gentrification is not exclusive to hawaii, very sorry to point out.
most islands in the world are just microcosms of the country what "owns" them, ie: stuck a flag in their soil first.
so, what are people who are forced from their homes supposed to do, in lets say, syria. stick it out and die, for community?
my family was run out of spain long ago by imposed poverty, should they have stayed and died? cause of community?
don't get me wrong, i fully understand its importance... but at times, other things are more important, like say for example, quality of life?
as far as only hawaiians having a say on a message board on a topic brought up about one of the wealthiest persons in the world buying land there? do you really think there aren't mark zuckerbergs everywhere? me? i'd welcome a person who purchases land to "preserve their view", for in doing so, they're indirectly conserving said land. there may come a day, due to the logistics of an islands limitations to development that the suckiceberg's "protected view" is one of the few pristine preseved places on the island.
would you be happier if it was a land conservation trust that did this?
here, we have some kook who wants to stick a universal studios type development smack in the middle of a natural sand dunes park, irregardless of the impact to the natural sand flows. local kook authorities hear hollywood and drop their drawers and forget the vaseline.
personally, i wish suckabird, or someone like him, bought it all up and left it untouched to "preserve the view".
in the end, being "right" isn't always the way to get the "best end" sometimes. in this case, his "wrongly viewed" action of buying up huge swaths of land may just keep it from becoming littered with condos and malls and other "right development".
isn't being "wrong" the better alternative? knowing that status quo is not an option?
at least in this case?
the reason everyone who never even visited hawaii talks so much about it is partly because of how the archipelago is viewed, as paradise on earth. there's plenty of other paradise on earth people rarely even mention, nor visit. what i'm trying to say here i guess is that the islands "popularity" are what make them such "word of mouth" for everyone on the internet. run a search on hawaii, then compare the number of "search results" to any other paradisiacal pacific island chain. the results show why they are so visited and talked about... their popularity has inevitably become in some ways their demise.
but that's definitely not exclusive to hawaii. look at bali before it became word of mouth, compared to now.
i pray that hawaii becomes passe soon, "DONE", even... maybe then things can chill out a bit for the islanders when the hordes go off en masse to the next "in" spot. it will cripple a lot of businesses, and families dependant on those businesses, if it does ever go that way though.
the lyric by sting from the pop group the police comes to mind.... "when the world is crumbling down, you make the best of what's still around."
best of luck island brothers from another island mothers.
