Jason Schwartz with David Gallagher David is a Maui personality for decades and now adds his spice to the Neutral Zone— remember: it’s Anything BUT Neutral ! He’s one of a small team of co-hosts creating content and color to expand the listening audience In the ZONE.
Summary & Full Timestamped Transcript Below
- [00:00 → 03:26] Introduction and Host/Cohost Overview
Jason Schwartz opens the show from Maui’s Neutral Zone studio, marking the first broadcast of 2024 after a three-week break due to holidays. The program airs on KAKU 88.5 FM and is simulcast on Akaku Maui Community Media Channel 55, with archives available at mauineutralzone.com. Jason introduces David Gallagher, a longtime figure in Maui media and former host on Akaku, who joins him in the studio. He humorously discusses David’s persistent hiccups and sets the tone for an interactive call-in talk show format, emphasizing audience participation through calls and guest contributions both in-studio and remote. The show is positioned as a “calling callout” talk show with the audience steering much of the conversation. Jason reflects on “interesting times” and the importance of humor during challenging periods, hinting that the show will balance dry and wet humor depending on the mood. - [03:26 → 07:49] Background on David Gallagher and Maui’s Community
David shares his background as a late-night talk show host on “Late Night Maui” and his daytime job in ocean safety, highlighting the advantage of knowing the community’s people and history. Both hosts discuss Maui’s unique position as an island attracting diverse people—tourists, military personnel, and settlers—many of whom stayed after visiting. Jason mentions Maui’s “super overqualified” residents, such as rocket scientists working in service jobs, reflecting the island’s complex socio-economic fabric. They also joke about common local misconceptions (e.g., confusion about island elevation or names), illustrating the charm and quirks of island life. David’s hiccups subside thanks to some “magic water” from the engineer, showing the professionalism and camaraderie in the studio. - [07:49 → 13:26] Discussion on Housing and Homelessness Post-Lahaina Fire
Jason shifts to serious topics, discussing the devastating Lahaina fire and its broader impact on Maui’s homelessness crisis. He highlights that the fire’s victims represent only a portion of the island’s homeless population, with many struggling outside the fire zone. He shares personal observations about housing challenges in senior centers and the strict federal no-smoking policies complicating tenant retention. The economic strain from hotel costs for displaced people is noted, emphasizing the urgency of converting short-term rentals into long-term housing. The conversation underscores a systemic housing shortage exacerbated by disasters and policy delays. - [13:26 → 17:59] Utilities, Land Management, and Political Decisions
David and Jason explore historical decisions that affected Maui’s infrastructure and disaster preparedness. They recall a past opportunity, possibly under Mayor Linda Lingle, to place utilities underground, which was instead allocated to community swimming pools. They speculate whether underground utilities might have mitigated the Lahaina fire’s spread. The conversation touches on land management during the sugar cane era, noting how corporate ownership and maintenance affected fire risk. Jason criticizes political reluctance to take bold, progressive actions out of fear of losing votes, linking this to ongoing governance challenges. He expresses cautious optimism about current Governor Josh Green’s environmental stance but acknowledges the complexity of political realities. - [17:59 → 23:49] Political Engagement and Nepotism in Maui
Jason shares his experiences running for office and observing local politics. He explains how politicians often tune their messages to match constituents’ values while primarily seeking power and money. He describes his own motivations as more idealistic but became frustrated with the entrenched political culture, including repeated re-elections of ineffective officials and deferrals of tough decisions. Jason also discusses the prevalence of nepotism in Maui’s government and construction industries, noting the problematic overlap between family ties and contract awards. David and Jason exchange lighthearted wordplay connecting nepotism with ineptness, highlighting concerns about governance quality. - [23:49 → 29:30] Environmental Issues and Coral Reef Decline
The hosts turn attention to environmental degradation on Maui, recalling the decline of healthy reefs and abundant shells on beaches, which have diminished due to warming waters and pollution runoff from golf courses and coastal developments. Jason recounts his involvement with Maui Electric’s Integrated Resource Planning Advisory Board in 1992, when renewable energy alternatives like geothermal, wind, and solar were evaluated. Despite early lessons, many advisory boards lack implementation power, with legislative authority being the ultimate bottleneck. This segment underscores the gap between expert advice and political action in environmental and energy policy. - [29:30 → 34:22] Agriculture, Hemp, and Soil Restoration
Jason discusses his early advocacy for industrial hemp cultivation as a regenerative crop to restore damaged soils in Maui, drawing parallels to Ukraine’s post-Chernobyl hemp reforestation efforts. He explains hemp’s low water and pesticide needs and its historical importance during World War I and II when hemp was mandated for military supplies. Despite its potential, hemp remained illegal and stigmatized for decades, limiting its agricultural use. Jason laments Hawaii’s failure to follow scientific evidence and evolve policies, blaming lack of education and legislative will as core problems. This section connects environmental health, agriculture, and policy inertia. - [34:22 → 39:53] Public Testimony and Government Responsiveness
The conversation turns to the challenges of public testimony and government responsiveness in Maui’s political process. Jason notes that many council members do not thoroughly read or integrate public input reports, leading to disconnection between community concerns and policymaker actions. David highlights the overwhelming nature of government roles and inherited problems, while Jason stresses the need for private sector involvement and public-private partnerships to address funding shortfalls and housing crises. The hosts urge more proactive, profit-incentivized private investment combined with public oversight to break the cycle of underfunded government projects. - [39:53 → 44:50] Housing Crisis and Temporary Solutions
Jason and David discuss temporary housing solutions for the thousands displaced by the Lahaina fire, including donated small housing units from Hungary coordinated by Catholic Charities. They explain the challenges of balancing temporary versus permanent housing, land use constraints, and the difficulty of scaling solutions adequately amid inflation and limited resources. Jason points out that many property owners cannot rebuild due to lingering soil toxicity. They touch on conspiracy theories about the fire and emphasize the importance of foresight and long-term planning in governance, comparing leadership to chess requiring multi-move strategic thinking. - [44:50 → 47:49] Reflections on Governance, Infrastructure, and Accountability
