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Jason Schwartz sits with MARK SHEEHAN, part of political action group, S.A.F.E., plus Maui resident, realtor, past environmental group chairs, etal… . Discussion ensued as related to the faltering levels of actions on issues like housing, homelessness, water, sewage injection wells…for the November election and onward. 10-15-2018
Summary & Transcript
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- The Neutral Zone with Mark Sheehan on Maui Issues and 2018 Election
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Jason Schwartz opens the show, welcoming longtime Maui resident Mark Sheehan, a realtor, farmer, and active community member. Mark has been deeply involved in Maui’s civic and environmental issues for decades, including the GMO debate and local governance reform. The conversation sets the stage by highlighting Mark’s reputation as a candid, informed voice advocating for responsible stewardship of the island. - [01:34 → 04:22] Formation and Mission of SAFE (Sustainable Action Fund for the Environment)
Mark describes SAFE’s origins after a 2018 moratorium initiative on GMO crops was rejected by the county despite majority public support. SAFE emerged from this frustration as a grassroots group supporting candidates prioritizing environmental health and public welfare over the prevailing development-focused agenda. Mark contextualizes the environmental movement’s growth in Maui, noting it now involves a broad cross-section of the community, beyond just hardcore activists. - [04:22 → 07:54] Tourism and Housing Crisis on Maui
- [07:54 → 10:29] Affordable Housing Challenges and Political Roadblocks
Mark critiques county leadership, particularly Council Chair Riki Hokama, for failing to prioritize affordable housing. The county owns land with potential for affordable homes but lacks the political will and cohesive council support to develop it efficiently. Despite studies and proposals, red tape and political inertia persist. Builders want to construct affordable units, but systemic obstacles prevent progress. Mark stresses the enormous gap between affordable housing built (636 units) and luxury homes (8,000 units) in the last decade, underscoring the urgent need for action. 
Mark points to absenteeism and lack of quorum in council committees, especially those focused on infrastructure and environment, as symptomatic of deeper dysfunction. He cites statistics such as Councilman Mike White missing 37% of meetings, attributing this partly to conflicting interests (e.g., White’s hotel management job). Mark calls for voters to hold individual council members accountable for attendance and engagement, emphasizing personal responsibility over conspiracy theories.- [13:43 → 15:47] SAFE’s Voter Education Efforts and Election Importance
Mark promotes SAFE’s voter information website (voteMaui.org) offering detailed candidate profiles and issue links. He stresses the critical nature of the upcoming 2018 election for addressing over-tourism, illegal rentals, and housing crises. Mark urges all eligible voters—including young adults—to register and participate actively, framing voting as the essential tool for change. - [15:47 → 18:57] Strategies to Address Housing Shortage and Political Obstacles
Mark reiterates that building alone cannot solve Maui’s housing shortage due to cost and scale limits. The focus must include reclaiming illegal vacation rentals as long-term housing. He discusses a large affordable housing proposal near Wailuku requiring infrastructure improvements that have been repeatedly defunded by the council. Mark calls for transparency and accountability, urging candidates and officials, especially Riki Hokama, to explain budget decisions that stall progress. - [18:57 → 21:38] Financial Mismanagement and Legal Issues Impacting County Budget
Mark reveals a concealed $200 million financial liability due to a court ruling against the county’s timeshare tax surcharge, which was previously charged but must now be refunded with interest. This “financial catastrophe” was hidden from public view and threatens Maui’s bond rating. Mark also discusses the county’s ongoing legal battles over environmental violations related to injection wells, highlighting governance failures and wasteful legal persistence despite adverse rulings. - [21:38 → 24:48] SAFE’s Political Influence and Candidates Endorsed
SAFE has sponsored candidates aligned with progressive environmental and social priorities since 2016. Mark notes that while some endorsed candidates have succeeded (e.g., Elly Cochran, Don Guzman), others are running again or new candidates are joining, aiming to reform the council. He highlights the qualifications of several candidates, including MIT graduate Trinette Furtado and community activists from Molokai and Lanai, emphasizing a slate committed to accountable governance and sustainable development. - [24:48 → 30:14] Call for Political Renewal and Critique of Long-Term Officeholders
Mark argues for replacing entrenched politicians who represent a “revolving door” of Maui politics and development interests. He cites the need for new leadership to confront climate change impacts, including coastal erosion and beach loss, which have worsened under current management. Mark encourages voters to cast ballots for all council seats to ensure broad reform. He also criticizes absentee council members and notes the challenges of breaking the power of development-financed campaigns. 
