It’s the kind of spectacular example that will leave future reapportionment commissions swooning in awe, even though it’s a case of economic rather than political gerrymandering.
And here it is! A new economically-challenged district officially determined to be plagued by stubbornly high unemployment, according to the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism.
I’m indebted to an article in Civil Beat this week for bringing this excellent example to my attention, but I fear the fine reporters at CB failed to appreciate its true brilliance. This isn’t your everyday fudging of the numbers. No, this is real heavy lifting, a world-class bit of boundary bending!
It seems there are some smart cookies over in DBEDT which, among many other things, administers the federal government’s EB-5 “cash for green-card” program in Hawaii. This is the program that allows foreign investors to put money into “qualified” projects and, in exchange, earn a green card allowing them to come to the United States.
Along came developer Jay Fang (also known as Zhe Fang), who wants to qualify his proposed new high-rise project for the EB-5 program, and to tap special benefits which come from investing in an area suffering from high-unemployment.
Unfortunately for Fang, his proposed project is a stone’s throw from the Keeaumoku Walmart, and just down the street from Ala Moana Center. It’s also just mauka of Kakaako, where a high end construction boom has been underway for years. The local unemployment rate is rock bottom.
But, it seems, DBEDT took it as a challenge. How they could take a proposed project in an area with extremely low unemployment, and in a city with unemployment well under 3%, and make it appear to to be in an area with an unemployment rate of at least 150 percent of the U.S. national average, thereby qualifying for the especially lucrative benefits of the EB-5 program?
Those tricky folks at DBEDT finally found a way to make it come out right!
They carved out that strange, lizard-shaped district encompassing the large, high unemployment districts on the west side of the island, and sweeping down to small, affluent census tracts over by Ala Moana, where developer Fang hopes to build his project. Average out the unemployment rates across those diverse census tracts, and DBEDT could certify the newly created district as a “Targeted Employment Area for the purposes of the EB-5 program.”
It’s the kind of effort that would make Texas legislators, well known for their gerrymandering prowess, glow with pride! And this from our home town boys in DBEDT, who appear to be at the top of their game!
And who says Hawaii state government can’t get things done!
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Let’s put DBEDT in charge of rail!
Who are the DBEDT employees? The public should know.
Years ago The Economist had an article on Hawai’i politics and they summed it up by saying that Hawai’i has the corruption of Louisiana and the Old Boy Networks of Japan. (paraphrased).
Molly Ivins would have loved this gerrymandering, something that was near and dear to her heart. I sure miss her!
Patty, stop buying into the public employee blame game.
We already know who is responsible for actions by DBEDT. Any action of this magnitude has to be signed off by the politically appointed head of the department, who is Luis P. Salaveria. (For further details on Mr. Salaveria, see http://dbedt.hawaii.gov/overview/director/ )
I agree with Lopaka43 on this point. When a decision is made to “make it come out right”–that is, to find a way to reach a predetermined conclusion–that decision is typically made way up the chain of command and communicated down to subordinates, either directly or indirectly.
Lizard-shaped? Wha? Maybe after an encounter with a weed whacker.
I realize the etymology of the word “gerrymander” invokes it, but seriously that district is not at all lizard-shaped.
The guys making the maps are doing a fine job; the guys making the policies, obviously not so much. This isn’t about the quality of the maps or the data; at issue is how the powers that be have decided to cut up the pie. Granted, a high degree of artistry has been applied to both endeavors.
Importing double digit unemployment all the way from the west side to the state run kakaako community development district is nothing short of shameful. Putting it on a map not only serves to illustrate how ridiculous the process is; but it also informs the general public. Mahalo to the state’s cartographers (and to Ian) for placing this boondoggle in plain site. Keep up the good work.
Good catch, Mr. Ian. Those Texans! I understand that the Rich Perry School of Civic Engineering at Texas A&M University offers courses in Gerrymandering (in Texas sometimes called Perrymandering). Student learn there learn all the find points of cracking, packing, kidnapping, and hijacking.