Op-Ed Piece on State Gov Reform

NOTE: THIS IS THE LAST POST ON WWW.BEACHACCESSHAWAII.ORG... NEW POSTS ARE NOW ON:
http://beachaccesshawaii.blogspot.com/

Hawaii's system of government is broken. One only has to look at the way our State legislature dickers over every issue and gets little done each session to see the proof. The bicameral Senate/House of Representatives structure for such a small state makes no sense. It's inefficient and redundant to have so many reps, who all have staffs and cost taxpayers extra money to perform the same tasks!

It allows our elected officials an easy out: oh, don't blame us for inaction -- the other committee killed it... not my fault -- the chairperson didn't schedule your bill for a hearing... blame the House/Senate -- they didn't act when the bill crossed over.

Those are some of the excuses we've heard for the past two years from legislators on why public beach access bills died in committee, despite strong support we had. Here's the link to my op-ed column in Sunday's Star-Bulletin on this topic... please feel free to add your comments on the Star-Bulletin site below my piece!

Excerpt:

Hawaii should adopt unicameral legislature

As the 2010 state Legislature gets under way, it's hard not to have a sense of deja vu. Thousands of bills will be introduced — many of them resurrected from last year, or the session before that. Most will die in committee. About 10 percent of those bills will cross the finish line, amid great cheering or hand-wringing. But the vast majority of citizens who get involved because they care about a particular issue will walk away disappointed or disillusioned...

To read the rest, go here: http://tinyurl.com/yckyokj

My New Venture...

Although I will continue to do what I can to promote the beach access cause, the reality is I need to make a living too! But times are tough... which is why I came up with the concept for a local TV show called Career Changers TV. Our first program began airing on OC16 last month. It's geared to people who are looking for jobs or thinking about pursuing new careers. If that's you, check out the CCTV web site for details!

www.CareerChangers.tv

I'm also writing a blog for the site, called Squashed Gecko. It's all about me! Well, not entirely... it's more about all the things I've learned from failing at various endeavors. If you're interested in the entertainment biz, especially screenwriting or writing in general, please drop by and post comments here.

As for the current State Legislature session and our prospects of seeing any significant action in regards to shoreline setbacks or beach access, all I can say is don't hold your breath. It's all about money this go-round -- meaning "non-essential" matters will get short shrift.

Kauai Addressing Access Concerns

Unlike Honolulu's City Council, Kauai is actually DOING something to acquire more beach rights of way through their county's Public Access, Open Space and Natural Resources Preservation Fund Commission. Here's an excerpt from today's Honolulu Advertiser:

A draft of the board's priorities for land acquisition that, once approved, will be sent to Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr. and the Kaua'i County Council reveals the board's concern about diminishing beach access routes.

In addition to recommending attempts to acquire land to expand the county Black Pot Park on Hanalei Bay and Salt Pond Beach Park in Hanapēpē, the commission is poised to recommend county officials use real-property-tax incentives or other means to acquire beach-access routes to Kauapea Beach (Secret Beach) near Kīlauea, Ka'aka'aniu Beach (Larsen's Beach) near Moloa'a, and Papa'a Bay between Anahola and Moloa'a. The draft priority list also contains mauka accesses to Waita Reservoir near Kōloa and Alexander Dam mauka of Kalāheo.

The same article says they have also been discussing the ongoing problems with oceanfront homeowners growing vegetation in blatant attempts to grab more beach land for themselves. Click here to read the full article.
http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20100105/NEWS0102/1050318/Kaua+i+beach+access+a+concern

New beach land belongs to public

Good news to start the New Year! As reported in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin on Jan. 1, 2010, the Intermediate Court of Appeals has ruled that accreted, naturally-formed beach land above the high water mark belongs to the public -- NOT oceanfront property owners.

As many of you already know, some of the greedier homeowners have been planting vegetation to literally grab more beach land for themselves. This ruling is a small victory for the people of Hawaii. Now if we could only do something about providing more public access and our inadequate shoreline setbacks on Oahu.

Here's the link to the Star-Bulletin article that provides more details on the court ruling.

http://www.starbulletin.com/news/20100101_New_land_is_public_court_says.html