From a Maui Now article by Wendy Osher
…Maui opponent Mahina Martin flew to Honolulu to attend today’s meeting, criticizing the agency in part for holding a single state-wide followup hearing on O’ahu, which she said was difficult for neighbor islanders to attend.
Martin said she was “frustrated at the shallow attempt to keep the public involved,” and disturbed by what she called an “obvious one-way process.”
“We were told that we would continue to be included and that our input was valuable, yet the next time we heard from the PLDC, was instead of returning as expected, the kuleana was on us to come to you if we wanted to participate,” said Martin in public testimony today.
Former senator and Kauai County Councilmember-elect Gary Hooser echoed a similar sentiment in his testimony saying that a single hearing on O’ahu “shuts out a third of the state.”
Martin expressed further frustration saying, “We are expected to trust a new agency that seems to be unable or unwilling to comprehend the level of value the public places on genuine, good-faith community engagement. We are expected to accept decisions that will impact our public lands for decades long past an administration, or two, or three. We are expected to tolerate agreements and contracts made outside of competitive bidding that could affect any of Hawaii’s 67 state parks, 20 boat harbors, and approximately 600 miles of public access trails.”…
