This post-Christmas and New Year season is the time for dieting, so you can understand Gov. Neil Abercrombie’s reluctance to eat more, but his New Year starts with the Democratic governor forced to eat a lot of his words from 2012.
Although he didn’t introduce the legislation that created the Public Land Development Corp., he immediately warmed up to the idea, becoming Act 55’s biggest champion. Announcing that he would pull the plug must have been painful.
Abercrombie ran a smashmouth offense against those who condemned the law, which granted broad exemptions from land use and county zoning laws in order to coax private business to develop state lands.
The new law was immensely unpopular with environmentalists, Native Hawaiian groups and county officials.
To Abercrombie, he was right and everyone else was out of step.
Opponents were "the usual suspects" who spent the summer "using conspiratorial hysteria" to thwart the scheme to develop unused state land get money for the state parks department.
In a September interview, Abercrombie told the Star-Advertiser that opponents have appointed themselves as the public’s voice and the "arbiters over what is appropriate or inappropriate in terms of development."
When asked if his administration could do more to foster a compromise, Abercrombie acted as if he was the one being put upon, saying "their attitude is, no matter what you do, no matter how you change it, you can’t change it good enough to suit us."
Then last week Abercrombie started the process of backing away.
Although his statement talked about how the needed rules and regulations "may not be able to reconcile existing support with opposing views to the extent necessary to satisfy outstanding concerns," Abercrombie actually was trying to pry his administration out from under the mistake of embracing Act 55.
Supported by his kitchen cabinet advisers, Abercrombie bear-hugged the idea, but there never was a constituency or identifiable group of voters who wanted the PLDC to do anything except cease.
If developers had been queuing up to develop land or if the state had a popular project ready to go if it could just blast through the regulatory hurdles, then there would be an argument, but there was only an abstract desire to ignore state and county law for some undefined purpose.
In the past, there were projects that could have benefitted from Act 55. For instance, back when the convention center was still a proposal, Jefferson Elementary School on Kapahulu Avenue would have been the best location for a center within walking distance of Waikiki hotels. Or perhaps, loading ramps on state harbor land would have fallen under Act 55 guidelines and the Superferry would still be sailing.
Now, instead of throwing a forearm into opponents, Abercrombie is asking the Legislature to find a compromise.
"Public understanding and support are essential. If the Legislature cannot achieve this outcome, the possibility of repeal will ensue. I will take that outcome into consideration, but we cannot walk away, should that occur, without a solution that moves us forward," Abercrombie said.
On Tuesday, Abercrombie gives his third State of the State address and observers will be watching to see if he is really finished with the PLDC.
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Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Reach him at rborreca@staradvertiser.com.
