02-23-2012, 08:28 AM
I was there the night the HPP BoD voted the park land donation down and at the previous meeting where we were given to believe they were moving toward approving it. I was also at one meeting where County officials gave us their positions. From my point of view, the most notable person who changed his vote was the board president who was recently removed from that position, but still sits on the BoD. After having at one point said, "Hey guys, we have to give them a chance to do something for us," he voted against the donation. Nobody at that meeting said a thing about Fred Blas. It was later that we began to hear stories about the park being "hijacked" to Hawaiian Beaches, et al.
I am a well known cynic when it comes to promises from the County, and I strongly suggested to the BoD during the negotiations that they follow Rob's advice and get a lawyer to draw up an instrument which would require the County to build something on the land within a stipulated period of time. Failure to do so would cause the title to revert to the HPPOA. We were told by County officials that this would not be a problem, but there were differing amounts of time that were acceptable to different parties. Some BoD members were OK with the County's time line, and others wanted a tighter one. (My own representative was consistently against the donation because he insisted that the County make a gesture toward compensation for increased road wear by either taking over one of the roads or providing some other infrastructure improvements or maintenance.)
We were all amazed when the president changed his mind. He mumbled something about the deal not being good enough, but I'm not sure what he meant. I was a skeptic of the whole thing at first, but having closely followed the process, I would have been OK with the donation as long as the time frame was clearly defined and an ironclad reversion clause was in the contract. It was extremely frustrating to have put in the effort to attend all those meetings and be convinced to change my mind only to have it go down that way.
What it all came down to was ineffective leadership in HPP. The BoD, like many, has factions and personal grudges. They were not able to put those aside to give the County a chance to do something for us. The next time we ask them for something, the County can say, "We offered you a park, and you wouldn't give us a chance to deliver. Why should we work with you now?" The people in HPP who spearheaded the effort to get a park were convinced that the County intended to deliver, and some of them were skeptics early on, too.
So we have met the enemy and he is us. I could start a whole thread on the HPP BoD's issues with transparency, violating its own by-laws on executive sessions, factionalism, lack of vision, and other problems, but I'll save that for later or let somebody else do it. Anyone who knows me will tell you that I am not a big fan of Fred Blas. In this case, however, the real culprit is the HPP BoD and its leadership . . . or lack thereof. That might change with a new president, or it might not. I'm waiting to see how that plays out, but with the same players in place, I guess I'm a bit skeptical.
I am a well known cynic when it comes to promises from the County, and I strongly suggested to the BoD during the negotiations that they follow Rob's advice and get a lawyer to draw up an instrument which would require the County to build something on the land within a stipulated period of time. Failure to do so would cause the title to revert to the HPPOA. We were told by County officials that this would not be a problem, but there were differing amounts of time that were acceptable to different parties. Some BoD members were OK with the County's time line, and others wanted a tighter one. (My own representative was consistently against the donation because he insisted that the County make a gesture toward compensation for increased road wear by either taking over one of the roads or providing some other infrastructure improvements or maintenance.)
We were all amazed when the president changed his mind. He mumbled something about the deal not being good enough, but I'm not sure what he meant. I was a skeptic of the whole thing at first, but having closely followed the process, I would have been OK with the donation as long as the time frame was clearly defined and an ironclad reversion clause was in the contract. It was extremely frustrating to have put in the effort to attend all those meetings and be convinced to change my mind only to have it go down that way.
What it all came down to was ineffective leadership in HPP. The BoD, like many, has factions and personal grudges. They were not able to put those aside to give the County a chance to do something for us. The next time we ask them for something, the County can say, "We offered you a park, and you wouldn't give us a chance to deliver. Why should we work with you now?" The people in HPP who spearheaded the effort to get a park were convinced that the County intended to deliver, and some of them were skeptics early on, too.
So we have met the enemy and he is us. I could start a whole thread on the HPP BoD's issues with transparency, violating its own by-laws on executive sessions, factionalism, lack of vision, and other problems, but I'll save that for later or let somebody else do it. Anyone who knows me will tell you that I am not a big fan of Fred Blas. In this case, however, the real culprit is the HPP BoD and its leadership . . . or lack thereof. That might change with a new president, or it might not. I'm waiting to see how that plays out, but with the same players in place, I guess I'm a bit skeptical.