The hosts reflect on the general mismanagement witnessed over years, citing examples like emergency siren failures and power shutoff decisions during fire threats. They discuss conflicting reports about whether power was turned off during the Lahaina fire and the resulting confusion. Jason advocates focusing less on blame and more on practical improvements given current resource constraints. The segment also humorously touches on conspiracy theories circulating locally, while emphasizing the critical need for better transparency, foresight, and accountability in Maui’s leadership. - [47:49 → 55:17] Entertainment Segment: Voice Acting and Comedy Clips
Jason and David lighten the mood with a showcase of David’s voice acting talents, playing a humorous clip featuring 27 different voices mimicking famous personalities and comedic characters. This segment highlights David’s artistic range and the creative dimension of Maui’s cultural scene. They share memories of the Maui Mystery Theater and corporate dinner theater, which combined comedy with social messages, reflecting the island’s rich tradition of community storytelling and entertainment. Technical difficulties with audio playback are briefly discussed, emphasizing the challenges of live radio production. - [55:17 → 56:36] Closing Remarks and Future Plans
Jason wraps up the show by reaffirming that David Gallagher will be a regular co-host both in-studio and in the field, alongside another co-host, Scott Bushnell. Listeners are encouraged to interact through call-ins and participate in upcoming shows. Jason thanks the audience for joining the first 2024 broadcast and promises ongoing engagement with local issues and personalities. The program closes with music and a friendly farewell.
Key Themes and Insights
- Community Engagement: The show prioritizes audience participation, blending live call-ins with expert guests and field reports, creating a dynamic conversation that reflects Maui’s diverse voices.
- Local History and Culture: David Gallagher’s long tenure and personal stories provide context on Maui’s evolving social fabric, highlighting the island’s unique blend of residents, visitors, and industries.
- Political Critique: The hosts critically examine Maui’s political landscape, focusing on systemic issues like nepotism, lack of foresight, slow government response, and the difficulties of enacting progressive change.
- Environmental and Social Challenges: Maui faces intertwined crises—from housing shortages and homelessness exacerbated by natural disasters to environmental degradation and outdated infrastructure.
- Advocacy for Solutions: Suggestions include embracing renewable energy, industrial hemp for soil restoration, private sector partnerships, and smarter land and utility management as pathways to resilience.
- Humor and Creativity: Despite serious topics, the show balances gravity with humor, entertainment, and cultural segments, fostering a sense of community solidarity and hope.
This comprehensive summary captures the key points, reflections, and humor of the January 8, 2024, episode of the Neutral Zone Maui show, preserving the original structure and flow of the conversation for clarity and depth.
Full Transcript
00:00
[Music] Aloha this is Jason Schwartz and we’re at the neutral zone Maui neutral zone.com today is January 8th but it is our first show of the year because we were gifted with Monday was Christmas and Monday was New Year and so that meant that I didn’t get to come in and say Merry Christmas or happy new year so we did a show and it was running for three weeks and now we’re back here in 2024 so just remember we’re on K KU 88.5 FM the voice of Maui simal cast on akaku Maui Community media channel 55 on cable
00:55
and at Maui neutral zone.com you will see all of our shows and you can go go back and look into our library I have someone in the studio that was here decades ago at akaku and actually had his own show here on akaku which he’ll tell you about in a few minutes his name is David Gallagher and some people say is he still alive yeah he is and other people say oh yeah David Gallagher I know him I see him every week so I just want to introduce him to Maui audiences he’s actually got a I want to
01:37
say a bout I don’t know about that sounds like a word with hiccups the worst hiccups in the world is that what that is I have actually gone to the ER because my hiccups were so bad wow yeah and what did they tell you it was from breathing okay as soon as you stop breathing for 10 to 15 minutes guarant you’ll cure your hiccups however if you hold your breath for 10 to 15 minutes there will be sacrifices like your life yeah David is sometimes uh I guess the word is oh he’s holding his breath I
02:16
really know this is real this hiccup thing so we’ll see if it continues or not but um I if you do it to the right beat you could actually be a karaoke machine or a David that wasn’t it he has quite a history which I’m sure he’ll tell you some about but I you know that I have Scott Bush now who was here for a few weeks and we’re g to have him back I have what I call co-hosts and sometimes they’re going to be in the studio and some they’re going to be in the field and some they’re
02:50
going to be calling in from the field because remember we are a Callin talk show and if you’re watching on TV you know 808 87334 435 is our call-in number 808 873 3435 so when we’re talking and you want to call in if I see or hear that there’s a call coming in I will pick it up and you’ll be included in conversation now we’re a little different than that we’re going to be Callin callout talk show meaning this year we’re going to be stressing the fact that we are interactive we’re going
03:26
to have some guests in the studio but we’re going to bring in sub and things from outside and also our audience will be driving the conversation and helping us steer through to say unusual times is not even fair uh these are unusual times um there was a saying at one time it’s probably gone now which is when instead of like cussing somebody out you would be in a very polite way you would say well bless your little PE pick and heart or may you live in interesting times oh god well remember ever hear that one I
04:08
haven’t heard the interesting time the flee fcking fcking well we’re still here and times are and I guess you could say they’re interesting and they require a lot of humor a great deal of sense of humor well which is why you know when you need dry humor or wet humor you do both kinds depends on what I’ve had if I I had Mexican food it’s wet it’s wet food us it’s wet humor usually well David is a you know a refugee from the refugee late night talk show I do we have a circuit here we don’t even have a
04:44
