Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 7, Number 1, 1 January 1990 — Right to initiative -- democracy in action [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Right to initiative -- democracy in action

By Moanikeala Akaka Trustee, Hawai'i

The people's right to initiative is a basic democratic principle of government "of the people, by the people and for the people." To do otherwise is undemocratic. Inorderto initiate this process, a percentage of the registered voters from the orevious election

petition the right to plaee a question on the upcoming eleehon ballot. Thomas Jefferson felt that if government is not being responsive to the needs and problems of the community, then it is up to the people to bring about a change. The right to initiate legislation from the grassroots, especially relating to land-use measures, is one way to make government more responsive to the people's expressed needs. One ean also vote irresponsive representatives out of office. I was toId that my representative from Hilo, Wayne Metcalf, chair of the House Judiciary Committee, has refused to have a hearing on the initiative process in past legislatures. Yet, he wrote in the Hawaii Tribune-Herald that the public is sufficiently protected by the already existing public hearing process, whether it be at the Planning Commission, County Council, or in the legislature. Unfortunately, that is shibai, for Metcalf as House Judiciary Chair has refused to plaee initiative on his committee hearing agenda. So we the people are blocked and have no access to the process through the state House. The state Senate has already passed initiative. Metcalf's words and actions as committee chair are in conflictand eontradictory. Initiative is the right of the people to initiate change when government is being closed and unresponsive. How ean Rep. Metcalf say we the people have access through regular processes when he himself is being an impediment to participatory democracy by his refusal as house judiciary chair to address initiative in the last legislature. This kind of authoritarian behavior has no plaee in a so-called democratic country. Metcalf and those other poIiticians like him who are trying to destroy the initiative process especially relating to land use, are pandering to the eeonomie self-interests of the few who stand to gain, while the majority of us will suffer as our quality of life and 'aina (land) become increasingly abused and exploited by greed in the guise of progress, growth, and jobs. We make our living from our Hawaiian natural beauty and gracious climate — you'd think anyone who resides here would have this as a number one realization. Therefore, we shou!d be that protective of this 'aina. Our home, these islands, is becoming less a paradise with the threat to Sandy Beach and our Hawai'i Island loss of Hapuna to yet another resort for the ultra-rich. The destruction of these unique areas is a loss to all of us — native, non-native, and tourist alike — as well as our children's children's children. We owe them a better legacy than the destruction of this unique and special 'aina. We must beware lest we slide into an eeonomie social reserve for the wealthy as more and more of a caste system is being set up in these islands. Remember how Prince Philip, several years ago, warned us in the Honolulu Advertiser how we must protect what is special about these islands or

we will "kill the goose that lays the golden egg!" The Honolulu Advertiser is its editoriaI stated that initiative will be a hot issue this legislature. Maybe so, but we the people must be vigilant and vote out those legislators that are obstacles to the initiative process; an important basis of democracy. There are those locals who say that only the newly arrived haoles are for initiative, and they are trying to hype this into a racial issue. On the eontrary, we must remember that our traditional value system is that of Aloha 'Aina, to take care of and cherish the 'aina, and that is the purpose of using initiative relating to land use. We must preserve areas like Sandy Beach and the Puna rain forest for the present and future generations to experience and enjoy, not convert everything to dollar-cents value! Those who are against the initiative process, primarily developers and the construction industry, say they are "pro-planning," and against initiative. To be for initiative is not to be against the planning process. On the contrary, we who support initiative are for sound planning and do not want to do away with the traditional governmental planning process. But initiative should be available as a tool of Iast resort if government shows a blatant disregard for public sentiment. As in the case of Sandy Beach, initiative is an additional institutional device for public input into the planning process. Initiative is not often used; you first have to obtain thousands of signatures of registered voters to plaee an issue on the eleehon ballot. I was one of five intervenors at a contested case hearing to save Hapuna Beach on the Big Island from luxury resort four years ago. This issue was heard before the Hawaii County Planning Commission in mueh like court proceedings. We met almost 25 days over a course of several months. Most of the sessions (except for a few) were attended by only a eouple of the seven planning commissioners. You ean judge by their laek of attendance how negligent the majority of that Planning Commission was. So you ean see how even the existing process needs fine-tuning, if not an overthrow. It is a sacrilege that a Hawaiian representative of the Hawai'i Building and Construction Trade Council AFL-CIO used our concept of

ho'oponopono (conflict resolution) against the initiative process. This occurred the first Saturday of December at a lengthy hearing before the State House Judiciary Committee at the Capitol. lf nothing else, initiative is ho'oponopono "to make things right" after government has erred especially relating to land use. In Hawai'i County, some proposed projects have had their zoning for over 20 years. There should be re-evaluations at least every five years to reconsider a project's appropriateness and the area's carrying capacity. Because of poor planning, infrastructure demands have not kept up with the rapid growth in West Hawai'i. Traffic is a mess at Kailua-Kona, yet more urbanization of that area is planned. Some workers in the construction industry say that initiative threatens their jobs. This is not true. Recent articles in the Honolulu Advertiser point out not only the state's low unemployment rate, but also the great abundance of construction jobs that go unfilled. Many are migrating from the mainland to fill these jobs. This means more people moving here to plaee further burdens on existing infrastructure, while we already have a laek of affordable housing for us locals. So you see it is a fallacy that initiative will threaten jobs in construction. There are plenty of construction jobs, but not enough workers. It bothers me to see Hawaiian workers' emotions manipulated and twisted into racial resentment, thinking initiative is a haole attack on their construction job, when this is not true! You see how we sometimes get used by the status quo? We must not allow our vision to be distorted and blurred by racism and manipulahon. Using initiative in land use matters will give us the opportunity to preserve unique, irreplaceab!e, special areas in our homeland. Aloha 'Aina! Clearly the process is capable of betraying its trust to the highest bidder. Only a unified and environmentally aware population in Hawai'i ean defend against ecological disaster. We Hawaiians — keiki o ka 'aina — are the chosen people of Hawai'i. It is for us to lead in the defense of our 'aina. Ua mau ke ea o ka 'aina i ka pono.