period on Dec. 31, Hawaii Wildlife Fund received 45 percent of all votes and earned an additional $5,000.

“Hawaii Wildlife Fund’s multiple, ongoing conservation projects will benefit from Subaru Hawaii’s generosity and the publicity of the Share the Love campaign,” said Cheryl King, Hawaii Wildlife Fund vice president. “We can only hope that other businesses recognize the importance of giving back to the community so we can all work together to protect our natural resources, which makes Hawaii a better place to visit and live.”

“Being a part of Subaru Hawaii’s Share the Love campaign has been fantastic in so many ways,” said Whitney White, SPCA Maui president. “We support an awesome company with a superior fleet of vehicles and they support non-profits to do their work in our Hawaii communities, making us all winners. SPCA Maui extends a Mahalo Nui to Subaru Hawaii for this contribution which will help us save thousands of dogs and cats from homelessness and suffering through our spay/neuter programs.”