
| Governor Confident About Turtle Bay Plan |
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| Written by Tim Sakahara - tsakahara@kgmb9.com | |||
| January 24, 2008 09:39 PM | |||
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Gov. Linda Lingle spoke publicly about her monumental idea to buy Turtle Bay. She announced the idea during her State of the State address on Tuesday but the governor said she has been thinking about the idea for the past year and a half. Her office still has not released a specific draft of the plan but it is in motion. "The more people have thought about it, the more support we've received," said Lingle. She wants to buy all 850 acres around Turtle Bay, which includes five miles of coastline, as well as preserved land. There is also the Turtle Bay Resort that is in debt and fighting foreclosure. The governor said she's not interested in running a hotel. "That's a part of the discussion and will be of the public private partnership that we put together but it’s not the state's goal to operate a hotel," Lingle said. With foreclosure pending the state will have to deal with the banks as well as property owners. Still the governor's office has not contacted either about her plan. "You would have expected the governor would have done some basic due diligence and talked with, had some initial discussions with stake holders before making her dream public," said Rep. Kirk Caldwell, House Majority Leader, who thinks the governor is getting everyone's hopes up only to lead them towards disappointment. "I think the governor has to lay out a road map not just a recipe or a menu but actually how we are going to get to a goal of purchasing this incredibly expensive piece of property and we don't even have basic figures for how much its going to cost," said Representative Caldwell. "This is really a last minute thought up dream that was rolled out to the state of Hawaii and everyone is very excited and has high expectations but we see no ladder to get up to that dream." "There are a number of ways to go about this and we are gathering information right now and at the appropriate time and when its in the state's interest to do so we will let it known what our specific plans are," Lingle said. "I'm confident the state of Hawaii will own the shoreline on the North Shore by the time I leave office." |
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| Last Updated ( January 28, 2008 02:56 AM ) | |||
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