Mark exposes the deep ties between council members, development interests, and campaign financing from mainland and Oahu sources. He suggests these financial influences drive decisions favoring luxury development and infrastructure projects that benefit contractors, while neglecting affordable housing and environmental protections. Mark calls for investigative journalism on Maui similar to Civil Beat on Oahu, praising outlets like Maui Time for some investigative efforts but noting the need for more transparency.- [37:10 → 41:31] Internal Council Sabotage and Need for Structural Reform
Mark describes how minority council members face administrative sabotage, such as denial of support services, and how vital committees fail to convene properly. He laments Maui’s outdated council operating procedures and calls for modernization. Despite Maui’s global reputation as a paradise and resort destination, governance remains inefficient and disconnected from community needs. He endorses candidates like Elly Cochran and the Ohana slate as part of a much-needed new team. - [41:31 → 46:06] Homelessness, Economic Inequality, and Civic Responsibility
Mark highlights the disparity between Maui’s tourism-driven wealth and the growing homelessness crisis and housing insecurity among working families. He urges private sector engagement and community solidarity, praising local organizations like PACE (Faith Action for Community Equity) for advocacy efforts. The conversation touches on the island’s increasing resemblance to overcrowded urban centers, with infrastructure and natural resources stretched thin by tourism and development. - [46:06 → 51:05] Environmental Decline and Beach Access Issues
Mark discusses the erosion of beach access and natural resources due to commercialization and parking monopolization by tourist-related businesses. He recalls past grassroots successes in protecting beaches such as Makena, crediting environmental champions and nonprofits. He stresses the interconnectedness of environmental degradation, development pressures, and loss of local quality of life, calling for limits on tourism growth and more equitable stewardship. - [51:05 → 56:10] Voter Education and Council Performance Grading
Mark introduces the Great Maui Council Project, which grades council members based on attendance, legislative sponsorship, and responsiveness to environmental and social issues. He praises Elly Cochran and others who have sponsored important legislation on polystyrene bans, sunscreen reef protections, and sand mining restrictions, contrasting them against underperforming members with poor attendance and lack of leadership. Mark emphasizes the importance of informed voting to support effective council members. 
The show concludes with Mark encouraging listeners to vote in the upcoming election, stressing that change requires participation. He expresses hope that the conversation inspires action and signals willingness to return post-election to assess progress. Jason Schwartz thanks Mark for his openness and dedication to Maui’s future.
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- Key Insights
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- Maui faces a severe affordable housing shortage exacerbated by illegal vacation rentals and rising tourism.
- County leadership has failed to prioritize affordable housing and environmental protection due to political inertia and development interests.
- Financial mismanagement has led to concealed liabilities threatening Maui’s fiscal health.
- Council dysfunction, absenteeism, and sabotage undermine governance effectiveness.
- SAFE and allied candidates represent a movement toward accountability, sustainability, and community-driven priorities.
- Voter participation, education, and systemic reform are critical for Maui’s future resilience against climate change and social inequities.
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- Keywords
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- FAQ
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Q: What is SAFE?
A: The Sustainable Action Fund for the Environment, a nonprofit supporting candidates and policies prioritizing environmental health and community welfare over unchecked development.
Q: Why is affordable housing a crisis on Maui?
A: Due to rising tourism, illegal vacation rentals, and political failure to develop affordable housing, prices have surged beyond local residents’ reach.
Q: What are the major governance issues?
A: Council absenteeism, lack of quorum, political sabotage, and influence of development interests undermine effective decision-making.
Q: How can voters help?
A: By registering, voting in all council races, and supporting candidates aligned with sustainable and equitable policies.
Q: What financial risks does Maui face?
A: A $200 million liability from a court ruling on timeshare taxes and costly ongoing environmental litigation threaten county finances.
This comprehensive summary captures the major themes, key points, and detailed insights from the transcript, structured along the original flow of topics discussed during the interview.
Transcript
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community for over 40 years open seven days a week for more information call 808 two four two five five five five or online at kama’aina loan .comthe neutral zone hurt Monday is live at 11 a.m. and again Saturday is at 7 a.m. on the voice of Maui kak u 88.5 FM well it is Monday this is Jason Schwartz and welcome to the neutral zone here on ka K you [Music] [Music] his hand [Applause] [Music] good morning this is Jason Schwartz I am here this is the neutral zone kak u 88.5 FM I have a wonderful guest today mark
01:34
Sheehan has been on Maui gosh as long as me probably I got here in 88 you’re probably somewhere 78 mark has been here a long long time and he is as fabric of Maui as anybody I know you’ve been a realtor and a farmer and a homeowner and even involved in lots of things I don’t know you were involved with friend of mine good Jimmy Hanlon and Arica even didn’t many things through the years but I know you as a wonderful guy who if he sees something he mentions it you don’t pull punches and you’ve been a citizen
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involved in things that you can give me a laundry list I know that when we had the GMO anti GMO initiative you were right in there and you were there and instrumental in giving information and finding information and sharing it eloquently and being part of responsible movements to kind of make this place pono get things right mark here in 2018 there’s a group called safe maybe we want to start there welcome to our show mark thank you there’s to be earthly divert invited me they grew out of the hole after the
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moratorium when 23,000 people voted for and the county refused to certify the election when we went one that boat we came to realize there was something seriously wrong with the way in which the county was managed and we eventually were taken to the Court of Appeals and we lost because the court ruled against the moratorium initiative that the counties didn’t have the authority to do that so but we realized that we had a lot of supporters out there who were concerned about fundamental issues
03:43
