Here’s a recommendation to start your week. Check out Stan Fichtman’s two-part assessment of the state Department of Transportation’s treatment of the Naval Air Museum Barbers Point. These are the latest posts on his website, PoliticsHawaii.com.
Stan writes at length after interviewing Brad Hayes, the director of the nonprofit Hawaii Museum of Flying, which has operated the museum since its inception two decades ago, as well as attempting to get the DOT to answer questions about the controversy.
It sounds like a simple story.
After rescuing aircraft that had been left behind at the Barbers Point Airfield (now officially the Kalaeloa Airport) when the Navy moved out, this group of history buffs slowly built their aviation museum over two decades.They had been working with the state to relocate the museum from its current location, but then the state went silent for about seven years. Then, in mid-September, the DOT abruptly sent a letter cancelling the museum’s current month-to-month lease and order them to vacate the property. See “Naval Air Museum Is Being Evicted over Contract Issues,” Military.com.
Local media report that DOT cited several outstanding issues that led to the cancellation, including insurance problems and unauthorized storage.
Fichtman expresses his frustration with DOT’s failure to communicate towards the end of Part 2 of the story.
A DEFINITION OF THE WORD “Monolith” goes like this: “a large and impersonal political, corporate, or social structure regarded as intractably indivisible and uniform.”
The logo of the State of Hawaii Dept. of Transportation. Could be used as the image to describe “monolith”
As I was going through the interviews and hearing from the different parties in this part of the tale, that word kept on coming up, and growing, as a theme of what the museum was really dealing with. It soon became apparent what Brad and the museum, along with the neighborhood board is dealing with, is tantamount to a quote from the movie “Matilda”, from the book by Roald Dahl.
“I’m right and you’re wrong, I’m big and you’re small, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
In other words, the Department of Transportation, Airports Division, is the big person, and everyone else is the little people. And just because they are big and can wield power, their judgement is absolute and unquestionable, on the little people.
It’s not a pretty picture if your standards for government include openness and accountability.
In any case, Stan’s trying to build awareness of and interest in his website. I recommend giving these two stories a read.
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Reminds me of the DOT non-response to Senator Gil Rivieres and North Shore community requests to deal with the “Turtle Traffic”.
FYI regarding the traffic issue, a resident of Waimea Bay Area said that traffic backlogs are almost non-exsistent since the City’s ABnB crackdown. Who’da thot?
State Leasee’s often cast aside for political purposes.
Very similar situation Hee’ia State Park formerly Ulu Mau Village. Freinds of Hee’ia Kea tossed aside for expansion by Governor Lingle’s preferred choice of Kamaina Kids another non-profit organization.
All Hawaii Non-Profit Organizations “NPO’s” are not the same. Some have very highly paid CEO’s and employees, with very high student fees, similar to rates paid by exclusive private schools that are more akin to Corporate NPO’s.
Much tighter NPO regulation and disclosure needed!
Fixing the State Lease and license use system, only a dream! All in the political realm of our Governor!
DOT or (Bushido boys club) has operated without regard to community for decades. This insular department has no mechanism for improvement or complaints. Instead of honest responses and transparency, their go to is hide mistakes and use bureaucratic layers so they are not accountable to the public.