2007-06-05 TSUPERSTORES - Laserfiche WebLink

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YASUTAKE: Hi. My name is Melvin Yasutake and I live in Kurtistown. I’m representing myself, and my concern was about the traffic around that area. Because I go to the gym in the back by Bacon Universal and some days the traffic is horrendous over there in trying to get out or get in. And if Wal-Mart builds a superstore there it’s going to be, I mean, to me it’s going to be worse, and you’ve got Home Depot. And I believe that area is not going to be able to handle the crowd around that area. Okay, thank you. GRAHAM: Thank you for your testimony, sir. Any questions? SIRACUSA: Yes. GRAHAM: Commissioner Siracusa? SIRACUSA: Yes. You oppose the superstore on that site. Do you oppose superstores in general or do you, you know, does it matter to you? Depends on the site specific, your concerns? YASUTAKE: I oppose any superstores. ‘Cause I travel to the mainland and I see some of them; and the communities, they look devastated to me. SIRACUSA: Thank you for making that clearer. GRAHAM: Thank you, sir. Donna Leong, please. Give your name and address first and then your testimony. LEONG: Aloha kakou. My name is Donna Leong. I live at 60 Komohane Street in Keaukaha. When I take a look at this, the number 5 on your agenda, I am in favor of this proposed amendment which would not permit superstores in any zoning. Now I’m looking at your wording of “in any zoning district.” So if we have districts on our island that are already designated, that means in none of the districts? Am I reading this correctly that there would be no superstores? GRAHAM: I believe you are. LEONG: And so I am in favor of it for three reasons. Number one, you know, our mom and pop stores which have really cemented our lifestyle here in Hawaii are gone. When we have a superstore come in, do you have a choice of what to buy as we did with mom and pop stores? You know, you could go to the best crackseed shops and get crackseeds. Can you do that today? Or does it come out of a package that is displayed in 40 other stores or in just the superstores? And so that particular lifestyle is gone. The second also when you talk about economics and you talk about if, you know, we’ll be making money or there will be more jobs or that people can climb the economic ladder, when we take a look at that, how far up the ladder do we want to go, or can we be satisfied with the easy living that we have today? If we take a look at superstores, are they to save us money? Are they EXHIBIT D 8