Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 40, Number 4, 1 April 2023 — The Future of Hawaiians Cannot be Left to Autocrats [ARTICLE]

The Future of Hawaiians Cannot be Left to Autocrats

J THE VOICE OF NATIVE ' > HAWAIIAN BUSINESS

NATIVE HAWAIIAN W CHAMBER OF WW\ COMMERCE

Weneed people to createa community in Kaka'ako By Karl Veto Baker Names are special to Hawaiians. When we give birth to our children, we seek out kūpuna to find a name. The land in Kaka'ako was given the name Hakuone, proposed to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) by Loea Cy Bridges, with a multitude of meanings befitting a treasured plaee in the heart of Honolulu. When we give birth to our ehildren, when we name them, everyone rallies to care for them and build them into strong pillars of the community. Hakuone is a gift we all must nurture, a gift that ean protect our people, preserve our culture, and heeome a welcoming plaee for all the people of Hawai'i. Yes, with less than one-fifth of the land in Kaka'ako Makai, we need to build up as well as out. Vertical villages - taller, high-er-density residential towers - mean more people ean afford to live in Hakuone. Good planning also ensures that there is enough room for all the other things Hakuone will offer: a Native Hawaiian cultural center, open space and ample parking, daycare for both kids and kūpuna, and shops and stores targeting Hawai'i residents, not tourists. Plus plenty of oeean access and opportunities for recreation so everyone ean enjoy the best that Hawai'i has to offer. Most people in Hawai'i support residential in Hakuone. But even

as OHA engaged the puhlie at every level, ffom education to pushing its supporters to participate in the political process, it was largely a futile effort. Hawai'i's political process is broken, and will be as long as life-long politicians hold all the cards. One man, House Speaker Scott Saiki, kept Hakuone from being discussed at all. Saiki has this power over every House bill. He is clearly not moved by the voice of the people - the people he supposedly serves. And he most certainly is not receptive to the Native Hawaiian community. What is really happening here? It is assuredly not the misguided but earnest efforts of a few surfers wearing matching t-shirts. Is it other land developers, afraid of what affordable housing will do to their sales? Is it a small cadre of rich donors hoping to protect their million-dollar views? How is it that a dozen luxury eondos ean sprout up right across the street from Hakuone with profits going to Texas? Yet OHA is being challenged on how many and how high? We are - all Hawaiians - beneficiaries of OHA and its mission. We all should care. And we need to act and bring about change. ■ Karl Veto Baker completed the uniki ceretnony to become a kumu hula in 1995 and is a kumu ofHālau i ka Wekiu whieh is celebrating 25 years with a May Day concert at the Waikīkī Shell. A past president ofthe Native Hawaiian Chamber of Commerce (NHCC) and a member ofNHCC for over a decade, Baker is also an 'Ōo Award recipient and has worked as a mortgage banker since 1998.