Hawaii's Governor Lindal Lingle floated a proposal today for the state to purchase Turtle Bay on Oahu's windy, wave-swept North Shore. She claimed that Hawaii has a "once in a lifetime chance" (according to PBN) to preserve the rural lifestyle of region. A large development company had revived plans to build multiple large hotels / condos on the 850 oceanfront acres lining three idyllic bays. Locals had been split on the plans, with some seeing much needed jobs and others seeing more overcrowding. This plan is a long shot, for sure. But the development company that had been operating the Turtle Bay Resort hotel just got sued by its lenders. The hotel itself has undergone extensive (and really nice) renovations but it apparently is not making ends meet. While I love the idea of state preservation, I shudder to think what would happen to resort properties should the state run them and considering the decrepit reality of perennially underfunded state parks. Stay tuned.

—Alex, 01/22/08