Hawaii’s governor wants the state to buy the 880-acre Turtle Bay Resort. Why? To preserve the north part of the North Shore from more development.
Governor Lingle’s plan surprised environmentalists, surprised the resort’s developers, and surprised those taxpayers and voters who expected to see the state’s financial surplus plowed back into highway construction, University of Hawaii building projects, education initiatives, and bureaucracy funding.
Such a bold move is not without precedent. Lingle pointed out the state’s involvement in preserving Waimea Valley, Pupukea-Paumalu, and Kukui Gardens. Which such notable successes, it’s probably good for Oahu that the state is turning attention away from unpopular mass transit and education issues, toward the resort development business, which everyone loves.
After all, what’s good for the developers and owners of a desolate area of the island in an eager-to-sell real-estate-market-going-to-hell must be also good for Hawaii’s less-than-educated youth, broken but congested highways, unfunded University building projects, and the need to create yet another tax dollar-consuming bureaucratic project.
Is the state swapping potholes and traffic congestion for turtles, or education for a rural money drain? Or both?
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