right and I’ve been involved with Maori tomorrow since the beginning you know going on 30 years so the environmental movement has grown and it wasn’t just the hardcore environmentalist anymore it was a broad section of people from all segments and sectors of the community who are concerned with his issue and who were concerned with the way in which the county is governed so the sustainable Action Fund for the environment safe as we call it was set up to support candidates who were more concerned with
04:22
the health of the public and the environmental issues that held in the environment then the development agenda that has controlled this county and the state for the last 40 years and it’s been a very good thing in aiding in the transition from sugar but now we have too much of a good thing anyone who’s travelled to popular destinations has seen that it’s easy to tell you but the goose that keeps laying these wonderful eggs over tourism has been a problem in many places from Acapulco to Miami – you name it and
05:04
Honolulu when I got to Honolulu where I lived for five years from 73 to 74 to 78 there was a discussion going on about limiting development in Waikiki that discussion is still going on 15,000 hotel rooms and condo rooms later I understand I was in Malibu in 1973 that whole thing and they were doing the same thing talking about limiting it doesn’t happen and it’s a small island I was on kawari you know last week they’re experiencing the same issue as which is over crowded beaches roads that are
05:51
really designed to handle the 30% increase in tourists and 30% increase in residents and we’re in the same predicament in the last 10 years we’ve had a 30% increase or more and visitors and in people moving to the island and but at the same time we’ve had probably 75 to 80% increase in the cost of housing just because of the dramatic impact of vacation rentals there right Airbnb particularly so there will be an item on the ballot here in Maui County which will would be in to impose a pine
06:36
on illegal vacation rentals and I wouldn’t be surprised if that doesn’t pass right to increase the penalty to increase the year to here a lot dramatically yes but if you think in terms of maybe four to five thousand illegal vacation rentals because people can make three times as much from a vacation rental sure I’m not going not talking about legal I understand what illegal ones I hope all of our guests understand marked is speaking from experience where I’ve been a vacation rentals because I thought it would help
07:18
people pay their mortgage right I’ve been all around the issue sure not it was before air B&B came along with it’s astonishing success yes and as a result if we were to try to build our way out of this and the average the median sale price of a home now is seven hundred thousand that’s for last month Wow then and we had a build let’s say 4000 of those that’s almost three billion dollars so there’s no way that we can build our way out of this Nelly Cochran has been pushing for a
07:54
long time to build on the 55 Lots that the county owns and dipp’d mr. Hokama thinks we oughta sell those I think that’s a terrible idea because you would maybe get eight million dollars and you buy another piece of land and you start all over again and you have to get the end the utilities there and the permits it would take you six or seven years we need to start building the county should be borrowing money while it has a good bond rating to you know address this issue but it hasn’t been a priority for mr.
08:34
Hokama who has an enormous amount of power as head of a budget committee who the mayor I think has tried but he hasn’t tried hard enough nor has the council worked together and one of the reasons why is because they are still working for the development tourist agenda who finances campaigns and really has an enormous power over the agenda in this state and in this county so instead of diversifying our economy and really addressing this pressing need which was obvious ten years ago yes it’s not like
09:13
this is a new issue so all let me just bring you the place listeners up-to-date on affordable housing in the last 10 years this is we just did a very thorough study of it right have been 636 affordable homes bill 636 in ten years at the same time in the other category market price on luxury homes 8,000 so we have to kind of put the brakes on we do developers I believe builders are willing to build affordable housing but they can’t there was two hundred and fifty thousand dollars appropriated last
09:50
year for a housing czar who could fast-track development somehow the council turned it into a study we don’t need a village study we’ve got shelves full of studies well we need somebody in a position to cut through the red tape and take action but what the study concluded was that by a organization called an SMS is that the county has totally neglected this area big surprise they have no plan nor do they have the data and the resources to put a plan into place in other words where there
10:29
has been this flashing red signal now that you and I think saw ten years ago almost nothing has been done and I think we have to hold the people who have been in office accountable for this I think there and people like mr. Hokama who seem to have a lifetime appointment to the council we have in this election my Molina coming back a very popular person who was on the council for ten years and then it’s been up in the mayor’s office for the last four years the mayor running again you know so I
11:05
look out and I go if mr. Arakawa wins the Kahului seat and the mic is back on the council is he going to be able to stand up to the mayor’s agenda will he really speak up on behalf of the people we have Alice lien who was on the council for ten years right it’s termed out I was a head of housing from 2000 to 2007 in which period hardly any homes were built at all housing housing affordable housing sure seems like she should what was built after a few years became market priced homes and people got the big check and
11:48
that was that yeah we Ellie Cochran had somebody on her staff last year to do a study that took over a year of the best affordable housing solutions around the country and it was taken over to state supervillains committee and saying here’s the data you know and she said well I’m not gonna you know deal with this this you know it didn’t come out of my office it’s you know not my information and I’m not gonna really put it up you know with it in my committee so what I want to say there’s been a
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problem between the majority out of the council and knowing the poor minority members which is Ellie Cochran Don Guzman a leak at a time Kelly King’s trouble getting their committees people attending their committees like the infrastructure and environmental committee that Ellie chairs has not been able to get a quorum for the last three meetings you know is that ridiculous I don’t it’s because these people aren’t showing up you say by design and I keep thinking they individually don’t realize
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their personal responsibility and I think they should each individually be voted against rather than about like I bless you a lot of people when they see groups and banners of candidates they forget that those are individuals there and so all I’m stressing is that these are individuals that made that decision to not come you can’t think of them even as a conspiracy I think if you want the job show up you show my quite missed 37% of all the missed 17 meetings last year that’s out right this year 2018 but he
