Volcanic Ash

The boorish behavior by some O’ahu residents at neighborhood board meetings is getting tiresome and making us look like a community of bullying loudmouths who think high volume substitutes for reason.

Last night, a meeting of the North Shore Neighborhood Board on D.G. “Andy” Anderson’s proposal to replicate the 80-unit Haleiwa Hotel was cut short after opponents disrupted the meeting and wouldn’t allow the other side to speak.

Anderson was verbally assaulted before the meeting even started and the chairman gaveled the meeting to a close after a leading opponent grabbed the microphone out of turn and refused to give it up.

This follows the Neighborhood Commission’s July suspension of a member of the Makakilo/ Kapolei/Honokai Hale Neighborhood Board for 30 days for disruptive behavior. The commission ordered a review of the entire board regarding problems with decorum.

The Ewa Neighborhood Board was also hit with a 60-day suspension while members received training for order and decorum.

In my own back yard, some Kailua residents seem to be getting cranked up to a high emotional pitch over plans it to build a Target at the Don Quijote site.

The neighborhood board system was intended as an orderly and respectful forum for residents to have a say on issues that shape their communities.

If board meetings are going to become places where bullies get away with acting  like asses, the system is no longer of much value and needs to be either restored to civility or dismantled.