March 11, 2008

(Note: This piece first appeared on the internet at MauiChronicle.com – JW)

The County Council majority appears to be on an unstoppable march toward final approval of the Wailea Honua‘ula 670 project. The council listens to everyone, but only seems to hear the construction unions. The preservation-minded transplants wonder, more than ever, “How come the born-heres, the Maui natives, the Maui-roots People, keep electing a Council majority programmed to vote yes on more development?”

After all, the Maui-roots people have been watching their island homeland disappear, beach by beach, open space by open space, for more than 50 years. They have seen their favorite places overrun by people. They have seen thousands of dwellings built, with developers screaming out, “Here they are! Homes on Maui! Yo, mainland people, come and get ‘em!” And we did.

And they just keep on building. “Yo! Mainland people! 700 new homes, with golf course, in South Maui! Come and get ‘em!” So what if there are already 17,000 to 20,000 approved units in the construction pipeline. We want more! We never want to run out of work. We want job security!

And why is it always the Mainland Transplants screaming stop the building!? Whether they’ve been here three months or 30 years, at the forefront of stop the building are the Mainland Transplants, and not the Maui-roots People. Don’t the Maui-roots People care? Why do they keep electing a council majority programmed for overdevelopment?

And why does the Democratic Party always support those overdevelopment council candidates? After all, the preservation-minded Mainland Transplants are also Democrats. Why doesn’t the Party support their candidates? Don’t you want Maui preserved for future generations? Do you want Maui to become like Honolulu?

Something doesn’t copy. Is it possible the Maui-roots People care about losing Maui just as much as Mainland Transplants? Maybe even more? Is it possible they really don’t want overdevelopment?

Most Mainland Transplants are not close to their families. If they were, they wouldn’t be living in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. That makes it pretty tough to go to Mom’s every Sunday afternoon. Maui-roots People, on the other hand, are very close to their families. The whole family is here - from great grandpa right down to newborn. Maui is their ancestral home.

In fact, their ancestors worked in the sugar and pineapple fields long before the Mainland Transplants even knew there was a place called Maui. Many of their ancestors worked in those fields like slaves – until the labor unions came in. You might say Maui was a plantation dependent society, its people dependent upon plantations for their income. In the mere span of two or three generations, Maui seems to have morphed from a plantation dependent society to a construction dependent society. And, construction work pays a lot better than field work, especially with the backing of those labor unions, which, in turn, have always been backed by the Democrats. The whole standard of living of the Maui-roots People has been elevated by construction, and they still get to live on Maui.

Now add all the construction people who have transplanted to Maui. Together with the Maui-roots People, they form a very large voting bloc – especially since lots of the preservation Mainland Transplants complain about overdevelopment, but don’t vote for Council members. Unlike the Maui-roots and transplant construction people, they don’t see a financial benefit to voting. They are just existing on Maui for the weather, the ocean, and the scenic beauty – not the money.

So what are the Maui-roots People and the construction transplants supposed to do now? Tell the Developer Transplants to go home? Cut their own throats? Send their children and grandchildren to Vegas to earn money from construction? After all, it will save Maui, won’t it? Or, maybe the Maui-roots People will invite so many Mainland Transplants to live in the dwellings they construct, that the Transplants will eventually take over the Council majority.

What do the Maui-roots People and the Preservation Transplants have in common – if anything? Answer: they all lose. They all lose Maui, piece by piece. Today it’s 670 acres above Wailea. Tomorrow its Ma‘alaea, Olowalu, and that nice big viewplane between Kihei and Kula. That’s because construction work is, by its very nature, temporary work. Build and move on. Build and move on. Some day that beautiful tropical island is gone, replaced by suburban sprawl island. Downtown becomes Kahului Gridlock City.

The Maui-roots People can’t leave, the transplants won’t leave, and the building goes on. “Come on mainland people! Plenty of homes! You can afford ‘em”! We’re all in the same predicament: construction dependence.
Of course, none of this is lost on the Developer Transplants. They play the construction dependence of the Maui-roots people to the hilt. With the big run up of home prices in recent years, they can now hold out the affordable home carrot, as well as the job carrot. “Hey. Your ohana can help me build out Maui, or they can build out Vegas. The choice is yours, Councilmember.” So the majority vote as if there is a gun to their heads. Fear rules.
What to do? Right now, I only know Step 1: Maui-roots People and Mainland Transplants must all acknowledge construction dependence. Get this predicament out in the open. Get it out from behind the hush-hush screen in Council Chambers.

Somewhere, there is a big table with seats around it for Maui-roots People and Mainland Transplants. Let’s hope it isn’t somewhere over the rainbow.

David Mogilefsky transplanted from North Lake Tahoe eleven years ago. He’s an attorney licensed in California, former publisher of North Tahoe Week Magazine and Moderator of MauiChronicle.com.

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David Mogilefsky