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has another job it’s a high priority job he’s the general manager of a hotel of course isn’t that interesting that was for example when Ellie Cochrane proposed we sent over to H the community of Association proposals that they take to the legislature a $15 an hour minimum wage it didn’t get on the agenda mr. white left it off the agenda he opposed it because he runs a hotel you know so I think we need to kind of look past that and look at the unmet needs of working people here on this island who you know
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as you know we’re two jobs sometimes three jobs even people working full-time sometimes we end up living in their cars yeah your organization that you form safe there’s a website now what’s the website address this guy safecom say but this bar vote smart now is that you vote vote now a org vote Maui’s org reason I bring it up I went there and you’re not only in that website show specifics you have links to the specifics and you show people the actual fact that is dramatic if people really
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like it’s important for everyone to know that there is still time to register to register and vote yeah right and if people really want to change things they have to do that and if they have young adults in their family who could care less because they want to go surfing or you don’t don’t think they have a time they need to know this election is critical if we want to turn the island around it and get a grip on over tourism if we want to really shift make more to reduce the impact of
15:47
illegal rentals in our neighborhoods and convert those homes back to homes that are available to people who live here you say we can’t build our way out of this housing crisis what are we going to do any idea well what I’m talking about is clawing back the available inventory sure bless you thank you for coming here I see your little London old I got it I had an allergic reaction to something so no anyway we’ll bring the event the inventory back from the illegal vacation rentals but that still find us way short
16:26
and even if we built like you say 4,000 with the bond rating the county could borrow one hundred and fifty million dollars and really you know the jobs that the construction industry wants we could have those jobs but instead of building timeshares that they’re never going to be able to afford or you know have no interest in living in we could be building the affordable housing inventory and we could remove some of the roadblocks Mike gathered ins project Wailuku country towns proposal where
16:58
that is absolutely just outside Wailuku people could he proposed to build a thousand affordable homes and Habitat for Humanity and Mike himself wants to do some of the buildings but he needs to have why Ali Road extended so it goes up to the way up there and but mr. Holcomb has not wanted to really do that and he has suck he keeps taking it out of the budget so well you know what I want two people to do is to say you know if if you look under behind the screen and you see who’s got us into this situation
17:44
maybe it’s time for somebody else to step forward this has anyone asked mr. Hokama simply why you pulled this from the budget you know we have a thousand fordable honestly I hate to be on your and explain himself what as well has been I think after the election whether it be citizen or council person when it’s not an election I can bring them on because of the rules I’ve been restricted and I’ve been dealing with issues but you’re right I mean I don’t know why those questions
18:10
aren’t asked by maybe I’m fake media I’m fake news but meaning I don’t know what that whole something is definitely fake I mean listen to this one guy that mr. Arakawa mr. Hikawa have been concealing a financial cast catastrophe for the county caused by reckless mismanagement and this is based on a decision by the courts in favor of timeshare people years ago about 1214 years ago the county looked at the real property tax rate and came up with the idea of charging time share owners forty percent
18:57
more than other condominium owners and the instead of going along with it the ocean resorts billa’s vacation owners associations decided to sue the county and in the final analysis March of this year the court ruled that the so what happened is the county collected the money and spent it they didn’t put it aside they knew they were being sued they didn’t put aside and some secured fund and now as it turns out the court has ruled that the there is no difference between hotel rooms and
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timeshares to justify the timeshare owners being penalized so they paid that post funds now they want their money back the accumulated funds are a hundred and twenty million dollars more the court ruling 1/2 million would require that the county pay that with ten percent Interest so I’m not quite sure about the math but I think we’re talking about something in the neighborhood of two hundred million dollars ouch and who who will pay that you and me that’s right so this has been concealed by the or what happened is the
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corporation council went to the judge and ask that the they not compute the fines yet while they appeal it but and not announce it to the media that might want to know about this really well wouldn’t it maybe it might it might make us some difference in this election that’s right yeah yeah and imagine what happens to the county’s bond rating if you know all of a sudden there’s this two hundred million dollar of penalty that the county has to pay but are they even using that window to
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get monies to do responsible things no so they’re not for example that they getting a bond to be able to do that housing you were speaking of no so they’re just basically pushing it down in a way that kind of mismanagement yes it’s a kind of a arrogance of the way in which the mayor and my budget chair have managed things in the county and then worked with the corporation council to cover it up and we have a similar issue that’s been festering for years on the Lahaina injection wells and now the
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county and it’s the mayor and his stubbornness has gone to the taken the case to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals twice and now the the court has said we don’t want to consider this another time every time the the ruling has been in favor of the requirements by the Environmental Protection Agency to stop using these injection wells because of the environmental impacts but somehow the stubbornness or I don’t know what that is I Robin Knox who was here who got a quality environmental
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award in the 26,000 engineering people on the mainland with water all they’re talking about is that Maui’s injection well problem it is so out there well the fight is a hundred thousand dollars a day and this has been going on for years and will we ever have – what does that mean ago share our way out of it so these are things that concern me at the same time what save has done and I’m I’m not the master controller behind this organization I’m just a spokesman from time to time like
