CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARADVERTISER.COM
Napili Park has become a hub for people affected by the Lahaina fire. Supplies such as food, water, clothes, toys and hygiene items are available. Services for displaced residents include medical and pharmaceuticals services, massage, activities for children and more.
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With sincere aloha for Maui’s own and all of Hawaii, the Hawaiian kingdom bent over backwards to support a plantation economy and to build a strong tax base that would stabilize the country and the society. King Kalakaua’s government tailored rules, allowed the diversion of water, access to land and importation of labor to foster business, all impacting the Hawaiian citizenry, then and now.
The businessmen resented how “their” money was spent, wanting absolute power. The overthrow of the Hawaiian kingdom by those business interests offers lessons about how we should handle the environment, the water, the land and the people.
Private interests control water, huge land banks go unmanaged while awaiting ideal markets, and financial gain takes priority over the people and the environment. Historical models warn us of those trajectories, which we can change.
M. Puakea Nogelmeier
Kalihi
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