Many people call the Thirty Meter Telescope atop Mauna Kea a desecration. But there is an ongoing desecration no one is protesting: the treatment of the aina here on Oahu.

Nobody is calling out the state and its agencies — the Hawaii Community Development Authority and the departments of agriculture and transportation — for the shameful abuse of the land for the benefit of corporations, greedy developers and investors.

Kakaako is being developed for rich offshore buyers with units few local families can afford; the state and developers say locals can buy in places like Ho‘opili or Koa Ridge. But the lands for these new communities are arguably the best ag lands in the state. So the state basically says developments in town are for developer profits and offshore investors — while precious agricultural lands, so necessary for a sustainable future, are for growing houses, not food.

This is the real desecration and makes a mockery of the state motto: Ua mau ke ea o ka ‘aina i ka pono, “The Life of the Land is Perpetuated in Righteousness.”

John Arnest

Wilhelmina Rise

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