07-29-2026, 01:12 AM
In my opinion, I'd say this sums up the entire Pohoiki Boat Ramp issue very succinctly:
This is what it looks like to throw over $9 million of your money into the ocean. Who should be held accountable? | by Tam Hunt | Jun, 2026 | Medium
A very poignant snip:
Taking responsibility isn’t only standing up afterward and saying so. It’s the choices you make before the money goes out — especially when your own experts have told you the cheap option will likely fail, not once but numerous times, loudly and clearly. And taking full responsibility means doing more than lip service after the failure.
Leadership had a decision in front of it: spend $9 million now on an approach the state’s own experts (and community members) said was likely to wash out, not once but many times, or hold the line for the durable fix and keep fighting for the funding to do the job right.
Our leaders chose to spend the $9 million on a solution that many, including the engineers, said would fail. The ocean did exactly what many feared, and promptly filled the channel back in.
There’s a bitter irony in the aftermath. Asked later about simply re-dredging the channel, Ilagan told the Hawaiʻi Tribune-Herald it would be “throwing money into the ocean” (Oct. 23, 2025).
This is what it looks like to throw over $9 million of your money into the ocean. Who should be held accountable? | by Tam Hunt | Jun, 2026 | Medium
A very poignant snip:
Taking responsibility isn’t only standing up afterward and saying so. It’s the choices you make before the money goes out — especially when your own experts have told you the cheap option will likely fail, not once but numerous times, loudly and clearly. And taking full responsibility means doing more than lip service after the failure.
Leadership had a decision in front of it: spend $9 million now on an approach the state’s own experts (and community members) said was likely to wash out, not once but many times, or hold the line for the durable fix and keep fighting for the funding to do the job right.
Our leaders chose to spend the $9 million on a solution that many, including the engineers, said would fail. The ocean did exactly what many feared, and promptly filled the channel back in.
There’s a bitter irony in the aftermath. Asked later about simply re-dredging the channel, Ilagan told the Hawaiʻi Tribune-Herald it would be “throwing money into the ocean” (Oct. 23, 2025).