circuit we’re only one station on Maui right so you weren’t part of the circuit you were part of the anchor on the late night talk show when was it was produced by suell and it was called late night Maui I remember and and I got I was the um I worked at in the daytime um in Ocean safety and at night I’d come down here and we’d do these little shows uh they liked me because I knew everybody that I interviewed I had history with because I’ve lived here for so long so I knew they’re kids you know or um we once had
05:20
uh Barry Rivers come in and I said I remember the day I met you and you know that kind of that kind of dialogue and uh the great thing about living on the island is if you stay open you get to meet a lot of really great interesting people normally on a small island like this you wouldn’t necessarily you know run into so I I think Maui has such an incredible history uh of so many things that have happened in such a small place that uh wow well we’ve attracted some people from all over the world you know most
05:58
people that I know that came here came here on a vacation right or they stopped here on the way back from the military right that’s what I hear yeah was I came here in World War II and we stopped off and I had a day and I went over to Maui and I really liked it and 20 years later I said you know I’d think I’d like to go to Maui or some people came early but that’s how it happened and then people come with a wing and a prayer some people and start from wherever they are and they get to meet an interesting
06:31
group along the way which keeps them here sometimes you know I I’ve many times heard someone say yeah I just came here on vacation decided to stay you know yeah and they decided to stay because they spent their last nickel coming here on vacation and they had to get a job and they became a whatever Maui has people that are I call them super overqualified you have a rocket scientist who’s now a bus boy at Kos no longer chos as noos when our commercial came on earlier and it said laa I thought wow how did
07:09
they find that person it’s not Lena any more than it’s ke or Pia it’s not py it’s Pia you know it’s not MAA Ma mawi I’ve heard them all I’ve heard heard everything including um uh on the beach someone’s saying what what’s the elevation here I’m looking out the elev what’s the elevation here yeah and I go well let’s see can you see can you see the SE if you can see the sea then the elevation is zero like your IQ someone asked that oh oh yeah my favorite answer is what island are we on
07:49
and I say oh you’re in Japan harta you know I mean sarcasm well you know when I’m as I’m sitting here you know often I watch and guests are far away from the microphone this guy know has to get on he gets right there to the microphone did you notice the hiccups are gone yeah that’s a professional your engineer gave me some magic water in a Dixie cup and I don’t know whenever it’s showtime whatever my problems are when it’s time to put out hey I I put out like May West you know
08:23
uh oh some of you youngsters don’t know that may West is even maybe not even know who may West is you know it’s interesting I like we just heard 48 years ago today Peter Frampton Comes Alive album came out and I think to myself wow Peter Frampton now we see Peter Frampton up on Facebook and Linked In and we get to hear him doing things live with his kid and with he’s doing music now all over the world for 48 years ago that album came out that’s extraordinary yeah I really liked Peter Frampton that makes
09:06
us old by the way no no no what makes us old is your plumbing think about it everything when you’re young your plumbing works great but as you get older even though you become wiser and of course way more handsome um your plumbing doesn’t work as well and instead of your hair growing out of your eyebrows like old men are famous for growing hair out their eyebrows I’m not getting old I have I barely even have eyebrows I have no hair on top of my head this whole getting old stuff is for the birds only place I can
09:41
grow hair is in my ears what use does it have I mean God is obviously a woman because only a woman could be that cruel to make men get old and have hair grow out of nowhere except for their nose and their ears well God might well be a woman of course it’s a woman well of course it’s a woman of course it’s a woman so let me let me ask you question cuz you’re sitting here with me and I remember when I met you yeah it was long ago wow and you reminded me I have a friend named Lono who lives on molai who everyone here in
10:22
Maui must know was Lono from Maui right and he was a lifeguard and that and a great musician and a great musician and way back when there were very few musicians here who let me up on stage with them because they didn’t know who I was but Lono did and over time I ended up doing his taxes Lenny Castellanos who we know plays Bass with Mick Fleetwood no more fleetwoods here we’ll see where that goes but uh Lenny and his wife John Woodhouse from the Maui News told me that I should call Heather Castellanos
11:02
because I wanted to form something to be that would get all the musicians known they were like all over but no one knew who they were where they were how do you find them what’s going on this was obviously pre- internet you know pre Facebook pre- internet back when you had to actually put out a newspaper or have a something on a bulletin bll but we used coconut Wireless before all that well but there weren’t enough places or people to make it important to have that much communication only few places to go
11:37
to we’re all coconuts then we had plenty of coconuts but not a lot a lot of places and there was this deep sigh in everyone well there’s got to be more places for musicians to play I remember seeing Willie Kay playing at 505 Front Street may it rest in peace and um you know I say that with honor but you know Hina was such an important part of my life when I was getting started here and it’s integrated into everything some people think oh there’s a fire zone and and not fire zone we’re all affected by
12:13
it yes the people in the H lost all their possessions and many of them lost their lives and they lost where they live but this has been an island wide and Islands wide issue and our economy is upside down and that about this that always touches my heart in a crazy way is there are lots of homeless people and lots of people struggling struggling here that weren’t in fire zone and yeah I appreciate that the people in the fire need to get help but just like today’s paper yeah we got 600 we’ve we’ve
12:49
encouraged people that have short-term rentals uh to turn them into long-term rentals for 18 months so that we can house the people that were lost in the fire so we can get them out of the hotels so we can get the hotels back cuz we’re paying 250 to $450 $550 a night for those accommodations that’s coming out of money tax paars yeah so they’re trying to but that also means that all the other people that aren’t from the fire are still homeless homeless I got to I live in a senior
13:26
center and the guy next to me quote was smoking and they caught him and they made a big deal and he was difficult and so they’re trying to throw him out and but he has challenges what was he smoking just regular cigarettes tobacco he was smoking tobacco and they wanted to throw him out no well that’s a federal law that on property that is managed by federal government or as HUD supplement that you can’t smoke at all and uh really yeah so anyway the bottom line here was he hasn’t been able to
