53 BEST PLACE TO WATCH THE SUNRISE ON THE NORTH SHORE
ho,okipa beach park
The sun rises over Maui with a majestic grace unparalled in the world. When this glowing globe that warms the earth comes up over Ho’okipa Beach Park, our readers delight and bask in it. Good for them.
runner-up: honolua bay (jr)
54 BEST POLITICAL ACTIVIST
lance holter
Lance Holter is a realtor in Paia who believes in conserving water, preserving land, bringing about public transportation and making sure government is open and transparent. His slow-growth advocacy can be so fiery that once developer Kent Smith tried to choke Holter outside the Maui County Council chambers—a crime to which he later plead no contest. Elected office seems to elude Holter, but all in all, he’s a solid guy to have standing up for you.
runner-up: nikhilananda (ap)
55 BEST WATERFALL
waimoku (oheo gulch)
Waimoku falls are truly something to see. But first you have to hike for an hour uphill to get to see it. Makes it that much better. While its 40-foot cascade isn’t the tallest in Maui County, that would go to Molokai’s Kahiwa falls with its 1750-foot cascade, it is breathtaking to observe. As one of the falls at the top of Oheo Gulch, it pumps an average of 37 million gallons of water through its veins daily. Haleakala National Park, Kipahulu, 248-7375.
runner-up: twin falls (jr)
56 BEST USE OF COUNTY FUNDS
click it or ticket”
You guys have a sick sense of humor. We all know speeding on our highways is bad. We know that our Maui Police Department is doing the best they can to keep our roads safe. We understand all that, and we accept it. But come on! Do they have to use two or more squad cars to pull over a speeder? Is that the best use of their limited budget? They say they have too few officers, but it’s hard to see an “overworked” department when there are three cops chatting at a vehicle stop.
runner-up: the as-yet-un-built material recovery facility (ap)
57 BEST HAWAIIAN ACTIVIST
ke,eaumoku kapu
In the Kaua’ula Valley above Lahaina, Jonah Ke’eaumoku Kapu and his family farm taro and care for the land pretty much as his family has done for many generations. As a Hawaiian with a strong understanding and commitment to his people’s rights and struggles, Kapu has no peer. His most public role right now is as leader of Kuleana Ku’ikahi, an organization fighting developers from continuing their practice of building luxury estates on the ancient farmlands mauka of Olowalu and Launiupoko—land zoned for agricultural uses only. He’s also in the middle of a five-year term as member of the Maui County Cultural Resources Commission—an ideal setting for his unique and thoughtful perspective on history and land development.
runner-up (tie): uncle charlie maxwell/banyan tree preacher (ap)
58 BEST PLACE TO WATCH THE SUNSET IN WEST MAUI
launiupoko
In a day at Launiupoko you can see a surf contest, a wedding, a baby luau, singing congregations and the best sunset in West Maui, according to you, our voters. As the sun sets over Lanai in the summer, and into the Pacific in the winter, it’s mesmerizing, no matter how many times I’ve see it.
runner-up: ka,anapali (jr)
59 BEST COUNTY OFFICIAL
jo anne johnson
I guess Maui County Councilwoman Jo Anne Johnson is a Republican, but it’s always hard to tell where the non-partisan council is concerned. She’s sat on the council since 2000 and chairs the Parks and Economic Development Committee. She’s most famous for her slow-growth philosophy—opposing the development of Launiupoko agricultural lands, for instance—and she even proposed a moratorium on development in her first years in office. She’s articulate, considerate and consistently endorsed by the good-government Ohana Coalition.
runner-up: mayor alan arakawa (ap)
60 BEST LOCAL ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUE
recycling
Since we all know that we live on a finite rock in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, you’d think that most people would appreciate the need to conserve space in our landfills by making the most of recyclable products. Companies like Four Star Mortgage are doing their part, but mostly Maui lags significantly behind the mainland in recycling—we have no main recycling center yet, no curbside recycling program and no real sense that we need to get these things today, now, immediately. Then again, if we were all more willing to reuse things like glass bottles, cloth towels and bags and such, maybe we wouldn’t have to recycle at all.
runner-up: proposed makena resort (ap)
61 BEST PLACE TO WATCH THE SUNRISE IN HANA
hamoa
There is something supernatural about the beaches in Hana. While most of the coastline is rocky, there are a few spots where you can find dark, peppery lava sand leading into the deep Pacific. You will find such a place at Hamoa, where you can dig your feet into the cold sand and observe an ethereal orange sunrise rising up over the blue abyss. You don’t need coffee for this kind of morning.
