Christopher Fishkin is a Legal Assistant and Public Advocate. Here Chris discusses some of the conflicts of interest that have resulted from Maui’s Planning Dept. and Corporation Council’s manipulations of SMA (Special Management Area) permits that have allowed countless developers to defer significant infrastructure improvements with absolutely no accountability. This shady practice has cost taxpayers (that’s you) millions and millions of dollars and benefitted only those who are well connected to the power elite.
Its a smoldering scandal that the Mayor, Corporation Council and specific members of the County Council are doing their best to hide, but which is slowly making its way to the public.
One of the things to watch is the upcoming budget approval process. Mike White has intentionally not included an assessment of the value owed to the county in order to keep the issue under wraps, but public advocates are forcing the issue to the surface.
Maui Time Weekly published an article on this scandal several years ago and it is still smoldering. You will be hearing much more about all this in the coming months.
Maui Time Weekly Jan 17 2013 Article