13:59
move out because there’s nowhere to move him to so now we have a fire and the fire of victims 12,000 people you know every time I see the numbers they’re a little different you know there’s 2500 still in the hotel and whatever is going on we’ve desperately tried to catch up on a housing building plan that again over the last two decades kept getting pushed can you believe that over two decades pushing back to taking the the moves to get the housing because of difficulties please David jump in what
14:36
uh what I’ve always and I don’t have it I hate to sit talk when I really don’t know and I I’m ignorant of this and a lot of folks are kind of wondering about certain things but from what I learned long time ago when we had um Linda lingle as our mayor now I I could be inaccurate but but I believe there was a government an opportunity through a grant to put all of our utilities under ground no and there was a decision now I I’m saying I want to I don’t want to get something no that’s all right I’m
15:14
listening well I I I think that we at one time many many years ago um and and M and mayor lingle decided that it was more important to have swimming pools for the community which at that time it was important to have swimming pools for the community because it it directed a lot of kids in our youth it didn’t had nothing else to do to learn how to swim and sports and all these it created a lot of good things however that funding looking back on it now I think maybe that funding should have gone towards putting underground
15:45
Utilities in places that were very dangerous such as lahina you notice the fields were never taken care of it was never mowed down you had all this fuel you had a long hot summer fuel and then you had talking about now I’m talking about yeah what what has happened what if all those utilities had been underground well you know I wonder um where that would I guess that would be a change in the law that would make it important for developers putting it in but you’re saying that they wanted
16:17
to change things that were already existing because again Scott who you haven’t yet met Scott Bushnell was a lifeguard in here when Pioneer Mill owned and the whole thing was owned and managed by a sugar cane company right and they watch that land they manag that open area you spoke about so happened because no one put into place a law to bury the utilities that to me that’s what happened they didn’t have ownership of the the land the way it was before it wasn’t being managed and no law was in
16:59
place to to bury the utilities in fact I when I first got here and I Maui Meadows was like very very sparse there in ki it was kabi it was and I wondered this was the perfect time to put these things in and I keep saying well it maybe not cuz there’s no Central developer now and to ask homeowners to come up with the cost and you know I’m with the the money so you know I like to blame Mayors for a lot of stuff I mean I’m not blaming I’m not blaming I’m just saying and I’m ask
17:36
the fact that that people are so afraid to to not have the votes they need to get an office or to get back in office that they don’t make bold steps that are as Progressive as one could and like in our present again I don’t know the facts but when I met Josh Green our governor and talk with him I felt like we are finally on the doorstep of having someone who really is a strong environmentalist and a really available what was that that was me hanging myself I was miming what it is to take a a rope around my neck and pull
18:21
the cord and just hang myself that’s my that’s my way of saying are you kidding me no I mean really you really believe that I was sitting at a meeting in Hau uh Hau Community Association meeting and there across from me is a guy same Pleasant guy I never met him before with another guy sitting with him and we got in conversation and who was this guy this guy was the uh one organizing the campaign for this guy who was a doctor from the big island and when I got in sack with them I felt a really
18:55
personable guy and where we were really agreeing on so many things I thought wow this I like this guy do you know one of the great talents I’m not being uh I’m not putting any politician or leader down per se but one of the great talents that any uh politician SLC Communicator is able to do is to give is to almost read your mind and know what it is you like and what you agree on and what you believe in even if you haven’t really spoken that much they can tap into that it’s like the coconut Wireless they can
19:32
tap into what your values are and talk to you as if they’re right in line with your values but I’m going to tell you something and you can tell by their actions most of your politicians they just want power and they just want money well you know I I used to think that until I decided to run and once I decided to run and get up close and person personal I I didn’t have those kind of values I ran because I really cared and I wanted to share my ideas and I was listening to the people that
20:11
were running with me that like again you thought were mind readers but uh and maybe but their ideas weren’t as Progressive and I thought man this is going to be such an easy Cakewalk for me because these guys I don’t want to say damn fools I guess I can say damn on the radio dingleberries how about Dingle is that dingleberries but then I watched them elect these people uhuh and elect them again and elect them again and and they let’s defer that oh that’s a tough decision well I think we should put that
20:49
one in committee I think we should wait and uh years kept going by I ran a few times and I and then I said I vote for you I’m going to do TV shows and I’m going to talk about Val thank you values and that’s how this show actually came about was I was going to interview politicians but then I’d have to do everybody in the race why why would you have to on radio you have to do equal time equal time because the FCC requires that if you give one candidate 18 minutes you have to give every candidate in that rting
21:27
and so on a Public Access station if I were to do it it wouldn’t be only to me it’s the whole station would suddenly be bound to give equal time to everyone that I interviewed so I couldn’t do with when I was doing them for television only but once I decided so this radio show developed talking about values and so I talk about all kinds of subjects but again and bring people on sometimes that were uh you know talking about these subjects but they weren’t running for office at the time and that may
22:02
sometimes makes them a little bit more honest about where their opinions are when they’re not running for office yeah very very important and so I had and if you look back that’s the reason we keep our archives at Maui neutral zone.com you will see we even have a a uh search bar there you we got a thousand shows so you can go back and look at interviews including interviews that I did with politicians uh over the years you’ll see like I one of my favorites was Mike Molina with hair and then Mike Molina
