"ENOUGH IS ENOUGH," HAWAI`I RESIDENTS CRY
Superferry Clash Exposes Tipping Point
Honolulu Advertiser- Sunday, September 23, 2007
Planners and developers in Hawai`i sometimes talk about a "tipping point," where pressure builds until unexpected and rapid change happens.
The controversy over the Hawai`i Superferry may be a sign the state is teetering at such a point, a time when significant numbers of people here feel they can't escape the effects of more tourists and residents, more cars, houses and hotels.
When the Kaua`i protesters and a Maui court ruling stalled the Superferry, the anger that boiled up statewide on both sides of the issue showed the dispute was about much more than an undone environmental report for a water-borne interisland shuttle.
Some suggest the Superferry controversy tapped into anxiety that has been building during years of record or near-record tourism and growth in Island communities.
That unease may be felt more acutely on the Neighbor Islands, where cruise ships and direct flights from the Mainland in recent years delivered crowds of tourists to places that weren't accustomed to them, or so many of them....
Kaua`i Mayor Bryan Baptiste issued a statement Friday describing the Superferry as the "lightning rod" for community alarm over the pace of change and development.
For the past seven years, Kaua`i's economy has been going full blast.
Wealthy newcomers have blocked public access to beaches, and built homes with fences and gates around them. Home prices have risen to between 10 and 20 times the annual median income, and property taxes have surged as well.
Among the protesters on the Nawiliwili jetty to block the Superferry were doctors, lawyers, real estate agents, union agents, construction workers, Hawaiian activists, retirees, students, pharmacists, college professors, tourist-industry workers, government workers, contractors...
"A lot of people are just fed up with the big money coming in and pushing them around, and never apologizing," said Kai`opua Fyfe, who makes motivational videos on Hawaiian issues with the Koani Foundation, and who has not been involved in the Superferry protest.
"I saw this as another development setup, where the state got hooked in really early, and all the questions that should have been asked never got asked...."