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but there are thousands of people who are dissatisfied with how the county has been operating and feel it’s time for a change and that’s why in 2016 safe sponsored a slate of candidates the Ohana candidates for all nine council seats and two of our candidates we endorsed Elly Cochran and Dawn Guzman were elected and two new faces were elected Kelley King and the lika a tie so Elliott this year is putting premieres we all don’t and Guzman will not be running for council he ran for mayor and didn’t make it
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through the primary and but alica and Kelley King are running again along with candidates who ran in previously Shane said Nancy will be running for the East Maui seat Gabe Johnson for the lanai seat Kiana Rawlings Fernandez from Molokai seat so we have people with experience who’ve been working in the community we have Tasha , who’s running for the Kahului see and have Trinette Furtado who is really very Brown you know when you have that the qualifications she’s an MIT graduate there’s a she’s a very
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intelligent woman and hands-on with a Luca tie every with the council we’re gonna jump away if you will here – I guess sponsors you’ve gotta go to support us and then we’re gonna come back I’m here with Mark Sheehan and I’m Jason Schwartz were on the neutral zone if you want to call us eight seven three three four three five or you just listen mark is a fountain of truth I am really appreciating having you here mark thank you we’re out eighty eight and a half oh excuse me
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eighty eight point five they say there is no half in radio 88.5 FM the voice of Maui kak you the neutral zone with me Jason Schwartz would like to thank V Maui miracle dot org to their support the Maui miracle org a source of information from Maui voters can be found by visiting their website at the Maui miracle dot org the neutral zone heard Monday live at 11:00 a.m. and again Saturdays at 7 a.m. on the voice of Maui a aku 88.5 FM [Music] the Grateful Dead played a different set listed every show since no two concerts
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were ever the same on stage the same goes with the Grateful Dead radio program on kak u 88.5 FM Saturday night at 8:00 and Sunday night at 9:00 it’s dead air it’s an hour of killer recording stories from the tapirs section tall tales from the parking lot and I’ll throw in an interview from time to time hey I’m Corey Daniel Saturday night at 8:00 and Sunday night at 9:00 you’ll get dead air on kak u 88.5 FM the voice of Maui hi I’m Jason Schwartz host of the neutral zone kak u is a
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listener-supported station this means that all the great programs you hear like mine are sponsored by you as well as our underwriters if you would like to help keep the voice of Maui talking loud and clear go to kak UF m dot org slash donate today and give and don’t miss the neutral zone Mondays at 11:00 a.m. on 88.5 FM the voice of flower and now an ikkaku forum alert in preparation for the looming general election ikkaku will air a special forum presented by the Kula Community Association which will feature the
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candidates for mayor and for County Council the forum will air on October 8 at 8 p.m. and will continue to run throughout the election season visit ikkaku org or call eight seven one five five five four for further information this message is for all of you sitting in the passenger seat and apologies if it gets a little uncomfortable but how does it feel to be at the mercy of someone who thinks a random text is more important than your life someone who takes their eyes off the road while speeding along in a three-ton hunk of
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Steel freaky right well why not just ask them to stop or better yet volunteer to text for them it might be a little awkward but believe me you’ll live learn more at stop text stop Rex org brought to you by the Ad Council on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration just messages for all of you sitting in the passenger seat and apologies if it gets a little uncomfortable but how does it feel to be at the mercy of someone who thinks a random text is more important than your life someone who takes their eyes off
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the road while speeding along in a three-ton hunk of Steel freaky right well why not just ask them to stop or better yet volunteer to text for them it might be a little awkward but believe me you’ll live learn more at stop text stop wrecks org brought to you by the Ad Council in the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration vultures wear their questionable culinary tastes aren’t going to win many popularity contests and they have another unsavory habit euro hydrosis which is a scientific euphemism for pooping on your
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legs in order to keep cool but vultures are nature’s cleanup crew tackling our biases with vultures and other animals on the next big picture science [Music] you’re listening to the voice of Maui community supported radio in honor of National Disability Employment Awareness Month kolima o Maui will be holding its seventh annual job fair Thursday October 18th from 9:00 to 11:30 a.m. at the Wailuku community center with over 30 employers in attendance for more information about the job fair our
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website is Colima o Maui dot org that’s Colima o maui dot org hope to see you at the job fair we are back here this is Jason Schwartz on the neutral zone with mark Sheehan it’s Monday we got a couple few weeks before our election here in Maui 2018 three three weeks three weeks and right now I guess absentee ballots just went out so you might have something in your hand right I went out and our bailius arrived the same day endorsing Elly Cochran on the nine Ohana candidates we think it’s time for people
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to who leave the system we’re clearly not able to manage the county in a way that meets the needs of the local people and we need to make some significant changes and I don’t think the people who have been part of the system for decades like mr. avocado and mr. Hill come on people who in the revolving door of Maui politics crony capitalism if you want to call it that yes are really in a position to be able to make the changes necessary not only for the benefit of the working people but to deal with the
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hard decisions we’re gonna have to make about climate change and all the data about climate change shows that Maui is going to be extremely impacted by beach loss and again this is something maybe someone like Donald Trump who think this is Chinese hoax or it doesn’t get it but we should I’ve certainly been looking at it for 30 years you have to and during that time have we pulled back and development from close to the ocean that we moved our roads inland I know there is second hand in Kihei there we
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know that there’s a basin with the problem right near well look at how and they turned a little poor neighborhood into now multi-million dollar beachfront houses that are all in water I want to say something to South Maui voters okay there are some precincts down there in South County where people let as many as 20% of the people in that precinct left their ballots blank please don’t do that vote for all nine councilmembers very important no matter where you live in Maui County please vote for all nine