22:36
without hair like you said as people get older Mike Molina was a good guy and he still is a good guy he still is a good guy right and he was one of the few that I can see in my experience that I saw stand up to things that the community actually embraced and and I don’t like to pick on people you know like right now we have people in office and their father or mother or not necessarily are in construction and think they get the contract stamp no no because you know what nepotism and and we’re seeing it
23:12
here on the county of Maui and all over in many many places but when you hire people that aren’t qualified but they’re they have the right last name we call that nepotism well I think netism is happening now nepotism leads to something that rhymes with nepotism ineptness okay it doesn’t completely rhyme but ineptness and nepotism they they go hand in hand it’s like those word jumbles do all those letters go in I don’t know okay nepotism and anness they sort of rhyme but not completely no but if you look at those
23:49
two and I bet they if you try it you go oh look at that they Ed the same letters they just jumbled a little bit they just jumbled it between ineptness and nepotism no but I not not always enough enough but bot but bottom line is I hear what you say it’s difficult to think that there is no nepotism going on when someone’s in the same industry and but they’re not the ones that do the approval see that’s what’s so interesting again when we get into micro managing we sometimes see we the public like to think oh that
24:26
guy on Council his father his brother is in construction and so he’s gonna get the job but then who does the the uh calculating it may not be him and we may just be pulling our old fantasies it’s like now dare I say it Donald Trump I I dare I did I said it Donald Trump says things and actually when you dig down you don’t have to dig too deep with him [Laughter] he’s a surface guy who knows how to say oh you don’t like white people ah you don’t like black people huh you don’t
25:08
like abortion you do like abortion what do you like that’s me I’m that guy I’m that guy well and uh that’s a whole separate show you know we’re we’ve not that it matters but I have a uh did you know that Donald Trump was before he became all these other things was actually the weatherman he came up with a great solution to how do you divert hurricanes you drop nuclear weapon on the hurricane and this stops the hurricane from coming let’s vote for someone that has good ideas like that
25:41
Trump she bet drop he says a lot of clever things well that one was really clever oh clever stuff very clever clever guy I’m here on K kuu 88.5 f m the voice of Maui and akaku TV with David Gallagher you can spell that name GA a l a g h r uh oh uh and uh is there an email or some way people can get in touch with you if they want to yes there is but nobody would want to so I’m not gonna well then if you can put it through me unless you want to there you go there is that what you’d prefer yeah I I’ll just come on do
26:26
I’ll just do these and I will never come I’ll never show up with the hiccups again I it it took certain well and we’re going to be talking with people and you’ll be out there in the field and I’ll say you call in and say hi this is David Gallagher I am here in blah blah blah you have a guest there let me ask you this question guest see I really perceive you as interactive I want our public to really get that we have people that are co-hosts that also have subject they’re going to be bringing in and
27:00
bringing to our I you know and I appreciate this because I I have a lot of subjects but I’m not very technical for instance I can’t even these bells that you have I what do you call these Bells Bells I can’t even get a bell to work look see anyone else hits this thing it rings but I I pick the thing up and I just do this nothing nothing I’m technically very inept well I’ll watch who well you saw the secret there right yeah it was you don’t hold it see you’re I hold on to everything you do
27:36
huh comes from poverty example when I came to this island in 1973 and I wouldn’t take food stamps but I had a spear gun and so back then fish you you weren’t holding people up with a spear gun no I was catching fish and eating them and it was good and I discovered the3 1973 living out in the bush in McKenna spear fishing it was it was not great but it was it was a good beginning it was a good beginning I was homeless but I was happy you know and I and having a spear gun instead of food stamps of course back in the day before
28:15
they put all the golf courses in we had very healthy reefs with plenty of fish oh yeah I remember you know I I in 88 okay and I also remember I had a girlfriend and we would she liked shells so we would walk along the beach in olalo now we’ve heard of Olu here recently yeah and there were not only were there shells there were whole shells so if I saw one that was broken or chipped in something throw it back right there’s plenty of shells in abundance now I don’t see almost any shells
28:58
that’s things have changed of course it’s gotten hotter the water’s gotten a lot hotter the coral reefs have died out but even before that happened they were starting to build a lot of golf courses here on Maui and all of that runoff from the golf courses all the runoff from all these homes that were being built right on the ocean all of these nitrates went into the water and um messed the messed the ocean up there were algae blooms that were caus us because of all these excessive nitrates
29:30
that were in the water which uh which totally strangulated a lot of your Coral blocked out the Sun from from the coral and so the when the coral reefs break down then we lose everything else we lose the fishing well you know that’s a while ago and those were pretty painful lessons for those of us that were here that put pieces together and 19 1992 I was part of the integrated resource planning Advisory board at Maui Electric and so I had the Good Fortune to go through all the different Technologies before they were
30:09
fashionable geothermal and wind and Sol and I remember clearly that we had lessons we learned then MH that kind of we going to shape the 20year energy future of our Island and then it’s just like many advisory boards they have no power to implement they have power to advise and not always the the do they connect right only your legislators have the power to legislate only your legislators the people that you vote into office have the power and authority to establish laws but they were estab
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hopefully they’re established upon intelligent cognitive thinking and reasoning uh we did a show here many many decades ago uh it was called Building A Better Community with alen Arawa when Allan wanted to become a mayor and um I’m going to edit this a while ago it was a while ago I had said I had envisioned a few of us were starting to see well the sugar can’s not going to always be here I didn’t want that to happen I really loved the sugar cane I loved the fire and the smoke of
