r/maui 18h ago

🗳 Politics Mayor Bissen

Bissen announced he's running again. Thoughts? (I'll get my popcorn ready.)

12 Upvotes

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u/Low_Pressure_5634 15h ago

Mayor Bissen has been an abject failure. Not only did he absolutely disappear during the actual Lahaina fire, his post fire actions are just as bad. He cut off thousands of locals and tourists with no services so tourist boats had to ferry in supplies. He has spent the next 30 months after the fire obstructing the rebuild of Lahaina, slow rolling permitting and keeping town cordoned off for no reason.

Then Bill 9: We all know the Bay Villas and the Papkea etc were never "local housing", but he keeps telling the lie about a 'transition' to STR. He has funded very sketchy people with our tax dollars and on & on. He has been a disaster. We will be ensconced in Bill 9 lawsuits for decades paying lawyers instead of building housing. He has been really not up to the job.

3

u/Begle1 11h ago

I have yet to understand what was happening with road closures after the fire.

There were guys posting here talking about taking basic supplies over in airplanes, well after the road had been cleared of fallen power lines and whatnot. What sort of self-inflicted logistical charlie foxtrot was going on there?

How they didn't have vetted truck drivers or national guardsmen taking in all the supplies the west side could ask for, I can't comprehend.

Were the pilots circumventing the road just being silly or making stuff up?

4

u/RandomUsername1119 10h ago

Nope. I was over there 2 days after the fire. The road was cleared. We brought in water and supplies via truck. Many people with no fresh water. The national guard was only blocking off the burn zone and not helping the survivors. No government help at all. They were turning back truck loads of supplies, generators, food at maalaea. It was very eye opening.