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races yes you know if you don’t know who to vote for look at the look at your mail right go to the websites or just look and see who to vote for but they’re doing the heavy lifting these guys have looked at these candidates in many different ways and you know you’re at arm’s length from other groups they’re all coming up with the same roughly not as coordinated with the candidates I’m not allowed to go but how truthful it rises to the top it seems like with this change I mean I I can’t even help it we
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keep seeing stories and news that is beyond anything that any of us find acceptable I’m looking at last there’s now a time and there’s a a repeat of a story they ran a couple of weeks ago about the councilmembers who don’t show up and it wasn’t just Mike White who missed 37% of his meetings mr. Holcomb is stuck a huge number of meetings I think 43 and there’s an interesting pattern that they point out mr. Howe comma for example missed 50% of the committee meetings that he missed were
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ones chaired by women that’s interesting that you know could be just an accident but the whole article is worth reading it’s to kind of it discusses what this extreme policy of absenteeism on the part of our council members yeah you want the job show up if there’s too many committees reduce the number of committees and what makes me a little bit crazy here on this island many of the people that we know maybe not you but they’re so unhappy with what they see that they don’t vote really
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super important that they register and vote to make the change happen because that really is where we have our power right now the slogan is you know no vote no grumble but people love to complain and if you like to complain well then do everything you can to keep things the same you’ll have plenty to complain about but if you really you know care then vote and if you don’t think the people in power are doing a good job as Willie Nelson says in his new song both them out and let’s get a fresh start do
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you think we should look at individual races now and candidates we want to do that or you want to talk about generally issues like I hope we’re gonna have Gladys bison on here to try to help us talk about water because I want to get to kind of the bottom of Gladys is you know well-intentioned and she said you know it seems like the very model of a sweet hair elder citizen concerned with the tremendous service she knows how to play power politics as well and taking kind of long in the tooth as I am as
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well and I think it’s time for some new people to come forward you know that whole business of how David Taylor was fired and then we had to pay him off for we paid him for not coming to work and we would Gladys in there and she’s not a a water engineer now why is she in office it seemed to me that after the last election mr. Arakawa hired Mike Malina and don couch and Gladys bison and hey what’s that about maybe he was thinking well when I get termed out as mayor I might run for office in if I have these
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people in my office and we can develop some rapport you know when I get back in as a council member I don’t know if Alan Arakawa was a citizen you would listen to his ideas just as well as if you were mayor wouldn’t you yes and he’s a very smart very well-intentioned so I’d like that as a citizen these guys should bring themselves forward they have plenty of retirement money they’re fine move out of the seat talk as a citizen like we have been I think if you’re in power for a long time I don’t know I
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think Alan said to me once he said yeah until someone sitting in that mayor seat you never quite sure how they’re gonna really perform they can say one thing when they’re on the campaign trail and they get in there and get subject to all the pressures and so on but I think 12 years in that position plus eight years on the council enough already enough already yeah yeah Lika said it very well I honestly why is Alice Lee running after so much time after she was here and served and good question why because
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there’s something Ellis’s lee has worked recently for go Maui which is a booster organization for development and I think there’s an agenda I think when the corporate sponsors of like just a group called one Ohana that has put 300 thousand dollars into council races what’s their agenda and in two years ago it was forward progress and you know mainland money development money when you look closely at how people of the council frames where the campaign funds come from from the mainland and from Oahu and you look at
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those organizations I could name them but I don’t yeah then you go to the contracts that the council approves the county approves you say oh the same engineering companies and contractors who are putting in sewer systems and selling supplies of County are contributing to the their campaigns and they’re getting these monthly or bimonthly contracts for a hundred thousand here at a couple hundred thousand there it’s all about the money and you know again is it I think oh how do I know you you know we
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don’t we don’t have a Civil Beat here on Maui to dig into these kind of things but I think we should have one and that’s Maui time does a very good job of kind of digging digging in it but you know get a small this thing that you shared with me this morning about how comma and our account that doesn’t take a lot of digging that’s pretty on surface is it it took an attorney to determine to say this is a retired attorney here on the island who likes to get to the bottom of things I bet
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there’s lots of things like that going on more you know I mean it’s not even speculation we can probably go over every contract I mean I’m afraid about is one crime scene I think there are a lot of people working with this county who really want to do their job but I think people also get hamstrung by being told you can’t do this and you can’t do that I mean I’m looking at what happened to the minority faction of the council who didn’t allocate I was in charge of the water committee his committee
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meetings weren’t even put on the agenda he was his email was sabotage he was his administrative assistants weren’t allowed to use council services and so there’s the kind of sabotage that has gone out that you know we look at the island and we got this is for 20 years in a row the most popular on in the world we have a world-class resort plan from Kapalua de McKenna and at the same time we have a kind of third-world management structure I don’t think the council operating procedures have been overhauled it’s 50
