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June 16, 2004 <br /> To: Hawaii County Council <br /> From: Sherry Bracken <br /> (PO Box 248, Kailua-Kona HI 96745; 808-334-1521) <br /> Aloha, <br /> Thank you for holding this hearing in Kona. <br /> I'm a ten year resident of the Big Island, and although I'm speaking today as a private <br /> citizen, most of you know that I've done lots of volunteer work for Kona Outdoor Circle <br /> over the years. I often get people coming up to me asking that KOC do something to <br /> help deal with the proliferation of sandwich boards and other unsightly signs. <br /> Here's the problem: I'd like to do something. And so would Kona Outdoor Circle's <br /> board and members. People think that Kona Outdoor Circle can do something, <br /> because The Outdoor Circle is the organization that worked to get the territorial <br /> legislature to pass laws back in 1927 that banned billboards in this state. Everybody <br /> loves that we don't have billboards. However, KOC cannot on its own do anything. But <br /> you can. That's your job. <br /> I'm asking you to please, pass this revised sign code. Why? I have friends who are <br /> merchants, who want to keep our island beautiful. Some of them feel it's most unfair <br /> that some merchants flaunt the law, and put up sandwich boards and banners and flood <br /> the area with signs that merely clutter, and lose their power to inform. I, as a person <br /> who lives here partly because it's a tropical paradise, want to keep the area beautiful. <br /> Under the sign code, merchants will have full ability to display an appropriate sign. <br /> Shopping centers will have full ability to display signs that list all their merchants. The <br /> new sign code is probably not perfect, but it does provide for simplicity for such things <br /> as banners advertising specific events, and for real estate signs, and for things that <br /> would be onerous if each needed a permit. And mostly, it allows the county to enforce <br /> the law, easily, and even with the help of volunteers, just as volunteers help enforce <br /> handicapped parking. <br /> <br /> To remind you, KOC has committed to help communicate what this law is once you <br /> pass it. Please, let us spend the money we've allocated for that function. <br /> Please, you've had this before you, one way or another, for at least four years. Please, <br /> pass this sign code and let's move forward. <br /> Respectfully submitt`ed~with great mahalo, <br /> E~? I ` ' ~ ~ 2'~" <br /> <br /> Sher Br <br /> ry <br /> ~,.o^nm. tdo. 2• <br /> Rtf. To: <br /> Rof. L`ote <br /> <br />