The Kihei Community Association held their monthly meeting tonight at 6:30 at the community facility on Lipoa street (up by the public pool).
The subject at hand was Coral Reef conservation and preservation. This is the year of the coral reef and some projects have been going on here on Maui and in Hawaii in general. I thought it would be a good idea to attend to see what the latest news was. I'm very interested in the health and well being of Hawaii's reefs. I am very aware that the reefs here on Maui are in danger from many different issues. (They had free pizza too from Round Table!!) I was expecting our sudden unexpected problem with Makena Landing to get some attention. That turned out not happening.
There were about 80 to 100 people there. Something I found very interesting was the meeting was attended by quite a few influential people from our community. Including Senator Roz Baker, Representative Joe Bertram III, at least three people who will be running for political office here next election, and a host of marine industry and public education specialists. It was even announced to us over the PA system that we had the honor of being in the presence of Mr. Everett Dowling this evening!
I was like "What?" Everett Dowling? "No way!"
Sure enough, I looked to my left and there he was. Almost right next to me! I was so excited to see him at this important town meeting. I was surprised yet happy to see that he was genuinely interested in the state of our coral reefs, especially since he's going to be the one taking care of 'my all time favorite dive site', Makena Landing, from now on. If you're reading this post and you don't know who he is, I suggest you Google him and the word 'Maui' together. There's a few pages that will keep you busy for a while.
Back to my story, he's the man who is directly responsible for shutting us out of Makena Landing come this Aug. 31st. He told the County Parks Department that our business use of the Makena Landing Beach Park is illegal and therefore he simply couldn't allow it. Why the County sheepishly responds like 'uh, OK Boss, whatever you say!' is still a mystery to me. Having a permit issued by the county to use a park that they control is illegal? What? Say that again..What is the permit for then? We have something on Maui called a 'CORA Permit' (Commercial Ocean Recreation Activity Permit) as in 'Permitted to operate in the County Park'. It says it right on my permit. Isn't that what makes it legal in the first place??? Uh, hello?!
Anyway, I was hoping to get to talk with Mr. Dowling sometime during the course of the evening. It would have made me feel better to apologize to him for breaking the law in his park for the past 11 years. I know ignorance is no excuse for the law. I just didn't know I was breaking the law the whole time. It's really not like me. I mean I really feel terrible about the whole thing. He was only 2 tables away from me the whole time. I could have walked right up and just said I'm sorry. Instead I thought I'd be polite and wait for an appropriate opportunity.
Well, now in hind sight, I know I should have just approached him as soon as they announced to everyone that he was there for the meeting. He wasn't busy, just standing around like many of the rest of us. To my dissapointment I never got to meet him. As much as I would have loved to start one, he didn't exactly stick around long enough for a conversation with me. He didn't really stick around long enough to talk with anybody. Well, as a matter of fact, as soon as the Coral Reef part of the meeting started, he turned and walked out on the first speaker and never came back.
I wondered, "Where'd he go?"
What are we supposed to make of that? Do you think it looks really good of him to make a public appearance to show how much he really cares about our Coral Reefs on Maui. He couldn't have gotten much out of tonights presentations. I'll bet his name makes it in the paper for this too. Now that's how you work it!
What can you do? We're trying to save our beaches and our reefs. It's not as easy as you would think.
KCA meetings are held each month on the third Tuesday at 6:30 pm. They are always at the Kihei Community Center and they focus on one particular topic each time. Here's a link if you're interested:
Kihei Community Association: KCA Website
