LEO 'ELELE - TRUSTEE MESSAGES

Moloka'i's real loss

Colette Y. Machado Trustee, Moloka'i and Lāna'i

The closure of Moloka'i Ranch will impact generations. Our hearts and aloha reach out and embrace the employees who now have no jobs, no benefits and little hope.

The hurt is real. The story is major, but is already fading from the front page as other dire economic news, such as airline shutdowns and spiraling gas prices, take center stage.

As all Hawai'i faces an economic slowdown, the state has signaled it is taking the lead instituting economic strategies that will both provide employment and protect our subsistence resources on Moloka'i.

But first the residents of Moloka'i need to face reality. And it has to start with those who oppose any economic development.

The strident voices talk of subsistence farming and living off the land. Some can do that. But it's not a solution, and the activists know it. Most residents need jobs with benefits.

Let us reflect for a moment upon the various community-based economic projects we have undertaken in the past 10 years. Perhaps, then, it will become clear that the missing piece in our economy is investment in a primary enterprise that can generate jobs.

With losses of $8 million per year, Moloka'i Ranch attempted to work with the community for years to develop an economically sustainable and viable plan to generate revenues to sustain its operations.

If implemented, the plan would have sustained the Ranch's ongoing operations which employed 120 Moloka'i residents. We could also reopen the Kaluako'i Hotel and Golf Course and create more than 100 new permanent jobs as well as outsourcing opportunities for Moloka'i small businesses, such as the laundry, a health spa and eco-tour activities.

The implementation of the plan required more than $100 million of investment capital and this led to the proposed 200 rural residential lots along the south and west shores of Moloka'i adjacent to Lā'au Point. Most of us were reluctant supporters of this part of the plan, but we were assured that this would be the last development on Moloka'i Ranch land. Moreover, Lā'au Point itself and a total of 51 acres surrounding it are owned by the federal government and was never part of the proposed development.

And for those who only recently tuned in to the debate on Moloka'i's future, please stop comparing our modest proposal for 200 rural residential lots along the south and west shores of Moloka'i adjacent to Lā'au Point to soul-less mega-developments. Hōkūli'a involves 665 home sites; Turtle Bay would build five new hotels with a total of 3,500 rooms and condos; Punalu'u proposes 1,500 luxury homes and 300 hotel rooms; and Wailea 670/ Honua'ula proposes 1,400 units.

Moloka'i would have remained rural. That was the result of the five-year process that involved more than 130 community meetings with thoughtful, concerned and well-meaning representatives of Moloka'i Ranch. No, its parent company, GuocoLeisure Ltd., is not a faceless and ruthless global corporation. Neither is it a high-risk investor or the kind of business that can sustain a $40 million loss. If not for the joint planning effort, Moloka'i Ranch would have closed its operations five years ago. We have all been working together over the past five years to develop and implement a plan to provide managed growth and economic stability for Moloka'i. We would have had that economic balance that Moloka'i so desperately needs.

Now all that appears to have gone down the drain and Moloka'i stands on the brink of crisis in the true Chinese sense of the word, balancing danger and opportunity.

It is high time everyone commit to honest and realistic assessments for each other, our 'ohana, our kūpuna and our future generations, and work toward the common good.