2008-02-22 TPDCDP - Laserfiche WebLink

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SIRACUSA: I would like to address that point because although I can’t speak for the Kona and the Kohala Community Development Plan processes, I can speak for the Puna one because I’ve been involved in that. There were quite a few large-scale meetings. One was at the Kamehameha School cafeteria. It was jam-packed with people there; there were at least 300 people at that meeting. And then there was another meeting at the Pahoa High School cafeteria, which was also jam-packed. Out of those meetings committees were formed. People who wouldn’t be able to come to another meeting went to different tables; each table was for, at the Kamehameha School one, each table was for a different community. And they worked around the table together about things that were really -. Some things were real duh, you know, real obvious, which are things that your community needs. And the other meeting, it was formed by the committees that had to do with different issues like public facilities and land use and parks and recreations and natural resources, things like that. Then they broke down into smaller groups. Each of those people went out and had, called smaller meetings; it’s almost like coffee hours in their own homes, bringing in smaller circles of people. The people who attended the big meetings, there were a lot of, there was a lot of ethnic mix, there was a lot of big age mix; we had young people from the high school coming in to put their manao, you know, what they as young people who are going to be inheriting the results of our decisions wanted to see the concerns of the senior citizens.It was a real mix. I was really delighted to see that mix. And I know that the Steering Committee work very hard to try to make sure that just about every stakeholder they could think of was represented. And so to echo one of the things that Commissioner Domingo was saying, you know, about the community is pretty clear about what they want, and I think that even though it ended up being a small number of people doing the final work, you know, the ideas that were put forth at the large group meetings and at the small private meetings all went into the pot, it all got added into the stew of ideas and desires. And so I would very much like, you know, to see the Community Development Plans passed. That said, I’m wondering why no one is taking exception with the part of Chris’s amendment that says that the Planning Commission can reject the thing entirely. I mean, here we are talking about how we are ready to take it into consideration, how people work so hard and this and that, and yet we’re still leaving that as an option. WATANABE: Mr. Woodward. WOODWARD: Yeah, Mr. Chairman, a couple of points to respond to Commissioner Siracusa. One is we just make a recommendation to the Council. So we can recommend negatively, and then the Council still has to decide. And I would agree with you that, you know, we do the best we can, but representative democracy is not perfect because you can’t get everybody to participate, no matter how hard you try. All we can do is the best we can. And that’s the pat on the back I gave to Allen Salavea; I think he has done absolutely the best job he can. But Commissioner Alameda’s point is still pertinent; and that is not everybody is going to be represented. That’s just one of the flaws of the system; there’s nothing we can do about that. WATANABE: Thank you. Mr. Domingo. DOMINGO: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Tell me if I’m wrong when I interpret the whole procedure; because after listening to Commissioner Woodward, he mentioned that this will become law when the General Plan is then again reviewed and adopted. Please clarify -. EXHIBIT B 13