Could you please ask letter writer Glenn Kimura, or others espousing his viewpoint, to explain their logic (“Kakaako Makai limits not fair to Native Hawaiians,” Letters, Star- Advertiser, May 2)?
The Legislature voted not to allow certain development on the Kakaako Makai land SIX years before the Office of Hawaiian Affairs accepted the land. As former Gov. Neil Abercrombie said, they had the best real estate appraisers and lawyers counseling them. Nothing was hidden or swindled.
It appears as though OHA gambled from the start to overturn the restrictions on development down the road, and it lost. That’s what happens when you gamble: Sometimes you win, sometimes you don’t. Claiming you were swindled, no matter how sympathetic the cause, is just wrong.
We need more affordable housing and better salaries for thousands of local families, for families of all ethnicities who can’t afford million-dollar properties. Distorting the facts is not the way to do it.
Glenn Emanuel
Kakaako
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