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HCHA meeting November 5, 2020 <br />nothing left to salvage, but imagine that your home was surrounded by lush, <br />green, futile top soil. Top soil which was not destroyed. Imagine feeling hopeful <br />to once again host local school groups onto the property to lean about solar <br />power, gardening, how to use power tools and build structures with those power <br />tools. How to take care of bees. How to even play volleyball and make <br />popcorn. Were now only three people left here on the property trying to keep <br />the jungle back with fruit falling on the ground, pigs overrunning the property. <br />Pig hunters telling us there's no way to trap them because they have too much <br />food lying on the ground. Food which could be supplying food banks in this <br />area. I'm turning away farm hands who want to help us because I do not have <br />decent housing for them. We cannot maintain a regular schedule to fight <br />against the fire ant situation. If I had more spaces here to org... to offer help we <br />could get the upper hand here. Agency and Council members if the end game <br />here is to depopulate this area you can soon add 20 more acres to your <br />checklist. I know there is recovery money in the ethos earmarked for our specific <br />needs. Direct it towards us again. We are drug and alcohol free. To get ... for our <br />community to get involved with here. That is another rare commodity here in this <br />district. Help us thrive again so we can be of service and thank you for your time <br />and your service. But everyone has different needs here. And some of us want <br />out and some of us want to stay. And I believe you can help both of us. Thank <br />you. <br />Aiello: Thank you for your testimony. Madam Chair our next testifier is Jan <br />Marshall. Jan can you hear me? You might have to press *6 on your phone to <br />unmute. <br />Marshall: Okay. Mahalo. As United States tax payer I'm appalled that my tax <br />dollars are proposed to buyout properties which are actually fairly low risk. I <br />can't understand why Hawai `i should get future disaster funding if these monies <br />are wasted. As a member of the greater Puna community I am appalled that <br />rather than using these scarce funds to strengthen our economy and rebuild our <br />communities the county proposes to waste them. As an owner in Vacationland I <br />am deeply disturbed by this proposal which I believe will set our community that <br />wants to recover, back for years. While folks are waiting to find out whether <br />they've hit the jackpot and get bought out at values far exceeding the real <br />value of their property or whether they'll be left with a neighboring lot owned by <br />the county with trash and invasive species and other issues that the county will <br />not have the funds to resolve. The county cannot even tell us whether they will <br />pay road association fees for the roads in front of these lots that we will have to <br />pass by to get to our homes. Those fees represent a future burden on Hawai `i <br />County taxpayers with no benefit for them. I urge you to have the incoming <br />administration put together a thoughtful plan for the use of these funds based <br />on respect for community input which so far has been thoroughly lacking. I <br />recognize that HUD has imposed restrictions which may need to be challenged <br />Page 4 of 36 <br />