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the sugar canane I loved everything about the sugar cane but not exactly not oh I see you hanging yourself over there like I did earlier yeah and so I my suggestion was let’s do what they did in Ukraine in Chernobyl after the Chernobyl nuclear um facility went off and radiated all the soil and made the soil in Ukraine absolutely unusable and so what they did was they planted hemp a lot of hemp and they yeah yeah back then and then when they planted the hemp this went in this hemp derated the soil it it healed and it
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cured the soil now I had suggest I had strongly suggested this and we had Dennis Marino from Hana out talking about all the known products that if we were to grow industrial hemp the extra jobs that it would have created it hemp doesn’t need water like sugar cane doesn’t need pesticides doesn’t need all of these things will heal the soil when marijuana and hemp its sister they’re all the same base uh no no no they’re not not all well they’re the same plan all of it was considered illegal so just
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saying the word marijuana and someone would be circling your house looking to see if they could arrest you it’s funny because in the World War I are in a new world now we lost our access to manella hemp in the pH when the Philippines was overthrown by the Japanese and so the federal government said to every Farmer in the United States they weren’t worried about somebody getting a high on pacao no they were telling every farmer they’ve got to grow a certain amount of hemp for the war effort and that hemp
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was used to replace the Manilla hemp line and that was used on all your vessels on all your planes and everything and it was the farmers that can made that great contribution of growing hemp hemp has so many great uses and it’s not being used because nobody really looks at it look at the history of what happened to Chernobyl and how they healed the land in the state of Hawaii what is the motto in the state of uh Hawaii is the perpetuation taking care of the land perpetuates the righteousness and the people of the
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state of Havi but when it comes down to doing it nah they don’t they don’t they don’t follow science they don’t follow science science and that’s the problem with what’s H keeps happening over and over and over is nobody is either they’re educated in in some kind filler busting but they’re not educated in the topic that they are legislating over and that’s the problem that we’re in now well it’s an interesting opinion I mean some people might say to you where do you say that that’s the
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problem that’s a good opinion but I mean well I mean then we have public testimony the thing that I’ve seen about public testimony recently is that the public testimony that comes with writings that go with it there so many of these people have tried to put in writing to the group of people that these are some solutions then they have public testimony and we hear more people talking but again they’re not being tied to and the none of the council people say well we got this report from you
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that said this and this and this so their questions back often times aren’t connected to the papers that many of these people have submitted and when recently when asked did you any of you read that thing that I sent and you get few if no hands and they say well well it was our our people that are our support team that might have read it but again there was no connection so the public speaks and now we all hear it like it’s some new thing when it was already presented and not being digested
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you called it something different earlier but it’s it’s the fact I think that there’s people are overwhelmed in these jobs that they are not they’re not qualified well and because who is qualified they keep inheriting things they keep inheriting problems from the past regimes of things that been put on the back burner back burner then they become fiery difficult issues a gree fire well you know I don’t think we can kind of get away with not talking about this recent toxic hazardous
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materials putting all this toxic material in all the came out of Lina on the the surface levels that are toxic and dangerous that are being put temporarily in Olu ALU and then the mayor decided that that would be temporary but after all the testimony after hearing how bad it was instead of stopping it and again he may have reasons he’s just not sharing it in a way but they’ve already they started moving the soil before the public testimony before any decisions were made because those decisions were already
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made that’s right those decisions were already made but why you guys come up here and drive over here and spend two hours listening to us talk and then we’ll let you say something and we’ll pretend as if we we think think you’re what you’re saying is really interesting and then we’re just going to go do whatever the hell we want to do well again by the nature of how you’re putting it out you’re very accusatory noticed I try not to be accusatory I’m just basically saying leaving the
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possibility that they need to uh kind of be made aware they have to do things differently yours sounds like it was Sinister and some of it may be uh not denying that you’re more diplomatic than I I just say it like I see it I and I and I way I see it is the way a lot of people see it yeah they’ve lived here for you know a half a century we’ve seen this happening for years and decades and it’s just unbelievable how everything seems to be getting mismanaged well I it’s I think
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needs that’s a real talent I don’t H and I don’t really know if it can be uh solved except when giv is my hit that the people in the private sector who could pick up these things as Investments because nothing’s done without a profit you know we know that people will get paid and be paid with the profit but many of these things could have been handled by Looking Over the Horizon long ago and getting out there more aggressively and encouraging private sector involvement you hear about this stuff sometimes public P
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private Partnerships I think much of that needs to go on and even more now than ever because the government is getting money from the people and then spending on things we need but there’s not enough money and so the only way to break that cycle is involve private I think involve private people and private companies that make money I don’t want to deny them profit but I think that we need to much more strongly encourage private sector involvement and investment in things that the public needs give them
