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<br />
<br /> attempt to try to direct that monies in terms of how the County
<br />
<br /> should spend it, although there certainly logic to what Mr.
<br />
<br /> Reynolds is saying. But, I have a concern here, and as you look at
<br />
<br /> this island as a whole, there are some districts, for example
<br /> Hamakua, even out in Kau, maybe even a little bit out in Hamakua,
<br />
<br /> where it's basically an Agricultural District, where you won't find
<br />
<br /> the type of development that would probably take place in Kona or
<br /> in Hilo, and so forth.
<br /> And if we take the avenue that we're going to re-direct all that
<br /> money just to that particular district, what you're going to find is,
<br /> in the areas that you don't have this type of development, where
<br /> there isn't that population base, those areas azea going to suffer
<br /> immensely. Those areas are now not going to get the type of
<br /> money they need for fire services, for police, for roads, and so
<br /> forth. And I think that would be a wrong direction to go, because
<br /> the way the system works is, if there are projects such as Kalialu'u
<br /> Park, which I think is excellent, should be done, I think what
<br /> should happen is the Councilmember should be lobbying the
<br /> County, the Administration, to get funds to make improvements to
<br /> that particular area. But once we start messing with the
<br /> contribution of the fair share, I think that's going to create some
<br /> problems, especially for districts out in rural areas. So, I'd be very
<br /> concerned about that.
<br /> Although the intention is absolutely wonderful, it makes a lot of
<br /> sense, where you're trying to please the Councilmember and the
<br /> people within the district, and you say, "We're going to do this for
<br /> the area, and we're going to come out and improve this park area,
<br /> and this $708,000 that should go to the County, we want to direct it
<br /> to Kahalu'u Beach." I mean, that's admirable. But whether that's
<br /> a direction we'd like to go, that concerns tne. Because some
<br /> people, or some districts is going to end up having problems with
<br /> that. And I'll give you an example.
<br /> For example, the bridges on the island. Hamakua has nearly all the
<br /> bridges on the County of Hawaii. And if the County didn't
<br /> recognize the fact that these bridges serve as a route between East
<br /> and West Hawaii, the major route between East and West Hawaii,
<br /> these bridges need to be maintained and made sure that it's safe.
<br /> You know, if eve were looking at distribution according to
<br /> population or development, or what have you, we might not get
<br /> that money, but the Administration realized, like it or not, we've
<br /> got to maintain these bridges. So they do take a lot of the fuel tax
<br /> money and put it into Hamakua to maintain the bridge that is
<br /> essential for the entire island.
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