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years old we need to upgrade what we’ve got and we need new people with who a team of people who are willing to work together and in my perspective that is le Cochrane and the Ohana cancel candidates I like Mike Victorino I just season who’s been backing him makes me think and that is going to be very hard for him to break away from the current system and we need we need to really press the pause button on the rampant development of luxury housing and deal with fundamental issues of traffic and
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in housing for the people and the homelessness issue it’s it’s really disgusting that with so much prosperity in this island Anissa that we have so many people who are living under such conditions yeah it’s outrageous I mean we can do better we we can do better for our working families and we can do better for her than homeless people who are struggling and I think our private citizens all of us need to remember if you see someone that’s hurting help them a lot of people on even people that are
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running when I’ve talked to them about different issues they point that where the agencies are but they don’t solve any problems they just point and you go to these agencies and they’re super overstressed and they can’t handle it and they don’t have resources to do things I think we have I want to encourage private sector people to get more involved this surely is enough wealth irritants yeah there’s a you know of an organization called pace faith action for community equity I know that
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Tasha was involved with that yeah once you passed and Franco there was some there people who are really heroes who’ve worked to help working families and did try to keep the housing issue front and center but they’ve had very limited success and so it’s time to put working families first and to deal with these issues and the tourists will keep coming it’s starting to look but I was gonna say when I flew in from Molokai into Maui I felt like I was flying into Los Angeles I really I’m sure that’s not
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the case but it looks just ridiculous here why are they doing this I mean I don’t I can’t imagine they’re ignorant of what’s going on Rikki Hokama chairman of the council people and international and rational but what are they doing on their own Island they’re squeezing the life out of their own I have a very simple explanation as to why this happens okay the profit is in the concrete why do we pay a paradise the profit is in the concrete the more we pave the more job is the more money you
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know and but as far as the reason one of my overriding concerns has been climate change for almost 40 years okay and with that I thought the best thing we can do is to regenerate the soil and stop poisoning ourselves you know we don’t need Monsanto we didn’t we don’t did we didn’t need the eighty eight thousand pounds of atrazine that H CNS was putting on sugar every year because it’s an endocrine disruptor I know more about health and the impacts of of organophosphates on health and I never
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wanted to know all right so you know if once you start waking up stop poisoning yourself regenerate the soil do everything you can to get the carbon out of the atmosphere and into the soil where it belongs work with the soil organisms instead of killing them grow as much food as you possibly can for your local population because someday we are gonna have our Michael moment are really you know a big hurricane moment week we got spare it again by lane but one of these days will get whacked and building the
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infrastructure for community resilience is going to be important growing more of your own food is going to be important and there are heroes on this island who are working to get more agriculture to develop the broaden in the farmers unionist and we have one of the biggest farmers union chapters in the in the country in the country yeah and there’s a group called aina first who’s trying to get some of the sugar lands to convert to agriculture Mike Alton again as devoted 800 acres to his land over
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there in white kapu for farming we’ve got you know biodiesel growing sunflowers there’s a lot happening there’s a woman named Jenny Pell here on the island who wants to create a food hub and she did this in Oregon and it’s very successful to have a permanent farmers market with the chillers and compressors and and and the kitchens for after you know market products that supports farmers and makes it you know so there’s a lot happening that’s positive news it’s not all bad news
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no but more support from the county and the state would you know would would make a big difference so that someday when the boats don’t bring everything in and we can’t just go to Costco and fill up our SUVs you know I someday you and I won’t be here and it won’t be because we don’t want to because we’ll be gone that was that but I just I’m wondering why parents and children and aren’t realizing what we’re doing to this place I mean people there so this about rage
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you know well and that’s why this election is so pivotal because many of the people that were kids are now a voting age and they’ve lived through this and seen this all happen in their lifetime look at what has happened over on West Maui in terms of beach access and every possible opportunity it seems to me that the the activities that are taking over the beaches the people who work for those activities are filling up the available parking spots with their cars we’re just kind of selfish and
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opportunistic and the ability to kind of make money at every opportunity is a systematic way of stealing resources from the local population who they want to get to the beach to you know they they have families and what is our most available form of recreation going to the beach with this against my favorite beaches Baldwin beach which is disappeared for the last couple of months it’s beginning to come back now but at the other end baby beach where they have that inside Reiser and say how you go down there I
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was down there yesterday afternoon it was like Tony Island you know there were 80 cars that are and you know I was happy to see that everybody’s enjoying it but a beach that was years ago seldom frequented it was right a little quiet spot at the end there’s no parking the facilities I mean when we worked on the saving Makena Beach from development yourself people said oh it’s got to go out there that’s so far away that I remember going there I think at the Christmas before last and it was
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like wow people were on the beach so well you know the the heroes of the state park at McKenna time and you guys all way back then who saved that Beach Rick’s hands and Alvarez L Perez al Perez is who left the island for 15 years came back and now is the executive director of Maui tomorrow and he’s doing a fantastic absolutely great I mean you know you guys are the champions of these organizations that have been really there all this time and yet the politics has stayed I mean when does it all connect I mean