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maybe give them incentives that will encourage that I mean here right now I mean talk about a Juggle you’ve got a state and you now have 12,000 people that no longer have houses and you’re going to put them in hotels when you put them at hotels at some premium rate that’s draining your budget that might go to other things that could really be needed all because they didn’t have the foresight from from the past well again absolutely totally true couldn’t they couldn’t see the what was
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going on couldn’t see that they needed to build more housing be before how can you have no housing available and call it a housing program why what that’s called a waiting list on that topic did you know that another Nation called Hungary Hungary Hungary you know um actually donated a lot of small housing units um um for people that are homeless and they’re really really small and they it’s the whole these units are right across from King’s Cathedral that area well that’s a story in itself cuz again
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I have no knowledge specifically but I understood those were ordered before there was a fire in the west side meaning that was already already part of the plan the plan by Catholic Charities who again got them from Hungary as a donation uhhuh so once again those units that are being built I wondered why they weren’t more quickly being built and I realized because they want them to serve as semi temporary right but more stable structures whereas near the airport where they have those tent city uhhuh um
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those are clearly going to be taken down because they’re using land that they that must be must be more Prime that they need to clean off sooner that’s a tough choice imagine you were mayor or Governor you’ve got to find land to do something temporarily but like you say it’s like those houses that you were talking about yeah we need them but we need times 10 times 20 from things in the past aren’t there now with our inflated dollars we’re going to try to solve these problems that we didn’t have enough
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money for except now it’s worse well the people that still have a title on what is their property or their land they say This Is Our Land our fames lived here for five generations long as their name is on the title then they can I would assume they would be able to build back on their property but not until their property is in no no more toxic and that the right the areas there are being addressed again from scratch in a more responsible way some people have said oh you see that proves they wanted to make it a
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smart city that means that somebody that did this on purpose well that again is a lot of conjecture and I’ve seen a lot of things that make me realize they had the capacity and capability to destroy that place that some of the things that we have as Weaponry that are house right here have the capacity to do that but I try not to get in the middle of those conversations because there’s no point whatever I would be saying would just be Fanning Flames flames of conspiracy having any kind of proof no you
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don’t but it is clear that foresight would have helped a lot that’s all I’m saying is foresight look look you got to you got to see like when you play a game of chess a lot of folks play chess you got to look three or four moves ahead you got to know if I do this this is going to happen if I do this this is going to happen if they do this and I’m going to do this then this is going to happen you got to be able to think like that if you’re going to be in a position of leadership I don’t have all the
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answers I mean I’m just a no but like we said sometimes when you get tired about it you decide to run right and if one of those people or a me gets in that position once I get there I might say well I had a really good idea but how am I going to implement that when we have no money and we have all these other needs that I I realize um they have to be handled also wow I’m more powerless than I thought I really think that that’s that’s no I think that’s pretty accurate and and I I didn’t want to come across
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as dismissive I I know that there’s a lot of people that really want to make this County better some of them don’t get elected some of the ones that are just out for themselves are only out for themselves and you can tell by the way they conduct business in the position as a legislator but no I’m not going to I’m not going to go any further than that but we’ve all seen it we’ve seen it for years we’ve seen this ineptness at handling things whether it’s the emergency Sirens going
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off that didn’t whether it’s just turn off the power when you’re hes go down if you know there’s a hurricane blowing through and it’s been a long hot dry summer that’s doesn’t take a lot of common sense turn the power off you’re going to have a fire well again if you turn the fire off then the hydrants don’t work and and the other utilities don’t work unless the system is designed differently but again that takes way more foresight than now when you’re in
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the middle of the problem you’ve heard maybe you’ve heard that that the utility company said they did turn off the utility they did turn off the power then why and then the question comes up then why were the police having to block the roads because the poles that came down were arcing they wouldn’t be arcing electricity if the power had been turned off so somebody’s lying well no again again that’s a real good question and because we don’t have the answer some people would say they
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thought they were arcing but they weren’t arcing you know or there’s residual power that stays in certain pieces of equipment even after you turn them off or something I mean there’s there’s got to be some reason because I’ve heard stories like that also so that’s when it just gets really muddy and and who is responsible should be secondary to what are we going to do now to make it better and how are we going to deal with things based on our present um availability of resources
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and by the way I want you to to realize I’m speculating I’m I don’t know what happened and I’m going to hear over these periods of time many things and we’ll probably hear that Bill Clinton did it or Biden oh I got I’ve heard no it was it was Oprah bought these satellites and had space lasers come down and fire down on Al because she wants to buy everything I’ve heard some crazy crazy just stories that are like boy I’d love to buy into that conspiracy theory but then people think that I’m
