02-23-2018, 07:53 AM
"You might sing a different tune if somebody turns up and squats on your property with no legal claim."
I find it useful to distinguish between a homeowner's property, in most places less than 3 acres, and these Hawaii corporations and ranchers that own vast pieces of land. IMO the larger a property, the more likely its history might have involved misappropriation.
Coco Palms' 17 acres is no vast tract, but it is pretty big. And it oceanfront (albeit behind the coastal road).
The haoles of the 1800s are known to have commandeered much oceanfront land around Hawaii. Hey, I'm a white guy; that's our history! We were pretty damn efficient at taking land that belonged to someone else wherever we went. Why deny it?
IMO this changes the equation a bit on whether trying to take land from a large Hawaii landowner or corporation is the same as running a small guy off the 1 acre lot he (or she) owns.
I find it useful to distinguish between a homeowner's property, in most places less than 3 acres, and these Hawaii corporations and ranchers that own vast pieces of land. IMO the larger a property, the more likely its history might have involved misappropriation.
Coco Palms' 17 acres is no vast tract, but it is pretty big. And it oceanfront (albeit behind the coastal road).
The haoles of the 1800s are known to have commandeered much oceanfront land around Hawaii. Hey, I'm a white guy; that's our history! We were pretty damn efficient at taking land that belonged to someone else wherever we went. Why deny it?
IMO this changes the equation a bit on whether trying to take land from a large Hawaii landowner or corporation is the same as running a small guy off the 1 acre lot he (or she) owns.