OHA Press Release regarding Lahaina

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

Here’s an idea for the future.
Pioneer Mill regularly burned sugar cane on the hillsides above Lahaina without fires spreading into the town.  There was smoke and giant cane spiders released into the area, but those are minor consequences compared to what just unfolded.  Perhaps the people who oversaw the prescribed burns of sugar cane could be employed to manage small controlled weed burns on days without wind, with prepared fire breaks around the perimeter?

[AaronM]

I hope you're not suggesting that having financial resources precludes you from the devastation of loss.

Pointing out that Oprah owns other homes disqualifies her from being a participant in this tragedy?

As long as we continue to see our differences and not our similarities, we will continue to be a divided people.

[randomq]

Honestly the 1% vs the rest of us is one of the few distinctions that actually matter. It is a completely different experience losing a home vs losing everything because your home (or business) was all you had.

As to the theory that the rich are going to swoop in and buy up Lahaina, that's really up to the people that own it now. Hopefully Maui moves faster than Hawaii Island when it comes to recovery, so locals are not forced to sell to survive financially.

Ironyak, if you don't get what's wrong with OHA's letter by now, you're not gonna get it. No need to beat a dead horse.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

As to the theory that the rich are going to swoop in and buy up Lahaina,

That's up to the banks who hold the mortgages, the insurance companies who should pay out as quickly as possible on policies, and FEMA.  If banks offer penalty free delayed mortgage payments, insurance companies make good on homeowners policies and pay out as quickly as they cash the checks we send them, and FEMA provides rapid emergency assistance - - hopefully residents will be in a position to rebuild and not sell.

[ironyak]

AaronM - I hope you're not suggesting that having financial resources precludes you from the devastation of loss.

Ah yes, won't someone please think of the millionaires. Poor girl ended up at an evacuation center (with camera crew in tow). Glad you're doing your part to make sure her needs and concerns are equally taken into account with those that lost everything.

AaronM - As long as we continue to see our differences and not our similarities, we will continue to be a divided people.

Which was the goal of your post of course, to bring people together, right? Right...

randomq - Ironyak, if you don't get what's wrong with OHA's letter by now, you're not gonna get it. No need to beat a dead horse.

Oh I get why you think there is something wrong with the email - I just disagree. Sucks to be called out, but there isn't anything inaccurate in the OHA message. We all collectively have done messed up in many ways - sooner we own up to this and figure out how to make meaningful changes the better off everyone will be.

HOTPE - Perhaps the people who oversaw the prescribed burns of sugar cane could be employed to manage small controlled weed burns on days without wind, with prepared fire breaks around the perimeter?

Crossing threads a bit on prevention, but for around Lahaina, you'll want to tell Housing Finance & Development Corp, The Bishop Estate, Maui County, and the State of Hawaii, that they need to manage their property better, as they are the major landholders in that area. Let us know how you're received.

Unfortunately, even if FEMA & insurance act swiftly, the path to rebuilding will likely be quite extended, given the limited availability of crews, supplies, high costs, etc. Maybe while everyone waits those many months/years, they can stay with Oprah, as everyone is in the same boat...

[MyManao]

Sucks to be called out, but there isn't anything inaccurate in the OHA message. We all collectively have done messed up in many ways - sooner we own up to this and figure out how to make meaningful changes the better off everyone will be..

And still, the haole guys still think the issue is the telescope, or the safety of the road, or the bombs they dropped on the island. They still think everyone's brains work like their's do. They still think folks all have the same values, and concerns. Instead of recognizing that there are differences, they impose their's on everyone. And anyone that would say otherwise, they deem unfit.

And, btw, thanks for the ocean verses boat.. I agree, there's no way we're all in the same boat.. thankfully!

[AaronM]

"Let us know how you're received."

Sounds pretty defeatist to me. As if you know the answer already and there is nothing to do. Might as well bow down to the royalty eh? Land & Power is a book, it doesn't need to be our continued reality.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

Housing Finance & Development Corp, The Bishop Estate, Maui County, and the State of Hawaii, 

ironyak,
Do you know if any of those entities leased out their land to Pioneer Mill for sugar cane production?  If not, did their holdings remain in a natural state?  Did they burn anyway?

According to this map:

https://maui-communities.weebly.com/west-maui.html

Makila Land owns most the property that I remember growing sugar cane before the mill closed.  

[AaronM]

Honestly the 1% vs the rest of us is one of the few distinctions that actually matter. 

I guess you're right in the sense that 100 years from now, the State of Hawaii will more closely resemble Indian Creek, Crystal Bay, Atherton or Fisher Island.

[ironyak]

Housing Finance & Development Corp, The Bishop Estate, Maui County, and the State of Hawaii, 

ironyak,
Do you know if any of those entities leased out their land to Pioneer Mill for sugar cane production?  If not, did their holdings remain in a natural state?  Did they burn anyway?
...
Makila Land owns most the property that I remember growing sugar cane before the mill closed.

So lots of cross-talk between the threads, but if we take dobanions post about the likely area of where the Lahaina fire started (which aligns well with other eye witnesses who spotted the fire early and resided about here on Lahainaluna Rd), this parcel is the one owned by the Bishop Estate that I mentioned. I don't know if it ever was used for sugar cane production and haven't been able to find a worthwhile historic map of the area to help figure that out. The answer may be in here but at 610 pages of mostly verbal parcel descriptions, I don't know the area well enough to translate into specific plots. That record does mention various plots Pioneer Mill leased/acquired from the Bishop Estate, but if that includes some or all of this parcel, and what was actually done with it is unclear to me. That plot did/does contain various land segmentations and ditches/channels & ruts/dirt roads at least back  into the 1950s and sits very near the sugar mill so it likely played some roll. Regardless, a quick Google street view from various angles shows a lot of scrub grass conditions more recently.

The other landholders I mentioned are those that own the largest parcels immediately next to the developed areas and so would so candidates for serving as firebreaks at the WUI, regardless of their past use. If you're interested in looking at those details or farther mauka like the large Makila Land parcel you're familiar with, the Maui Tax Parcel viewer is pretty useful.