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nuts and they already think that so I have to go there um but yeah it’s it’s a it’s a weird situation we found ourselves in now it is weird you know I’m looking at the clock and thinking before I let the whole show go and not showcase some of you oh yeah I wanted I wanted to bring up a few clips for people to be listening to so they can get a feeling for this I was going to say zany is that a better word than crazy much better zany zany you’re I remember when and again some of you
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older folks remember the Maui Mystery Theater oh my company was the Maui mystery players Maui mystery players and we did a lot of corporate events and uh dinner theater and it became very popular and I just basically took the stories of the people that have been struggling here Twisted it put a punchline to it and told those stories again to Corporate America and got to pay my actors and actresses and myself healthy wage a healthy wage and it was like well wait a minute I’m playing in this band playing Lou Louie and my girl
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and I I don’t mind my but I don’t want to do other people’s covers I want to do my own original material that was the satisfaction of doing the Maui mystery players for corporate stuff and it was contributing also to the history of you folks you know we’re laughing about this but you guys shouldn’t be doing this kind of stuff that that was that was the and and it was it was good we were able to do comedy but with a message and it was very very positive yeah go ahead when I tried to play earlier and I
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didn’t hear the opening credits coming through I thought to myself what am I not hitting so this may or may not come through okay well we’re going to discuss your headphones work mine don’t so you mean you’re not on I’m just going to check it out right now yeah this is a a uh while you’re checking it out this is I was also when I was working as an actor in film it was you need to have a voice resume when you’re an actor you have a reel of things that you’ve done and in in voice if you’re doing
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voiceovers then you have to have a voice over real so I was over on Honolulu auditioning for a part which of course I didn’t get and I had my computer with me and I just used it on garage band and I you know how people talk over each other you know and non-polite Society well this was just an example of 27 voices I did and it was kind of humorous and let’s see if we can get it see if we can even get it on there it’s called party in his pointed little head let me hit the button see what
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happens now I don’t hear it do you I do I hear it dead I just checked to see it is not coming through the board it’s not coming through the board I’m going to let it play so that I’m going to replace it when we do the TV stop playing cuz you don’t have it plugged in it’s not plain cuz you don’t have it plug in sh ahuh h ah little technical things like that yeah in a d live radio okay that water was very good by the way vintage water this Tony midnight he has a show on 1:00 every day Monday
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to Friday Monday through Thursday Monday through Thursday okay how a play there okay we’re going to try to Play It Again ready do it what’s going on on everybody well Nancy and I are throwing you a belated birthday party Elvis I thought that would be well thank you very much Mr President but I’m dead Homer look at all the celebrities at this party this is amazing Marge WC Fields and Bay West are walking up to us what what do I do what do I do ah yes my little blueh haad beauty you and I could make beautiful
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music together you lose the fat guy oh say Homer why don’t you come on up and see me some time when I’m feeling good I’m good but when I’m feeling bad I’m mam you are despicable got to be despicable sometimes no it’s not prudent always got to talk about it that for George my son like to call him W some of you out there gotta move I just wanted to make this perfectly clear I’ve never had sexual relations with your wife Marge and I’m not a crook well let’s make that
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perfectly clear but we’re keeping the dog and my daughter Trisha is going to name him Checkers balls to fire that dog bats me off Blaster the smiing or my name ain’t you sand exqueeze me I mean Hello I’m looking for this Wy wbit may have intruded into your party he’s as a fun please little I’m too young and handsome just well blow me down me and M all way over here was invited in oh papy you’ve got to try these spinach canoli that’s something to die for hi everybody remember me my name is Jerry Ford I once
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was President too don’t worry about it DOC it’s just if you don’t mind me saying so you really didn’t count go kiss me Lucky Charms that are magically delicious dude they’re like totally Bodacious and their deliciousness Beyond Comprehension like well since you ask Minnie me and I are having actually a very good time and I just want to clarify that I am your father and with one billion dollars we could rule the Universe I thought I saw a bureaucrat I did I did I did see a bad old
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bu all right boys and girls now let’s calm down everybody’s acting a little bit goofy here well gee Micky I guess imitation is the highest compliment isn’t that right I come in peace please take me to your leader and no harm will come to you I’ll save you now from the alien now Dudley let’s see what the little fellow wants first before we react well up to now good I’m sure or my Whiplash has gone wimpy and you can never call me slightly again hey Mo not so hard ask not what
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your country can do for you but rather what you can do for comedy that’s all well David I must say you are a man of many voices I’m sorry that I didn’t have it plugged in right but now we do that the show is over it’s great God it just shows you you have to have uh eyesight to be able to be a DJ helps anyway um we have about a minute and 18 seconds and I have a couple of more Clips obviously you’re going to be back cuz I’m going to be playing them on on other shows and you’re going to be
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playing him also um David Gallagher is going to be my co-host you’ll be seeing him both in the studio and out of the studio and you’ll hear him sometimes replacing me when I’m not here and you’ll get to meet Scott Bushnell who’s another guy out in the field and they’ll both be doing things together and separate but here I am at the end of yet another show our first show in 2024 I welcome all of you to our show with only a few seconds left we’re just going to be saying goodbye
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H well he meant that thank you all for joining us there it is thank you for joining us we’ll see you next week see [Music] you
