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The Advocate
A Newsletter of the Honolulu Alliance
December 2010
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The Myth of Opting Out
..."[F]ormer National Park Service employee and senior staff member of the House Resources Committee's Subcommittee on National Parks, Recreation and Public Lands, Steve Hodapp...
correctly noted, no one can opt out of a National Heritage Area. It is a physical and geographical impossibility. One is either inside the boundaries of a National Heritage Area or outside the boundaries. And if one is within the boundaries, and there is a management plan that prescribes, indeed mandates, programs and activities to protect, enhance, and manage natural and scenic values within the National Heritage Area-in one way or another private landowners are not going to be allowed to convert their cornfield to a pig farm or to paint their silo purple with yellow stripes." Congressional Testimony of R.J. Smith |
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The Myth of Protections for Private Property
 | | Our Homes, Our Heritage |
R. J. Smith's Congressional Testimony:
Mr. Chairman, there is a considerable litany of innocuous-sounding, well-meaning, Department of Interior programs which were created by the Congress with clear directions that the National Park Service was to preserve the local communities and culture and was not to condemn or acquire private lands.
Yet these programs went drastically awry and offer no hope that this new program would turn out any better.
...When the Cuyahoga National Recreation area was created in Ohio in 1971, the Congress...called for the preservation of the community, rejected condemnation and acquisition and called for the use of easements. By the early 1980's hundreds of homes had been bulldozed and burned as people lost their ancestral homes and small businesses and the few remaining homes in the recreation area belonged to a handful of people who were wealthy and sophisticated enough, and with sufficient connections and competent legal advice to hold out from the Federal bulldozers. Among that handful were Congressman John Siberling and the editor of the Akron Beacon-Journal. Once again the plain people lost everything to a harmless program, created to preserve their communities, homes and cultures-and with no power to take their private lands. And yet they lost everything.
That is why the twenty-three (23) lines of subsection (h), Private Property Protection, [in Heritage Area program legislation] offers little meaningful protection over the long-run to any landowners who may find themselves and their homes and property within the boundaries of a federally-designated National Heritage Area or National Heritage Corridor. [Read more at: R. J. Smith's Congressional Testimony]
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Losing their Heritage and Land in Hinton, West Virginia
 | | New River Road |
The people of Hinton wanted funds to repair a local road. They lobbied their legislators for several years, and finally the federal funding came through. At that point, the National Park Service stepped in. Because the local road was in a Heritage Area, Park Service officials announced, the money would be used to create a Scenic Parkway. The Scenic Parkway called for condemning dozens of properties, forcing people out of their homes ... the very same people who lobbied for the road repairs in the first place. [Losing Our Heritage, Our Land]. See also: New River Friends Website |
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Legislative Update
With the adjournment of the 111th congress sine die, S. 359 and H.R. 1297 expired. Senator Inouye plans to introduce the legislation in the 112th Congress under a different bill number. The 112th Congress commences January 5, 2011. As of this writing there is no indication if either of the House members from Hawaii plan to introduce the bill in the House . The Alliance is working with Senator Inouye's staff to seek substantial modifications to the legislation to address the concerns of Alliance supporters. More information on this effort will be forth coming as we progress. In 2004 Brenda Barrett, the National Park Service's Coordinator for National Heritage Areas, said in prepared remarks:
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Criteria have been developed, at least on paper, to ensure that community
residents and leaders are fully consulted and committed before designation" Numerous community groups, areas and homeowners continue to oppose or not support the designation and have asked to be excluded from the proposed boundary map of the area. |
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Contact Information
email: info@honolulualliance.org |
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Happy New Year from the Honolulu Alliance!
We hope that it is merry and bright! |
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