Aloha Ohana,
Thanks for a great meeting on Friday night! Whoa they are going to get it on Wednesday. :D
I just want to follow up on a few important to-doʻs before Wednesday.
1. Call your friends.
We need to have a big turn out -- the biggest turn out we have ever had -- in order to make clear the political shibai that is happening.
Please ask your friends to come hang out with you for a little while at the hearing. Of course, it will be important to have lots of testimony at this hearing, but even if people cannot stay very long, they should come -- the show of support will speak volumes. Weʻll have light refreshments for our supporters (and signs), so why not make it an opportunity to see old friends and catch up.
City Council Hearing
Feb. 15th 10:00 AM
Kapolei Hale
2. Call the City Council Members.
The ask is: oppose Bill 50 unless the purple spot is removed. At the bottom of this email are some samples of testimony you can use to formulate your thoughts to the council members. And phone numbers for the council members.
The mechanics of what needs to happen on Wednesday are:
First, the Council needs to vote to allow for consideration of a "floor draft" amendment to Bill 50 that removes the purple spot and the urban growth boundary. This action requires six votes. Second, the Council needs to actually vote on whether to adopt the amendment to remove the spot and expanded urban boundary. This action needs five votes to pass. If all that happens, then we can testify in support of Bill 50.
Now, if the floor draft amendment is not adopted, then our testimony has to be "Kill Bill 50." We do not want it to pass with the purple spot in it, and we must tell them that.
We still need to figure out if we will be able to testify at every step in this decision -- Iʻll email everybody again and let you know.
3. Juicy information.
We are still working on the myths vs. facts hand-out. Weʻll email it as soon as it is done. There are a lot of myths to clear up!
We did manage to find out a bit of dirt on campaign financing -- which will help us to demonstrate the political shibai.
Tom Enomotoʻs brother, Dennis, has made several donations over many years to: Ikaika Anderson, Ann Kobayashi, Stanley Chang, Nestor Garcia, and Ernie Martin.
One of Clyde Kaneshiroʻs companies -- Sand Island Business Assn -- gave $2,000 to Romy Cachola.
Tulsi Gabbard received a donation from PVTʻs Albert Shigemura.
Breene Harimoto and Tom Berg have not received donations from anybody we are keeping an eye on (at least as far as I can tell).
We are still trying to see if there is an connection between Tom Enomotoʻs many business holdings and a pro-rail engineering firm called Mitsunaga and Associates. The address for many of Enomotoʻs companies is right next door to Mitsunagaʻs -- and the location is really less than ideal, so it makes me suspicious. As you may know, Tom Enomoto is the local manager for Ansaldo, who won the rail bid. Will keep you posted -- let me know if you guys know any way to show a possible connection between them and the spot.
Thatʻs all we have for right now. Please focus on making phone calls to your friends asking them to show up on Wednesday and to the Council members asking them to remove the purple spot. Let them know you know what is going down and that they still have chance to do the right thing.
Aloha,
Marti (and Shelley)
For phone calls to city council members to express your desire to remove the Purple Spot. We've listed them here in order of importance:
*Ann Kobayashi (Manoa to Kaakako, Makiki to Kaimuki) 768-5005
*Ikaika Anderson (Waimanalo to Kaneohe) 768-5003
*Ernie Martin (Wahiawa to Kahalu`u) 768-5002
Stanley Chang: 768-5004
Romy Cachola: 768-5007
Nestor Garcia: 768-5009
You can also call to say mahalo to the following folks for supporting the amendment to remove the Purple spot!
Tulsi Gabbard: 768-5006
Breene Harimoto: 768-5008
Tom Berg: 768-5001
Background info and the petition against the purple spot can be found by clicking here.
Sample Testimony
Sample 1:
Aloha council,
My name is ______________ and I am an organic farmer in Lualualei. I have been following the Purple Spot issue and want to see it removed from the Wai`anae Sustainable Community Plan. I would like to be able to farm in the future, but won’t be able to if our farmland continues to be paved over. The zoning on the Purple Spot parcel is currently P-2, which allows for crop production--something that would not be possible on an industrially zoned property. Growing food is priority. I want a place to practice and live all the things I've learned about being a farmer. I've learned that part of being an organic farmer is thinking long-term about the health of our soil so we can keep cultivating the same land for a long time--this fight is about thinking long-term about the health of our community, so we can live here happily and healthily into the future. Leaving the Purple Spot in will make it easier to industrialize Lualualei, taking it out will bring us one step closer to growing food for generations to come.
Mahalo for your time,
Your name
Sample 2:
Aloha Council members,My name is Shelley and I live in He`eia and have been following the Purple Spot issue through my job at KAHEA and other work in Wai`anae. Today you will hear many people speak on the importance of growing food--important for Hawai`i at large and important to the Wai`anae community specifically. We want the Purple Spot removed--doing so will make it more difficult for this place to be industrialized in the future. The fact that the WSCP with the Purple Spot was not approved at the time of decisionmaking at the LUC for the Tropic Land proposal was one of the reasons the boundary amendment from ag to urban was denied. If you leave the purple spot in and such a proposal was to come up again, it would then be consistent with the plan and more likely to pass. You will also hear today lots of talk about the need for ag-supporting businesses. I agree that such industry is needed, but we saw at the LUC that such an ag business park was not part of the developer's plans. It is too risky to hasten the industrialization of this parcel on promises of an ag business park when the developer has already expressed their intent to create a truck baseyard.
Mahalo for your time,
Shelley
Some additional thoughts/talking points:
-If you are a farmer in Lualualei, it is important that you speak out about your vision for a farming future for Lualualei--this is not only about the Purple Spot Parcel, but also about how it will affect the surrounding areas
-Speak to the importance of growing food.
-talk about what you want your community to look like in the future? more farms? or more big trucks?
-The Purple Spot parcel was changed from Ag to Preservation-2 (P-2) back in 1996 to build a golf course, with the condition that the golf course would have to find their own water. They weren’t able to do so and the land has sat fallow for 16 years now. P-2 zoning allows for crop production, while Industrial-1 (I-1) does not. P-2 is closer to Ag than I-1 is.
- I-1 does allow for some ‘ag-supporting businesses’ like “minor agricultural products processing, centralized bulk collection, storage and distribution of agricultural products to wholesale and retail markets, sale and service of machinery used in agricultural production, Storage and sale of seed, feed, fertilizer and other products essential to agricultural production”
-however while these kinds of businesses are important, it is the position of the group that it is too risky to allow for an I-1 zoning that would give some opportunity for ag-supporting businesses, but also allow for some really bad stuff, like truck baseyards, mechanized car washes, or parking garages.
-all of the above “ag-supporting” businesses are also allowed on Ag-1 zoned land, which do not allow such uses that make it harder to farm. Unfortunately Ag-1 is not an option right now, our options are P-2 (current zoning) or I-1, that the Purple Spot makes likely.-Leaving the purple spot on the plan will make it more likely that a future zoning change to industrial will be approved. Removing the purple spot will make it more likely that a future zoning change to agricultural will be approved
-Remember that one of the reasons we won at the LUC last May was because the proposal for an industrial park was inconsistent with the WSCP (because the Purple Spot Map was only a part of the draft)--if the plan is finalized with the spot in and the proposal comes up again, it would then be consistent with the plan and it would be easier to pass.
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