Hawaii governor says state is looking to 'acquire land' destroyed in fires | Hacker News Reader

Hawaii governor says state is looking to 'acquire land' destroyed in fires

thepostmillennial.com

33 pointshammock36 comments

"so you will be pretty poorly informed if you try to steal land from our people and then build here"

Why insult people that are looking to purchase land on the island? Last time I checked Hawaii was part of America, they are not different people. Plus it sounds like the state is just going to seize the land from the families that own it and dictate what can be done with it? This seems pretty suspect and very much a "lets change the law, remove people's rights so I can look like a hero in the moment to the voters that were not affected and damn the long term consequences and well being of those that currently own the land"

> if you try to steal land from our people

"That's our job."

"He vowed to prevent foreign buyers from swooping in to exploit the tragedy, suggesting the state was better suited to take control of the land.

"I'm already thinking of ways for the state to acquire that land so that we can put it into workforce housing, to put it back into families, or make it open spaces in perpetuity as a memorial to the people who were lost," Green said while standing amongst the rubble."

Sounds like he wants to prevent land owners who suffered from this disaster from getting fair market price for their property and exploit them himself?

If state really wanted to pay fair price, it wouldn't have to prevent other buyers. It would just out-bid them.

....maybe Hawaii isn't in the best place to negotiate fairly because they just suffered wildfires and are trying to make sure the land doesn't get sold for nothing by the locals who lost everything?

This is the reason there is regulation and not just the invsible hand

Funny that the visible hand only works to benefit home owners / sellers and never works against them.

There's a group of people on the opposite end of the trade perpetually getting shafted.

Real estate moguls are getting shafted?

Real estate moguls are generally home owners...

They explicitely are trying to make sure international buyers don't come in and swoop the land for scraps - not fucking over Hawaiians trying to get housing. I don't understand what you're arguing for

> They explicitely are trying to make sure international buyers don't come in and swoop the land for scraps

You're claiming that the state is going to overpay vs the moguls? That's a handout to the home owners.

Developers are going to buy the land to develop it & rent or re-sell it. If they did so, that would benefit new entrants (buyers, renters).

But I guess we're not allowed to indirectly let developers have any benefit? Are developers are inherently evil?

Why do home owners deserve a handout? Why should owning a home have no risk, and any losses are socialized onto renters while all gains are kept for the owners?

"I will try to allow no one from outside our state to buy any land until we get through this crisis and decide what Lahaina should be in the future." Fron the gov

If the goal was to prevent folks from getting a raw deal, the governor could just come up with the funds to help folks rebuild like most catastrophies. Instead, he wants to take advantage of the disaster and use the land for his own designs. Maybe the governor's heart is in the right place after all, but this feels super slimy at first blush.

I've already said it in my previous comment, but I'll repeat it again: if you want them to get more money, just offer them a better price. There's no reason to FORBID other buyers from bidding if you're going to outbid them anyway.

Pardon the slight (irrelevant) quibble - but land hasn't been "destroyed" - only the "improvements" made to the land have been.

"Oh, and btw - BlackRock will help underwrite and manage the land acquisition - no more comments please!"

A land grab after this tragedy is really not appropriate. These families should not lose their land to a criminal government, and should maintain ownership. Politicians are by class congenital, pathological, enthusiastic liars and they do not have the best interest of this land in mind.

Here's a similar story and thread that was posted here on HN yet it was flagged (how come)?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37146373

He just said ignore private land developers but the government might buy. Such a strange thing to say back to back. Something is fishy.

I would like to see the land returned to the families if at all possible.

So if my house burned down (it didn't I'm just trying to understand) do I not still own the lot beneath the rubble?

It depends. In Hawaii, a lot of the the land is not owned fee simple. ~60% of houses are owned by the banks.

Convenient.

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