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My name is Jake Jacobs. I've been a resident of Kona since 197 We live <br /> in the Coastview subdivision above the proposed development north of the <br /> airport. <br /> To my great dismay, I've seen Kona transformed from a unique community <br /> that some used to calla "village", into a hodgepodge of Southern California <br /> strip malls and outrageously expensive tract homes, condos and <br /> townhouses. In the good old days, being haole automatically would leave <br /> me open to the charge of being the cause of the problem. One thing I can <br /> tell you, I didn't move here to exploit the land or the people or to make Kona <br /> <br /> just like where I came from, which is what I see going on now, and what I've <br /> opposed for the last 30 years. <br /> Ever since I can remember, it seems the various county councils and <br /> planning commissions have been in cahoots with the developers to promote <br /> over-development of tourism and real estate without regard to the overall <br /> health of the community...only the money to make the rich richer. <br /> This has been the best our elected officials, civic leaders, planners and what <br /> have you could come up with as a way to serve the needs of the people, yet <br /> still the children have left to seek a future elsewhere. <br /> I doubt that a single job created by all this development would enable a <br /> person born and raised in Kona to buy a home at today's absurd prices. <br /> Most of us are guilty of not standing up for ourselves, our neighbors or for <br /> <br /> the land, but anyone who ever tried to promote a vision of a community not <br /> dependent on continuous construction has been portrayed by the business <br /> and political establishment as a dangerous wacko and had all the resources <br /> of the developers and the republicrats brought to bear against them. <br /> So now the speculators and developers have had their way. But I dont think <br /> <br /> the community has benefited. <br /> <br /> The unbelievable traffic is just the most obvious example. You can't add <br /> 1500 new cars per month to this island and expect any different. <br /> I think a great deal has been irretrievably lost and the best we can do now is <br /> slow things way down and salvage what we can. <br /> Comm. No. •S <br /> Ref. io: Pre e t <br /> Ref. Uae <br /> <br />