Commentary contributed by Tamara Paltin · Kahana

We must take action.

I attended the West Maui GPAC forum last week, and the controversy and frustration are very apparent. The future we want and the one that is unfolding are not the same. Many who have been involved with the Maui General Plan process, from the start have little faith, as the plans they intended to provide were not followed. This may be interpreted as a sign of failure in the process; but knowing what went wrong and how to resolve it could be a success. The 1990 plan and the updated plan are good plans, but we as a community need to realize it is not enough just to make the plans. We need to realize that we are the people who created the plans, and if we want to see them followed, we must take a more active role in seeing that government/businesses follow them. We must learn the plans and learn from our past shortcomings. Our plans clearly state that the ahupua‘a concept—everything is connected—is important to us. We need to   honor and keep our ecosystems functional, such as watershed management, evaluating water quality problems and deciding where to spend resources in solving them. If we protect the most sensitive uses, it will lead to adequate quality of life for human endeavors.