|
WIGGANS: Good morning, I wasn't sure if I was going to make this before I have to go back
<br /> for lunch duty. I swear to tell the truth. Good morning Planning Chair, Director, Commission, I
<br /> am—my name is Liz Wiggans —I am a resident of Kailua-Kona, and this is a personal testimony
<br /> to reject this planning project. I am a teacher at Konawaena Middle School, and I'm actually
<br /> right now missing our 8th graders' presentations on their Kulia I Ka Nu`u capstone project. Our
<br /> students at Konawaena have been conducting a college caliber research project this semester and
<br /> a broad range of topics they cover include issues that deal with the environmental issues such as
<br /> lack of affordable housing, Hawaiian culture preservation, and also addressing ocean pollution.
<br /> So, these issues faced by our community and addressed by our keiki are directly related to the
<br /> condition that we have of converting vacant land into a source of revenue for a select few. This
<br /> project will increase an already unaffordable area, negate respectful treatment of historical areas,
<br /> and have a lasting environmental impact due to its proximity to the water. I thank you for your
<br /> time and not considering this planning project.
<br /> VILLARIN: How's everybody doing today? Good? My name is Chad Villarin. I reside in
<br /> Waiea. I also reside in Kahalu`u. Just to clear things up, I'm not of Hawaiian ancestry,
<br /> Hawaiian descent, but it doesn't take that to appreciate and understand the culture of Hawaii.
<br /> Just being born and raised here, you come to understand just basic living here, and it's, you
<br /> know, it's something that we can get that not other much people in the world can understand or,
<br /> you know, have the opportunity to live out. So, I just want to clear that up. But just basically
<br /> being someone who is always down at Banyans, I surf there, like, try to everyday, fish there.
<br /> Gives me like almost a piece of mind going down there. I go to escape when things are rough in
<br /> my life. I just paddle out, I look back and I like to see, you know, a lot of green and the
<br /> landscape, but it's just a feeling that you can't take away when you're out in the ocean and you
<br /> look back and you see, you know, Mother Nature and the island and everything that's just
<br /> beauty. But, that feeling is almost like taken away when I look back and all I see are buildings.
<br /> You know what I mean? Blocking Hualalai almost because they're so big. And this building
<br /> that's proposed to be built is something like five stories tall with a, with a parking lot underneath,
<br /> and that, that's just . I don't know how things are being, how that's passed nowadays because,
<br /> like a lot of people said, building on the other side of the road should be against the law almost
<br /> because it's hard to even drive down Alii Drive nowadays. And, you know, you should be able
<br /> to see the ocean throughout the whole drive, but it's house, house, house, house, big condo,
<br /> house, house, so it's taking away that raw, raw nature and beauty.
<br /> So, I'm just really concerned about what this, who this project is really going to benefit, because
<br /> it's not going to benefit the public, the people that live here, because we're, I tell you, we're not
<br /> going to be the ones living in the condos. It's going to be the people who fly over here two-three
<br /> months out of the year, you know, call it home, and then they go back to wherever they're from.
<br /> It's basically using the island and, you know, the scenery and stuff, but, yeah, it's not going to
<br /> benefit us, the people who go down there every day. You know, like everyone is saying, there's
<br /> just so much congestion, there's parking, there's all these oppositions and hurdles that, you know
<br /> stand in the developer's way, but yet, we're still, they're still pushing forward, and they're still
<br /> trying to make this a reality, but there's everyone here that's talking and speaking out and saying
<br /> how they don't approve of this, people that live here, but yet it's just, I don't know, it's not
<br /> getting through to them, I guess.
<br /> 22
<br /> EXHIBIT B
<br />
|