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Stockholm Conference (Edie Idler)
Garbage - Where it's at on Oahu (Judy Blatchford)
Mayor Kimura's Formula for Good Results from Planning
Reflections from Hubby
National Convention! (Sara Thompson)
LWV - Hawaii Directory - 1972-73
Legislative Log: Land Use (Carol Whitesell)
Election Laws, Campaign Finances, Ethics (Nan Lowers & Alice Scott)
Schools (Frances McLeod)

Mayor Kimura's Formula for Good Results from Planning

At the League's State Convention in April, the keynote speaker was Mayor Shunichi Kimura of the Big Island. His exciting talk as the kick-off to the League coming to a statewide position on Land Use this coming fall. Following is his formula for good results from planning:

Good chief planner, referring to the highest elected official, who uses the full power of his office to achieve good results. Because the Mayors and Governor are directly accountable to the people, they should give open and direct guidelines to their planning staffs and to their public.

Humbug citizens who get informed and, in turn, inform the government what they want, In other words, citizens who hold their elected officials accountable.

A plan with long range goals… one that is achievable.

Organize our laws and regulations to protect against the bad uses of land. They aren’t operating successfully yet. For example, absentee owners have followed all the rules and regulations in the book, but nevertheless negative effects on the community have resulted.

Straighten out the intergovernmental relationships. Present panning is fragmented and confusing. The counties and the state each develop their own plans and exercise separate control over neighboring pieces of land. The state and the counties adopt mutually exclusive capital improvement budgets. The counties set the real property tax rates, but the state establishes the real property value and determines exemptions.

The counties need to coordinate and talk to each other too. The vehicle for bringing the counties and state together that Mayor Kimura proposes is a super planning agency of the chief planners (the four mayors and the governor).

We must stop talking about “quality of life” and start talking about specifics… about population control. How many people can a community absorb without relatively affecting its life? Remember that future technology can change our projections later. Talk about working conditions, job opportunities, cultural opportunities, schools, playgrounds. About transportation -- it’s time the mayors and the Governor discussed the effects of an inter-island ferry system.

We need to become more socialistic. Economic value is not the sole basis for deciding what activity should take place. We need more controls, more guidance, more willingness to accept the responsibility for the use of land, assets, and resources.

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