Hawaiians unite to buy back land from billionaire in a move never seen before

It’s a huge undertaking. If successful, it would be one of the largest land purchases in Hawaii, behind Larry Ellison’s nearly 90,000-acre acquisition on the island of Lanai.

How fucking sad that you can buy 90k acre for personal ownership. There is no reason any one person should own that much land.

Buy back? Kick the billionaire out.

For generations, Native Hawaiians have been displaced from ancestral lands, and on the island of Molokai, where one-third of the island is owned by Hong Kong-headquartered billionaire investment firm Guoco Group...

Same basic problem is on all the islands. Read the fictionalized story The Descendants (or see movie of same name).

... Land mismanagement causes other problems as well. Red dirt sediment from West Molokai’s eroded slopes runs into the ocean after a heavy rain, turning the water red with pollution that can kill coral reefs and clog fishponds.

“If our reef dies, we lose that as a source of food,” Kalipi said.

It sounds like Hawaii should institute a land use law where squatters on lands of absent landlords could claim ownership by working said land. I know they have something like that already because there was another lawsuit where developers purposely built on someone else's land, then sued the property owner for trying to 'steal' the luxury building they built by 'mistake' such that all she could argue was that they tear the whole thing down.

If successful, it would be one of the largest land purchases in Hawaii, behind Larry Ellison’s nearly 90,000-acre acquisition on the island of Lanai. Only this time, the land would be returning to its people.

The Molokai Heritage Trust is moving forward thoughtfully in its endeavor, dedicating years for discussion and research and obtaining its 501(c)(3) nonprofit status last year.

I am heartened by the last line, which is labeled as "Pakui’s Prophecy" (emphasis mine):

The heavens will fall, the high-born will fall, and the dark earth — the common people — will rise like a wave.

Can't they just write a special law and annex the land? Ya know, sort of, like, how the US stole, I mean, um, got, Hawaii in the first place?

Billionaire decides not to sell.

Billionaire doubles price—gets rich off the poor, again.

Shitty move, Hawaii.

And the billionaires still win somehow

Dole food company eyeing this

This is bullshit, eminent domain has been used for a lot less worthy causes. The guy’s been absent for a decade, it’s rundown, not developed, abandoned buildings, looks like a hazard to the community.