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Mauna Kea HILO -- University of Hawaii regents are scheduled to vote tomorrow on members of a new board to take public comment on development on Mauna Kea. But the public may have to wait until the meeting to learn the names of the nominees.
issue emerging
The names of members
of a board to take public
comment may not be
disclosed until regents meetBy Rod Thompson
Big Island correspondent
"My eyebrows are raised," said Sierra Club member Nelson Ho, who has frequently criticized Mauna Kea development. "I would have hoped the process would be more open."
The chancellor of the University of Hawaii-Hilo, Rose Tseng, said the regents' intent is not to keep the names secret. They probably don't know the names, since she only sent them to the regents Monday, she said.
The new board is supposed to be a "community voice" to assist Tseng in administering non-astronomical aspects of the mountain, according to a university newsletter. This is the first time a Big Island official has been given such control.
The Mauna Kea Advisory Board was included in a new development plan for the mountain approved by the regents in June.
It followed nearly two decades of complaints about development, including alleged disrespect for Hawaiian spiritual and cultural values on Mauna Kea.
Tseng said Walter Heen, a part-Hawaiian Democratic Party official, was hired about a month ago on a temporary, part-time basis to begin setting up the board.
Ho questioned why a Democratic official was hired. Tseng said Heen was hired not for his party affiliation but for his stature in the Hawaiian community.
The seven nominees to the renamed Mauna Kea Management Board will be made public at the regents' Budget and Long-Range Planning Committee meeting at 3:30 p.m. tomorrow at the Kauai Community College campus center.
The full Board of Regents will vote at 8:30 a.m. Friday.
University of Hawaii
