BY KIONI DUDLEY – Well, it was an amazingly short meeting at the Planning Commission yesterday. Two weeks ago, at the Commission’s first hearing on the Ewa Development Plan, they were so interested in all we were saying that Beadie Dawson made a motion to defer it, not to pass it through. Then they were told by their attorney that they they couldn’t just put it off indefinitely; they had only 30 days to pass it or deny it. Wanting to have a more thorough discussion, they continued the meeting until two weeks later, yesterday.
However, the public testimony portion had been closed, and this would be a meeting without any public input. My purpose in getting the article into the newspaper and on the news.coms on Monday and Tuesday was to give them plenty of material to talk about. But they didn’t come back together to discuss at all, just to vote and get out of there. It was pretty surprising, and pretty disgusting. During this two weeks, they must have had multiple visits from developers and unions or instructions from David Tanoue at DPP.
Bob Stanfield of DPP was the only one called to speak. He said we had all had plenty of chance to send in comments since 2005, and that we had commented, which was true. He said that the plan was taken back to the Neighborhood Boards before being sent in to the Planning Commission in November. He neglected to note that during his presentation to the Boards, he told them that the comment period was already over. He also neglected to state that three Neighborhood Boards had voted for Resolutions asking the Planning Commission for postponement.
The questions were all asked by Beadie Dawson. She seemed to have had a complete conversion in the days since the last hearing. No one else was prepared to discuss anything. Nor did they have any interest whatsoever in discussing anything. How could they read all of those major problems in the article, and not ask one question? They were just itching to vote and get out of there.
So that was it. Someone called for the question. There was a unanimous vote to send the EDP ahead. And the meeting was adjourned. Ten or twelve minutes max.
Glenn Oamilda, John Bond, Cinnie Frith, Doris and I attended. It was quite a waste of gasoline and effort. A fellow named Dan Benedict had read the article and came in from the North Shore.
It was just one more realization that developers and unions control everything. They stack the Neighborhood Boards. They get themselves elected to the Council and the Legislature. They buy the majority of other legislators, the governor and the mayor. And they get themselves appointed to significant Boards and Commissions. This is not government of the people, by the people, and for the people.
How are we going to redirect the ship of state before it reaches the rocks? The only way is to change the captain and change the sailors, starting on August 11. We need to vote for the guys who have no developer and union support.