|
WOODWARD: Would somebody else like to -? Mr. Terry, would you like to -?
<br />MASUNAGA: Mr. Au -?
<br />AU: Yes, Ma’am.
<br />WOODWARD: Oh, I’m sorry, Commissioner Au.
<br />AU: I have a concern about the trees.You know, I was reading a book and, you know, that
<br />book, Banyan Drive Book, it explains -- it was a while back but, you can help me with that -- but
<br />something about the trees and a lot of those trees are historic trees because they were named after
<br />presidents and famous people. Are any of these trees one of those trees? You know, I mean,
<br />because it is Banyan Drive and people know it as Banyan Drive as, you know, I mean,
<br />everybody knows it’s trees. So, you know, maybe if you can just kind of -. You know, you guys
<br />just said these are the trees you guys are going to demo -. But I was just wondering if, you
<br />know, I was trying to look through the archaeologic site plan but I couldn’t find it. If you just,
<br />just tell me about it.
<br />KOMATA: Yeah, I believe some of the banyan trees have name plaques associated with them,
<br />some of them don’t. We are proposing to remove several of them that do have names associated
<br />with them. That’s an interesting discussion, there’s an interesting history on that. The
<br />Department has in the past worked with, well, his name doesn’t come to mind right now, but -.
<br />BISEL: Ted Coombs.
<br />KOMATA: Ted, Ted Coombs that I think wrote the book that you’re referring to; and
<br />prior to him I think it was Kent Warshauer that was an avid supporter of the banyan trees there.
<br />I think at the end of the last administration the Department did a, participated in a rededication of
<br />the banyan trees along Banyan Drive, all throughout which Mayor Kim supported the removal of
<br />these trees. From the Mayor’s perspective, as I recall it, and from the Department’s perspective,
<br />that administration, the idea was to enhance the beach area. And right now that’s in, a lot of
<br />those Banyan trees are in strategically bad locations for the proposed plans that we have before
<br />you guys. So I think also in addition to that, like I mentioned earlier, a lot of the banyan trees,
<br />well, some of the banyan trees along Banyan Drive are heaving the sidewalks and, you know,
<br />that’s something that’s going to continue to happen. So what we’re planning to do, well, what
<br />we had envisioned doing was, and I’ll let Leonard go a little more detail on this, was to come
<br />back in with indigenous trees, native trees, and perform some kind of a rededication to those
<br />people whose banyan trees are removed under this project. So I’d like, I’d like Leonard if he
<br />could to kind of expound on that.
<br />BISEL: I think what James ended up on the idea of rededicating some native or Polynesian
<br />introduced trees in that same person’s name through a formal ceremony was where we ended up
<br />with. But there was a lot of discussion that went on from the beginning of the project and several
<br />options were discussed, including transplanting of the trees. And certain trees were actually
<br />looked at, and we had an arborist come down and look at the feasibility of doing that.
<br /> 7
<br /> EXHIBIT C
<br />
<br />
|