2007-05-04 THICDC ORI - Laserfiche WebLink

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S. MEEK:The four that my wife was referring to, I believe two are on Old Mamalahoa Highway past Low Store. You know where Low Store is? It would be across that one lane bridge and a little bit farther. And then two right on Kulaimano Road going up, theres a couple like, I think, 8- to 10-acre parcels there. And, in fact, I just recently wrote to those owners hoping to get input. Nothing yet but we are still looking. I mean to me thats a real feasible alternative, a swap. But -. GRAHAM:All right, thank you, Mr. Baker, excuse me, Mr. Meek. Okay, Richard Baker, could you give your name and address first and give us your testimony. And thank you, Mr. Meek. BAKER:My name is Richard Baker, Jr. I live at Pepeekeo. I have PO Box 362, Pepeekeo, Hawaii. I was employed at the Hilo Coast Processing and I worked for the sugar companyfrom1967.IlivedinthePepeekeoMillCampandthenwemovedtoKulaimano Subdivision back in 1971, early seventies. We too were against housing. We were young, we were insecure; and we were against even leaving the plantation camps. We couldnt beat $19 a month and $1 for water. So we fought like hell as young rebels against our own union for the union sponsoring to have a subdivision. And we were too young and we didnt understand. Eventually through meetings and stuff we were made aware that this is something that needed to be done. And today, thats why I come out here to say, the young lady said she went around, she talked to people, she got signatures. She came to my house. I didnt want to sign. I believe that, Im not saying that theyre going to lie and Im not trying to be disrespectful, but I believe they present a side of a picture that presents fear, the same fear that I had when I was a young guy and didnt want to leave that plantation camp. They brought fear and they brought things about polluting the water, the septic tanks overflowing, the flooded area. But I could be able to not sign that petition because I had been more educated and knew better. Because I was a Planning Commissioner like you folks, I served for five years and I became the Chairman of the Commission, and I learned a lot of things about that. And I tried to explain to them that in this state we have good laws, we have good bounds, we have people like you folks who are going to make the right decision. We have the Health Department. We will not allow things to be built that would affect the people. We have checks and balances. And fear is what people react to. So people rush to sign things, people get angry, people get upset, because they dont understand. Its unfortunate because everybody is working and everybody doesnt attend meetings, and so people dont get the education that they need to. You see today here, do you see a lot of people here? Working people probably out working. They dont have the time to come to something like this. So they wont know know, they cannot participate. But people go out and get petitions. So as a Commissioner I myself sat there and was impressed with petitions. But then I had to realize is this, all these people really understood what they signed? While you want to hope that they do cause you figure that theyre educated enough, theyve got the facts, and they got all the information, but a lot of times its not so. And so sometimes people sign things and they dont have all the information. But we need affordable housing. I have my little plantation lot now when I moved out of the camp. And you know what? Now that I look back, thats the best thing that ever happened to me. That was the greatest thing that happened, that our union leaders, Gilbert De Motta, Shige 16EXHIBIT A