Editorials
Friday, June 14, 1996
Hawaiian Homes land deal
in public interest
A bill signed into law by Governor Cayetano provides a sensible approach to meet the state's obligations to the Hawaiian Homesteads program. The state is committed to pay $600 million in compensation for the improper use of Hawaiian lands. Under the new law, the state will transfer 92 acres on Oahu and the Big Island to the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands.
The key here is not the acreage but the fact that the land is in developments where the infrastructure is already in place - 40.5 acres in Kapolei and 51.5 acres in La'i'opua in Kona. This means that "we are cutting five years off the timetable for construction," the governor said.
The transfer will "fast track" construction of 550 homes for native Hawaiians in the two communities. The state Housing Finance and Development Corp. and the Hawaiian Homes Commission still must negotiate the value of the transfer, but this is clearly in the public interest.
The Waihee administration negotiated the $600 million settlement for misuse of the homestead lands, correcting a long-standing injustice. But the Cayetano administration was faced with the problem of coming up with the money.
By facilitating home construction for native Hawaiians, the arrangement also furthers the broader goal of increasing the supply of housing for all of Hawaii's people. In addition, the state avoids a cash payment to DHHL at a time when funding for state programs is tight.
Other editorials in brief:
Sugar's troubles
THE closing of the Washington office of what used to be the Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association - it's now called the Hawaii Agriculture Research Center - after 98 years is another sign of the sugar industry's waning clout. So is the very fact of the change of the organization's name, indicating the shift of interest by landowners to other crops as sugar cultivation shrinks.
Sugar's heyday in Hawaii is long gone, and the assaults on the federal support program are relentless. It all adds up to another loud warning to the islands' policymakers to spur the search for agricultural alternatives to sugar.
Schott's suspension
THE controversial owner of the Cincinnati Reds, Marge Schott, has been rapped on the knuckles again by major league baseball because of her outrageous comments. For the second time, she has been suspended from daily control of the Reds, this time through the 1998 season.
The question is whether any punishment short of expulsion from organized baseball will have the desired effect.
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Rupert E. Phillips, CEO
John M. Flanagan, Editor & Publisher
David Shapiro, Managing Editor
Diane Yukihiro Chang, Senior Editor & Editorial Page Editor
Frank Bridgewater & Michael Rovner, Assistant Managing Editors
A.A. Smyser, Contributing Editor