June 25, 2005

Who Owns the "Aina ?

Shaded Garden near Laupahoehoe Hawaii

In the old days the King owned all of the land and he parceled out the choicest real estate to those that pleased him or to whom he owed favors...

Seems that things are not so different today. Today in a 5-4 decision, our Supreme Court upheld court decisions that allow city and state government to take YOUR home and give the land to someone else...You will be compensated, but how much is unknown and there is no dollar value on ties to the land based on family or time...A city can make a sweet heart deal and just steal your home and give it to the highest bidder for the sake of "public good"...Makes me ill just to think about it.

I have lived with eminent domain much of my life. I saw school friends forcibly moved out of their homes when a freeway project came through our area. Got pennies on the dollar for their houses, just before the first of the great California land booms in the 70's. This was a crime, which is still a bitter subject for those that suffered from this horror.

But California doesn't hold a candle to Hawaii. From the overthrow of the Royal family, till today, the government of Hawaii leads the way in stealing lands from people to give them to another party. While we were living there on the Big Island we watched as the County council tried to steal land from a lady that had bought and improved this land that the county wanted for a parking lot. She improved it for that purpose and offered it for sale at the market price. The county wanted it for a fifth of that. As though it were raw land still. She was fighting them and now will lose, and it makes me want to scream,

According to this article in the Honolulu Star Bulletin, Hawaii leads the way in such seizures. In the Independent Hawaii Reporter, the Public owns your homeand that we are looking down the edge of an abyss

I always thought that My home was my castle... But the barbarians are at the gates and breaking down the doors