Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 25, Number 6, 1 June 2008 — Molokaʻi reality check [ARTICLE]

Molokaʻi reality check

I agree with Trustee Colette Machado's May eolumn, "Moloka'i's real loss." It is time to coimnit to honest and realistic assessments on Moloka'i, but first we must be truthful about how and

what has taken plaee that brought us to where we now stand. Moloka'i Ranch's failure to be truthful and disclose its full intentions is what took an initially promising project and turned it into loathing chaos . It began by the ranch failing to disclose its intentions to develop Lā'au and ended with the revelation of plans for another six hotels. At eaeh new point of discovery the confidence of the people of Moloka'i diminished. Furthennore, Moloka'i Ranch failed to provide a reasonable eeonomie model. Following more than a decade of eeonomie failures in its tourist operations, the only solution that the ranch provided was to use land sales at Lā'au to subsidize these losses. It would have been just a matter of time before the profits from these sales would have dried up, leaving the people of Moloka'i in the very same position they are now. Steve Morgan Kaluako'i, Moloka'i