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Honorable Chair and members of the Council <br /> September 13, 2004 <br /> Page 3 <br /> By redirecting settlement pattern to this area, it should also help out <br /> with traffic conditions. Traffic along the Queen Ka' ahumanu <br /> Highway gets backed up more so during the AM and PM peak hours, <br /> when people are traveling to and from work. Many live in Kealakehe, <br /> Kailua, and other areas south of Palani Road BUT work in Kailua, <br /> north of Kailua, and South Kohala. Additionally, most of the <br /> commercial and industrial activities are located in and around Kailua <br /> and its immediate outskirts. Many must drive to this area for their <br /> primary goods and services. This situation creates a bottleneck at the <br /> intersection of Palani Road and Queen Ka'ahumanu Highway, and <br /> traffic backs up at both ends of the Highway. <br /> <br /> 7. Let us also not forget that the applicant will make an immediate <br /> contribution of $750,000 to design and prepare the construction <br /> plans for Phase II of the Highway. Having a set of approved <br /> construction plans should elevate this project on the State's priority <br /> list of construction funding. As such, this should help accelerate <br /> rather than delay the funding and construction of this Highway. <br /> <br /> 8. Finally, let us not forget that all of the above reflects aprivate-public <br /> partnership to improve existing infrastructure deficits. We know that <br /> government cannot do it all; at the same time, we know that the <br /> private sector cannot be expected to do it all either. The spirit of <br /> concurrency reflects private sector doing its share and government <br /> doing its share too. The existing bill reflects such cooperative effort. <br /> Forging an acceptable partnership is critical, for we are all aware of <br /> the vagaries of the development cycle. Generally, they occur in 10- <br /> year spurts, and Hawaii tends to follow California. I don't have first <br /> hand knowledge of the California situation, but one developer from <br /> California recently wrote the following to me: <br /> "There are signals here in California of a residential lull. It is the <br /> first time in about 8 years that resale inventory has risen and it has <br /> risen each of the past 4 months to a point where there are currently <br /> <br />