Laserfiche WebLink
Friday, August 28, 1998 <br /> Aloha Council members. <br /> My name is Heidi McLoud, and I am a resident of Ahualoa. I am here today to request <br /> your approval of Councilman Yagong's Resolution No. 309-98, and your rejection of <br /> Mayor Yamashiro's Resolution No. 267-98. This request is based on the following: <br /> I . As public officials, you, The County Council, have a fiduciary relationship with the <br /> citizens of the County of Hawaii, and were elected solely to represent them. You were not <br /> elected to act independently without cause or concern of the public's position and sentiment, and <br /> you were certainly not elected to blindly support the wishes of the Mayor. As such, if the <br /> majority of persons that you heaz from today inform you that they do not want the County land to <br /> be given to Bishop Estate in a "land exchange", then it is your duty and obligation to ensure that <br /> the County land remains in public hands. <br /> 2. Paragraph 2 on Page 2 of Resolution No. 309-98 states the Bishop Estate has indicated <br /> that the addition of the 4,400 acres is not essential to the progress of its timber operations with <br /> Prudential Timber. If this statement is accurate, and I assume it is because it is within Councilman <br /> Yagong's Resolution, then why offer Bishop Estate more land if they don't appear to want it or <br /> need it. The people of Hamakua are here before you today asking for the land to remain in public <br /> hands so that it can be made available to them for a multitude of uses, including diversified <br /> agriculture, organic farming, ecotourism, and ranching. If you offer the land to the people of <br /> Hamakua I am sure it will be used in ways that the local communities will prosper and that the <br /> rest of the County will view as worthy and just. <br /> 3. Mayor Yamashiro states that we, the people of Hamala:a, don't have any interest or <br /> resources in the land, and because of that the land should be swapped for Bishop Estate land in <br /> Hilo, Kona, and Puna. If we have no interest then why aze all of us here today, and why were all <br /> of us here last October to protest the Oji deal. Personally, I have interest in the land as a source of <br /> communal unity and strength, and if you take the land away you further handicap the people you <br /> aze here to represent. If the County would make leasing public lands more user friendly and less <br /> bureaucratic and less restrictive then the mayor would see that there are many people here who <br /> want land and that the County actually does not have enough land for everyone. As the people <br /> stated clearly last October, there is a great deal of interest in public lands in Hamakua, and, in <br /> response, I ask you to keep public lands in public hands. <br /> Based on these reasons, I request that Resolution No. 309-98 be approved by the County <br /> Council. <br /> <br /> Thank you. <br /> o . a <br /> ~ Gr ~ Coupe. No. <br /> j T+YIe No.__.~-s-~-- <br /> Pressated~ FCi <br /> [tef. To: <br /> ~ SEP 0 ! lggp <br /> <br />