runner-up: wainapanapa. State Dept of Land & Natural Resources, 984-8109. (jr)
62 BEST STATE OFFICIAL
governor linda lingle
Back in the 2002 governor’s race Linda Lingle campaigned against the Democratic cronies that packed the Honolulu state government. She won that race, but then wasted no time bringing in her own pals when she took over the governor’s mansion. That’s Governor Linda Lingle. In a state that employs Kaho’olawe Island Reserve Commission executive director Sol Kaho’ohalahala and open government advocate/state Senator Les Ihara, Jr. (D, 9th District), you pick Lingle. You’ve got to be frickin’ kidding. You guys read this paper, right? You see the reporting we do? Lingle is, well, your typical, run-of-the-mill, ambitious politician who says all the right things about accountability and integrity but then acts like just about every other elected official around.
runner-up: state senator j. kalani english (d, 6th district) (ap)
63 BEST THING ABOUT THE MAYOR
environmental awareness
When Republican Alan Arakawa became Maui County Mayor in 2002, he created the official post of Environmental Coordinator that should have been started long before by his Democratic predecessors. He immediately brought in longtime Maui environmental activist—and 2002 mayoral opponent—Rob Parsons to hold the job, which he still holds to this day. Since that time Arakawa has instituted a “task force” to look into all aspects of cruise ships, joined 131 other mayors in calling on fellow Republican President George W. Bush to embrace the anti-global warning Kyoto Protocals and publicly supported a full environmental review of the proposed Superferry. Not a bad record for someone who’s a member of the political party that often seems hell-bent on paving forests.
runner-up: “he beat former mayor kimo apana.” (ap)
64 BEST THING ABOUT THE GOVERNOR
“she loves bush.”
President George W. Bush, that is. What did you think that meant? In any case, she really loves Bush. She stumped for him so much in 2004 most locals thought she was headed to Washington after the election.
runner-up: she,s a woman (ap)
65 BEST INVASIVE SPECIES TO HATE
coqui frogs
Always beating up on the innocent, little coqui frogs. Sure they’re loud as a chainsaw in the dead of night, but they’re so cute! And I know, they eat all insects except mosquitoes, which is just dandy for the mosquito population, and they aren’t even close to native to Hawai’i, but how many of us are truly native around here anyway? So yeah, I guess on balance we should all get our acid-spraying guns and nuke the little varmints. How did environmental biology get so cruel!?
runner-up: miconia (ap)
66 BEST DEVELOPMENT
superferry
Ha! I’ve always said Maui Time Weekly readers were funny, and you certainly proved that here. Saying the Superferry—which outgoing Haleakala Superintendent Don Reeser says has the potential of increasing Maui’s exposure to invasive species—is the best proposed development. To be fair, it may in fact be a wonderful idea whose time has finally come. But we can’t be sure that the Superferry’s advantages outweigh its risks unless we see a full environmental review on the thing—hell, they’re using $40 million in state funds to upgrade Kahului Harbor so it can dock here. The Superferry people say they don’t have the time to do an environmental review, but that rings a bit hollow.
runner-up: paia skate park. 579-8354. (ap)
67 BEST DEVELOPMENT TO HATE
makena
Duh. Does anyone really think the highest and best use for a coastal wilderness area is to turn it into a resort the size of Wailea?
runner-up: “all of them.” (ap)
68 BEST PLACE TO WATCH THE SUNSET IN SOUTH MAUI
kamaole iii
There is nothing more relaxing than heading to Kam III at the end of a hot and busy day with a couple of beers and a beach chair. Open up the chair on the grass and crack open a cold one and people-watch until the sun begins to settle in for the night. That’s when Mother Nature’s evening show begins. As you shrug off the stresses of the day with the sky turning into a canvas of color over a back drop of Kaho’olawe, Lanai and the West Maui Mountains, take a moment to think about all the people less fortunate than you.
runner-up: little beach (jr)
69 BEST COUNTY BLUNDER
failure to build the lahaina/paia bypasses
If the county ever gets around to building these things, which would go a long way to alleviate the mind-numbing traffic that collects on the outskirts of Lahaina and Paia, it’ll be hailed for years. Notice I said “if.”
runner-up: profusion of abandoned cars (ap)
70 BEST AKAKU PROGRAM
maui talks-tv
A lot of people think public access cable is only for people who want to see gavel-to-gavel coverage of planning commission hearings, aging hippies debate conspiracies and college kids reenact Star Trek episodes using sock puppets. Public access has all that, sure, but it’s also got a lot of insightful programming. Like Maui Talks-TV, Nikhilananda’s weekly hour-long community affairs show. Each week he goes through the week’s papers, takes calls from residents and just generally discusses important issues of the day. It’s calm, informative and rational. Hence it’s on public access cable. It airs Tuesday nights on Akaku’s Vision, Channel 53 at 7 p.m.
runner-up: sheldan nidle,s ufo show (ap)
71 BEST NATIVE SPECIES TO SAVE
native hawaiians
No joke here. If things don’t turn around soon, they’re doomed.
runner-up (tie): sea turtles/nene (ap)
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