Community groups Maui Tomorrow and the Wailuku Good Government Coalition filed a lawsuit Monday against the Maui Redevelopment Agency (MRA), a county agency that claims to operate in accordance with state law pertaining to the Urban Renewal Law. The community groups, represented by attorneys Lance D. Collins and Bianca Isaki, claim that the MRA does […]
Maui Tomorrow
Maui Tomorrow Expands Board and Staff
Maui Tomorrow Foundation has added a new board member, elected officers for 2020, and hired a new environmental planner. New board member Draysen Wilson, a client associate with Mercer Advisors, earned his bachelor of business administration degree from the University of San Diego. Wilson, with roots on both Maui and Hawai‘i islands, has a passion […]
2019 MauiTime Charity Guide
Ah, the holidays. It’s that time of year when our lattes get pumpkin spiced and pepperminted, loved ones reconnect, carols are played (and sung) on loop, and all join in the spirit of giving. But it’s also a time when shopping lists get cluttered with all the best stuff, and it becomes easy to succumb […]
‘This DEIS Is Deficient’: Sierra Club, Maui Tomorrow, and others weigh in on A&B/Mahi Pono’s Draft Environmental Impact Statement for a 30-year water lease
The public comment period for Mahi Pono/Alexander & Baldwin’s Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) closed last week, and judging from the dozens of pages of responses I’ve read, this DEIS has more holes in it than bleached coral. Those stalwart folks who actually pored through the 2,700-page tome seemed to find scant substance and lots […]
Mahi Pono Is Coming For Our Water
“Worldwide, as temperatures rise and aquifers dry, investors are increasingly bullish on water, and buying vineyards, farms and ranches for what’s underneath or flowing through…” -Seattle Times They are coming for our water on Maui. Make no mistake about it. It’s not Wall Street, but Mahi Pono’s Canadian pension fund/California investor group who are on the […]
Speaking of a Tourism ‘Tipping Point,’ Community Members Urge Action
Sitting outside Council Chambers in the late afternoon, Councilmember Shane Sinenci expressed disappointment. It was a rare moment for the usually cheerful councilmember, who hours prior was hopeful of passing a resolution out of the Environmental, Agricultural, and Cultural Preservation Committee he chairs. The resolution, as currently written, would require Mayor Victorino’s administration to conduct […]
Water Is a Verb: Maui Tomorrow hosts award-winning author of “Cows Save the Planet,” Judith Schwartz
We live in an unimaginable era of climate roulette. Scientific predictions of Earth-changing impacts – severe storms, sea level rise, glacial melting, drought-induced wildfires, and more – are already tangible in our lifetimes, and loom ominously for tomorrow’s generations. A number of well-read authors have helped sound the clarion regarding human impacts on the planet, […]
Massive Alexander and Baldwin Agricultural Land Sale Finalized: ‘Conventional’ growing plans announced for most of the former sugar cane fields
Alexander and Baldwin today announced the sale of some 41,000 acres of Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Company land – an action first reported last month by MauiTime. The land was sold for $262 million to Mahi Pono, LLC – a farming venture between California-based agriculture group Pomona Farming, LLC, and Canadian pension investment managers Public […]
Talking affordable housing, seawalls and sustainable ag with Albert Perez, 3 years after he took over Maui Tomorrow
Three years ago this month Albert Perez took over as Executive Director of the Maui Tomorrow Foundation. He helped found the organization in 1989, stayed a few years, then moved to the mainland, where he spent much of his time until 2015. I chatted with Perez not long after he took over Maui Tomorrow, and […]
2017 MauiTime Year In Review
It’s been a helluva year, and that’s not a good thing. For the United States, the watchwords for 2017 have been violence and hatred–against women, African-Americans, immigrants, LGBTQ individuals and basically everyone who isn’t a straight white male. You don’t have to be a master at reading the room to know that greed and ignorance […]
New Maui County tourism plan calls for more visitors, infrastructure, international flights and reef protection
So the Mayor’s Office of Economic Development (OED) just released their new Maui County Tourism Industry Strategic Plan (TISP) for 2017-2026. It’s a 10-year plan that, at least on paper, is supposed to guide the visitor in the county. “This strategic plan addresses the pillars of a healthy tourism economy that must be of benefit […]
Looking at Alexander and Baldwin’s crop maps in East Maui contested case hearing
There was a pretty interesting story on the state Commission on Water Resource Management contested case hearing involving Alexander & Baldwin’s thirst for East Maui water in The Maui News on Saturday, Feb. 11. Though the company’s subsidiary Hawaii Commercial & Sugar (HC&S) no longer grows sugar and wants to transition to “diversified agriculture,” the […]
MauiTime 2016 Year In Review
Even without the election of Republican Donald Trump to be President of the United States, this was a monstrous year. We’ve had to deal with job losses, outrageous giveaways to big business and just a general slide away from democratic protections and open government assurances. We like to think of Hawaii (and Maui especially) as […]
Maui County Environmental Coordinator responds to recent MauiTime story on Olowalu seawall demonstrations
Editor’s note: Maui County Environmental Coordinator Rob Parsons, a longtime contributor to MauiTime, felt that our recent cover story on anti-seawall activists in Olowalu left out others who helped stop the road project. Here are his thoughts: I was glad to see MauiTime featured the story on how activists helped the DOT rethink a project for […]
Haleakala National Park releases new flyer on new sunrise reservation system
I’ve mentioned it before but I’ll mention it again: there are people alive today who remember a time when they could drive up to the summit of Haleakala National Park and watch the sunrise without anyone else being around. Albert Perez, the executive director of Maui Tomorrow, told me that years ago, he used to do […]
UPDATED: Maui Nui Marine Resource Council hosting all-day workshop on Kihei water quality
Sorry for the last-minute notice (shows what happens when I don’t check my messages over the weekend) but TODAY (May 2, 2016), the Maui Nui Marine Resource Council is putting on an all-day workshop on Kihei water quality over at the Humpback Whale Sanctuary. According to organizers, the workshop is a follow-up to MauiTime‘s Mar. 16 story […]