The wildfires on a tragic summer day took 100 lives and ravaged not only the landscape of Lahaina but the futures of many families who managed to survive the inferno.
More than any other single event of 2023, the blazes that broke out Aug. 8, consuming homes and businesses in West and Upcountry Maui, throw into stark relief the challenges facing Hawaii’s government.
The liabilities and other legal complications are still being untangled — the roles of Hawaiian Electric and others in causing the disaster are under litigation — but it’s already plain that the protocols of emergency response by public and private partners need an overhaul.
The destruction also has forced revisions in the state’s economic and development plans, at least for the near and midterm. And that serves as warning that officials must act more aggressively to bolster safeguards against wildfires, both in land management to reduce fire risk and readiness to communicate well and respond quickly.
The catastrophe itself, fueled in part by the dry brush left by persistent drought, demonstrated the very real consequences of climate change, often seen as a distant threat, that are possible now.
This intensified a concern already evident in the preceding legislative agenda, unveiled in last January’s budget proposal by the newly inaugurated Gov. Josh Green.
By the end of the 2023 lawmaking session in May, climate-related actions were significant. The marquee piece, enabled by the state’s post-pandemic budgetary surplus, was the $100 million in “green bank” funding to help underserved communities access solar energy.
Actions also included regulatory changes to encourage adoption of electric vehicles; hardened rules for climate resilience in some developments; requirements for erosion control structures to be disclosed in residential real estate transactions; and the establishment of state zero-emissions transportation goals.
Among other major ripple effects of the August wildfires was the impact on the affordable housing deficit that grew even larger. Government initially relied on hotel inventory to accommodate thousands of displaced residents, most of them renters. Such emergency measures were very temporary, and many have struggled since to find affordable units.
And what that brought to light is a conflict between the housing needs of local residents and the interests of the vacation-rental industry. Earlier this month, Green said he could soon impose a moratorium on short-term rentals on Maui unless the owners of about 3,000 of them make their units available for long-term use.
The governor estimated that Maui has 17,000 short-term rentals, as well as some 8,000 that are illegal.
Homelessness, of course, stubbornly persists statewide, but there has been progress made in addressing at least the need to provide medical respite care for this population. A “kauhale,” or village-type community comprising 12 units for those discharged from, started taking shape in May in part of the state Department of Health parking lot, across Punchbowl Street from The Queen’s Medical Center.
By the time Pulama Ola closed Dec. 14, the governor had deemed it a successful pilot and an indicator that more are needed; the 12 units were moved to a Mapunapuna site. Given the growing proportion of the aging baby-boomer generation falling into homelessness, that is the right conclusion.
Other knotty issues that loosened a bit this year includes one that’s into its second decade: Honolulu’s rail project, now dubbed Skyline, opened its first 10.7-mile segment June 30, which connected the East Kapolei station with Aloha Stadium.
Passing that milepost was a celebratory occasion, but completing the other half of the guideway remains the most difficult part. Current construction along the traffic-clogged Dillingham Boulevard alignment is frustrating businesses and drivers alike.
Further, the city’s effort to build up rail’s tepid adoption by riders is bumping along slowly, with considerations underway to extend operating hours. Still, even the projected completion of the system to the airport remains a long way off, in mid-2025, meaning that the city has work to do to keep the taxpaying public engaged in this service.
Circling back to the top story of 2023 — perhaps the top story of the century so far — the Maui fires brought new relevance to the ongoing debate over Hawaii’s core industry: tourism.
The economic push-and-pull following the devastating blow to Maui County visitor numbers pitted those concerned with swiftly bringing back jobs and businesses, against other residents insistent on having a voice in building back Lahaina in a way more responsive to their needs.
After a year when the role or even the existence of the Hawaii Tourism Authority was up for debate, and at a time when Hawaii’s cost of living is still out of reach for so many, rebalancing tourism will be a burning issue for 2024.
