Your recent article on the expansion of the Turtle Bay Resort (Oct. 13) suggests that the Kahuku community is divided on the issue. But it is clear that the only support for the project is coming from a handful of individuals who were involved in the unilateral agreement negotiations more than 20 years ago.
When the agreement was negotiated, the Kahuku sugar mill had just closed and jobs were an important consideration in the community. Today, those who represented Kahuku in the original agreement are retired, and their children's children are going off to college. Their world, and ours, is very different.
With statewide unemployment under 3 percent and a number of jobs available at the resort, this community is more concerned about affordable housing and traffic than the creation of hundreds of non-living-wage service jobs and the desecration of some of the last open spaces on the North Shore. As evidenced by recent protests at Honolulu Hale and the resort, this is an islandwide issue with people across O'ahu opposing the expansion plans.
The decision by Oaktree Capital to act on the decades-old permit indicates that its view of the economic landscape in Hawai'i has changed. Similarly, the needs and wishes of the Kahuku community have changed. It is incumbent on the developers to stop moving forward on their plans and first address the needs of today's community.
Kevin Kelly
Kahuku
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