{"id":10449,"date":"2023-12-04T01:00:50","date_gmt":"2023-12-04T01:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hawaiioceannews.com\/?p=10449"},"modified":"2023-12-06T07:36:00","modified_gmt":"2023-12-06T07:36:00","slug":"hawaii-dlnr-called-on-sunshine-laws-violatiion-will-try-again-to-cancel-the-bowls-surf-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hawaiioceannews.com\/index.php\/2023\/12\/04\/hawaii-dlnr-called-on-sunshine-laws-violatiion-will-try-again-to-cancel-the-bowls-surf-community\/","title":{"rendered":"Hawaii OIP shuts down DLNR hearing for Sunshine violations – Board now set to violate the Public Trust Doctrine in redo hearing Thursday, Dec. 7"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\tThis may be just another business-as-usual, as Hawaii's DLNR continues to pursue it's strategy of adversarial relationship with the public\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tA contrivance of the DLNR's resident sexual deviate, Ed Underwood, this hearing is nothing more than a back door, gray-area attempt to end-run the legislature's already having tabled this item during the last legislative session\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h6>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

We at HON are still reeling from the news about Maui. We extend our deepest sympathies and condolences to the victims of this horrible disaster.\u00a0 Katherine Lindell, editor<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

HON now has more than 18,000 subscribers <\/strong>(subscribe<\/a>)
\n<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

-opinion-<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As if once wasn't enough,<\/strong> the DLNR board will try again to pass rules that will destroy a decades-old community at the Ala Moana Bowls parking lot in Waikiki, after the first attempt was scuttled by an Office of Information Practices<\/a> order to abort the meeting due to Sunshine Law violations. <\/span><\/p>\n

An upcoming DLNR board hearing at 9:15 AM on Thursday, December 7th, 2023, will ask again for an approval to transform the above mentioned parking area into a pay-only-under-threat-of-tow<\/a> parking lot. The effect will be immediate and disastrous as this is not just a \"parking lot\"; it has been a local community meeting place for nearly 3\/4 of a century.\u00a0 (Village-Idiot-turned-mayor, Kirk Caldwel<\/a>l, did the equivalent<\/a> to the half-century-old Diamond Head cliffs\/lighthouse surfing community, a heart-breaking ending to a vibrant meeting place)<\/em>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

If passed, this rule will create a more dangerous scenario for the hundreds of local and visiting surfers who have, for decades, accessed the world famous Bowls and other area surf spots from the contested \"parking lot\". Should the rule pass, most surfers will have little choice but to use the alternative parking facilities at Magic Island where they will have to paddle across the well-trafficked -- and often polluted -- boat channel between Bowls and Magic Island. Boaters using the channel have reported that they are unable to see surfers traversing the channel and that it is just a matter of time before someone gets run down.<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0 When confronted with this concern, rule proponent, Ed Underwood, replied that \"that's not my problem.\"<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

To yank this center for ocean activity out from under the surfers, paddlers, swimmers, and boaters who come here daily, and to force a dangerous alternative, is but another in a long list of DLNR in-your-face negative aggression against the ocean recreation community.<\/a> (The inherent mean spirited and confused approach to DLNR rule making during the disastrous Thielen<\/a> and Case<\/a> chair tenures is the stuff of legend)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

BLNR hearing agenda item J-7, contrived by the DLNR's resident sexual deviate<\/a>, Ed Underwood (and his sidekick, Meghan Statts<\/a>, who was caught lying to a senate hearing committee<\/a> in 2021), is nothing more than a back door, gray-area attempt to end-run the legislature's already having tabled this exact item during the last legislative session.<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

We have attempted to contact the DLNR's Chair, Dawn Chang, the DLNR's spin-doctor-snow-machine<\/a>, Dan Dennison<\/a>, board members, and other key personnel within the DLNR so that we could get further insight into their perspective about this issue, but have so far received zero response<\/a> from anyone at that agency.<\/span><\/p>\n

Silence.<\/span><\/p>\n

Historically, silence<\/strong><\/em> has been standard protoco<\/a>l<\/a> from the DLNR. Our experience, DLNR personnel appear fearful of the blow-back from Hawaii's public because of all the harm that has already been done by the DLNR to Hawaii's communities<\/a> -- especially ocean recreation communities -- as a result of their mostly lock step collusion with big money interests<\/a>, abject incompetence, and misguidance from their DoBOR administrator, Ed Underwood. (This same kind of incompetence by local and state bureaucrats, played out during the Maui fires<\/a>, resulted in the deadly-bungled Lahaina response that cost precious lives and so much loss of property<\/a>) <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

(See our Hawaii's leaders out of touch and unresponsive to the disasters they are creating for our future<\/a>\")<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

One of the DLNR's most vocal critics has been local native Hawaiian, Sam Monet<\/a>, a long time surfer and sailor in the Waikiki area. Below we reprint his objections and testimony to the DLNR's most recent attempt to dissolve yet another long-standing community in Hawaii, worth reading as it points out the troubling legal, ethical, and moral issues involved.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

(The hearing will be held on Thursday, December 7th, 2023, beginning at 9:15 a.m. at:\u00a0 in person at the DLNR Boardroom, Kalanimoku Building, 1151 Punchbowl St., Room 132, & online via ZOOM, livestream<\/a> via YouTube. Agenda Item J7<\/span><\/span><\/a>. The public is strongly advised to attend this meeting and testify. The ZOOM-streamed version<\/a> of this meeting will be televised on YouTube and we urge the public to watch so as to get a better idea as to how the DLNR board actually works.)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

These are the board members, by name, who will be voting on this measure:<\/span><\/p>\n