Saturday, May 3, 2008

Legislative Inaction Update


When Sen. Gary Hooser (above) spoke at our Groundhog Day press conference at the State Capitol on Feb. 2, we were optimistic about some of the House and Senate beach access bills that were in play. We got hearings, and had nearly unanimous support from State Senators and House Representatives on those committees.

But the bills died anyway, because key committee heads in the House and Senate decided beach access was not a high priority. Many people are calling this a do-nothing Legislature, and I'd be hard-pressed to disagree with them.

So what does it matter? I'll give you an example: walk along Kailua Beach and you'll see a new house being constructed that is closer to the ocean than any of the surrounding houses... at the north end, another house is being rebuilt, much closer than the original structure was.

Yet studies show erosion has affected the old shoreline measurements that are still being used for setback purposes. There was a bill that would have required houses to be built further back, based on sea-level rise and annual erosion rates. However, HB1037 "Relating to Coastal Zone Management" was just one more victim of the 2008 Do-Nothing Legislative Session.

If you're upset about new construction putting houses closer to the ocean on Oahu, call Land Agent Barry Chung at 587-0430 and ask him why the setbacks have not been adjusted to take into account sea-level rise and erosion. The one being built on Laiki Place sticks out like a gigantic sore thumb. And those same homeowners will probably complain about anyone who uses "their" beach area in front of that obnoxious eyesore.

4 comments:

Roxanne Darling said...

Chip Fletcher gave an excellent talk on beach erosion, sea level rises, and the impact on Hawaii at last week's meeting of the Lani-Kailua Outdoor Circle. I will post more info soon, and the building out of homes closer to the water is going to look d-u-m-b in less than 50 years if trends continue.

Anonymous said...

Obviously who ever wrote this has some hatred and or jealousy for Bradley Hook and or the rest of the Hook family, a well know orthodontist of Kailua, a donater for many organizations, and also a giver to the community by giving many familys free braces and etc. He does not cheat or lie, as my neighbor on L'orange does by calling him a purgurer in court and on the street, and to just get one thing cleared, he is telling everyone that it was Brad's and the rest of the neighbors of L'oranges idea of putting up the gate, when it was their (the man who accused everyone else and calling my dad a purdurer, hoale (when hes even a haole) and many other names) idea from the start, ahaha. And the nerve that this old husband and wife that also live on L'orange by the gate that eveyone hates to go on the news and say all this non-sense, it's just sickening. I have grown up here and have I don't think it's nice of you to say such things about this family, what the fuck have they done to you? They have gotten all the permits for this so called "obnoxious eyesore" on laiki street. And to top it all off, yah I know this house seems to stick out, but it is on their property, they haven't done anything illegal. Another thing to just put in the air, if you or anyone else feels as if you or they have a need to make a a fuss, get in you car, dive into lanikai, (it only takes about 5 minutes if u live in kailua), and look and see how close those houses are to the ocean. Then after you accomplish this you can write something else oh so pleasant about that certain house, and hopefully you can make that family's day by calling their house an "obnoxious eyesore".


PS: Take some nice advice from me. If your really want to see the beautiful ocean!! Buy a nice lot right on the beach and build a three story house, then you wont have to blame all your problems on someone else. YAY!! But you can't really do that if you only have a diploma from kalaheo high school. SOrry. On the other hand if your do build ahouse right on the beach, you may have to watch out for people who try to snatch your house plans, and people who attempt to sue you for millions of dollars, and many more ridiculous things that tree huggers do attempt to do. Ahhahaha. If you are reading this, i'm shure it made you even more mad. My advice for you is go hug a tree and it will make you feel better.

Peace and love to my true hippies who hate people who work for there money instead of lying and cheating for their money like you.

Anonymous said...

For all I care, someone could put up a purple octagon house. Thats their business not yours.

Anonymous said...

I agree with the fact that the beach accesses on kailua beach DO need to remain open to the public. For one thing money shouldnt have the ability to push everyone off the beaches it is not fair. Not everyone has an abundance of money to go purchase big expensive houses so they can use the access, and many families that dont have the meens of funds have lived here much longer than those who moved here and built extravagent houses. The beaches are for everyone not just for those who have lots of money. I would like to point out to you though that many houses along kailua beach aer equally as close to the ocean as those, what you call "EYESORES" are. I have knownthe family for many years now that is building that house and would like to ad it is very unfair for others to sit and judge this house. Really it is not as if it is painted some extravegant color or built in a way that would stand out. The colors of the house are earthtones and it is just as big as many of the houses scattered along the beaches shorelines. There are much worse houses along the beach that are just as big if not bigger made of concrete with horrible architecture. Instead of pointing fingers at whoʻs house is more of an eyesore i think it would be much more efficient to leave our opinions to ourselves and focus at the problem at hand. THE ERODING SHORELINE and the Beach Accesses.

The eroding shoreline is part of global warming, it was bound to happen and it will happen. Now the only thing that will happen to those houses along the shoreline is that they will be in the water one day, and that shouldnt be your worries since you have so much animosity toward the home owners. So that takes care of that, they will be the only ones worrying.

As for the beach access open to the public, like i pointed out before it is very important to leave the beaches open to the public but please let me clear something up for everyone. The family building the eye-sore house has never once wanted to block the beaches with gates, they in fact would much rather have the people being able to use them, so if you are pointing fingers at them about that, you are sadly mistaken, i know that they will allow anyone who wants to use the beach walk down there access.

The problem here is that when the beach is accessible from every street, there will be homeless and drug addicts accessing your streets. I know from having a child that i dont want those kind of people walking by my house and have just experienced a similar problem not to long ago. A man who looked like he was on something was yelling and screaming down on the beach and proceeded down my street yelling adn screaming. The only thing private accesses do do is keep those people away, and the public wouldnt have to be concerened if the police did there jobs cleaning up the community and coming to pick up people like that when civilians call to report. Instead of putting all your anger into the eyesores try working on talking to the police and scientists who can take care of beach access privleges and also erosion. until then take care and godbless