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obviously you’ve done great work and exposing a lot of truth and a real good path I don’t want to bash the tourist industry you know I mean they know things like but that’s too much of a good thing you know we need to have some limits and we are a species of entitled people who think that we have the right to have everything our way and there’s a kind of arrogance of money and power that says hey we call the shots we bring in the money but too much of that money goes off Island to the owners of those
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hotels who live far away from here right and so we have to wake up and realize that the surf spots that we love the beaches that we love that the contaminated that the reefs that we see dying all this is related and it you can’t just point to one thing it’s a whole pattern of favoritism for commercial enterprises and neglect of the environment and the needs of local people you have to change that and not only time to change that you know like you said people are starting to wake up and now is the time to do something
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about that – really you still have a chance I mean I think that’s the Connie Allah Inge there’s a name I haven’t heard in a little while I mean I gave him credit and you can tell me I think I probably should to help get same-day registration and voting that kind of an effort has really made a difference if you gotta testify the council the people from lanai and Molokai can vote in hey why can’t people Skype why can’t you call in and you say you know I would like to testify on this
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issue that’s before the council today tomorrow and the issue is something that concerns you and someone can kind of say well there are 10 people ahead of you the meeting starts at 9 o’clock and so you’ll probably you’ll be number 11 and we’ll call you back around 10:15 and you’ll have your three minutes to give your testimony from home why do I have to tie up my all day and take the you know if I want to testify another line and there’s 25 people out of me I might get in before lunch and maybe not so I
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have to arrange my whole day and burn up all the carbon and so on it could be made easier so when I talk about upgrading the council it’s not just the quality of the people who represent us but it’s how they conduct business we there was a study done by a group called great Maui council was sponsored by safe I was involved with that and we looked at 2017 and how decisions were made who attended what positions they took and we graded it and we and if you go to the site great Maui council give them a
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grade like ABCDEF great Maui council org you can see you Keely got an F and Ellie Cochrane and Lita tie and Kelly King got A’s why because of the willingness to sponsor legislation back legislation like the polystyrene ban the past side the sunscreen issue the sand mining issue ones that were you know we were very out front about these are our priorities and yeah these are the reason we gave grades like this and but people said well yeah well what’s the what’s the bottom line the bottom line is that
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the council likes not to make decisions their basic policy has kicked the can down the road don’t make a decision like the afford of the front street apartments that 114 of over something like that right we’ve got to be taken back by the order and people who are gonna be throwing up and was well maybe the state will jump in and do it no these are our people this is and I could if you go to the site there’s very plenty of examples of when we give the grade you can also go to the video and it shows you the
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committee meeting in which they’re taking a position lobbying in favor of the sunscreen manufacturers instead of the reefs it’s all there it’s all video link it is a lack of an education and it took about six months of people day in and doing this but it was designed to educate people it was an off year 2017 we thought what can we do to help educate people more about how the county operates and gets things done and don’t buy large it’s that don’t they don’t get much done they don’t make decisions
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that’s what you said about pushing it back pushing it back I remember as a Realtor we were sitting there and the candidates were coming to speak to us and we were up at the Y Kapoor Marilyn Monroe house and candidates sat down and he knew me and the first thing he said was let the people decide but the people decide that guy is now running for mayor so it’s like I like my but I want someone that will stand and make a decision that push it down the road was Mike in your voting thing he was that was I had the pleasure of I
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like Mike this was a great guy and we had a breakfast six months ago and he said well you know I know I know you may be back to somebody else but when I get elected just know that you could always come in and talk to me just a great guy but I said well what’s your platform he said well portable housing everybody knows that that’s what we got to do I said well you’re on the council for 10 years what I couldn’t get the support you know and I’m not gonna say he was right or wrong but somehow it wasn’t a
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priority he was kind of taking stand down and I could think of other issues I don’t want to spend time back sure Mike but if we got all those right council people and we had Mike victory know we could still move forward yeah and if you look at the great Maui council org site now you’ll see really in many ways the hero of the council what Sally Cochran so here’s this person that the mayor on his radio show last week said oh she doesn’t even have a high school education and she’s got a you know a rap
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sheet and blah blah blah well she was the one who has sponsored the bills for on sand mining and on the polystyrene ban on and on the oxybenzone ban and had to defend it against some of the issues and the Makela Kies subdivision over there which was supposedly an affordable housing project and she had a defender us up against the planning director and the corporation counsel and and did a fantastic job and you can just go watch her on the videotapes having to stand up to all these people and so we’re supposed to
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think that she doesn’t have the educational qualifications she has she has the values she has the passion in her heart to really work to defend local people I’ve seen her in action she does quite a job well you know we could go on I’m here with Mark Sheehan and we’re almost to the end of our show here today mark thank you for coming and being so open with all of us right we hope that we get up it didn’t scare anybody out there oh no I did scare people I hope so anybody who was thinking I don’t need to vote we
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got 30 seconds to go and it has been a pleasure and we’ll come back after the election do some conversation see where we’re at thank you all for joining us here on the neutral zone every Monday 88.5 FM it’s a pleasure we love you and we are out [Music]
