We share our testimony to the Honolulu City Council
Our infrastructure is strained-to-bursting . . . there needs to be an immediate moratorium on all high-rise building in Honolulu
Irresponsible government . . . irresponsible development; 30 new high-rises in the past seven years, and now the City Council and Mayor Caldwell are about to bless a 400' monstrosity on Piikoi that will further strain our overburdened infrastructure
The following is a reprint of our testimony submitted yesterday to Honolulu's mayor and city council, asking that they not approve the proposed Brookfield development project on Piikoi and Ala Moana (there will be a hearing on Wednesday, September 30, 2020; the public is invited to participate in a number of different ways. Please click here to see how you can participate)
TESTIMONY
Katherine Lindell, Editor
Hawaii Ocean News
Honolulu, Hawaii
Sunday, September 27, 2020
Regarding:
Ala Moana Plaza Development
FILE NUMBER: 2020/SDD-45
OWNER/APPLICANT: GGP Ala Moana, LLC / Brookfield Properties
AGENT: R. M. Towill Corporation (Keith Kurahashi)
LOCATION: 451 Piikoi Street and 1450 Ala Moana Boulevard – Kalia
TAX MAP KEYS: 2-3-038: 003 and 014 (por.)
Aloha Mayor Caldwell and members of Honolulu's City Council,
It’s not clear where you would get authorization from the people who live in this community to build a 400’ monstrosity akin to the Brookfield proposal. I can assure you that if a referendum were held right now, there would be few, if any from this community, who would vote to approve this development. In fact, you would be hard pressed to find anyone in our grassroots Honolulu community who would have voted for the development of any of the thirty-plus buildings that the city council has rubber stamped into existence over the past ten years. Thirty buildings, and the only ROI for Honolulu has been more pollution, overpopulation, and an island infrastructure now beyond overburdened. A government of, by, and for the people of Honolulu? Seriously?
There is a pressing need for our leadership to listen to the people who trusted them with positions of power. Substituting “public hearings” for real public participation in the form of legitimate referendum is a slight-of-hand that is getting old and fools no one.
This is supposed to be a government of, by and for the people of Honolulu. It is not. The mayor and his rubber-stamp city council have placed themselves at the beck and call of wealthy private financial self interests for decades, effectively excluding the city’s public from the decisions that would permanently alter their community and their quality of life. Enough.
There is no merit in a proposal that would strain an already overburdened city infrastructure, that would do nothing but create even more pollution in our city, and would never receive the approval of the people of this community.
We strongly oppose this development, as it benefits no one but the principals.
Respectfully,
Katherine Lindell