2009-06-30 TPALAMANUI - Laserfiche WebLink

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LALLY: Yes, my name is Jim Lally, and I live at 68-1050 Mauna Lani Point, D304, Kamuela, HawaiÒi. WATANABE: Thank you. You may begin your testimony, Mr. Lally. LALLY: Okay. I havenÓt done a testimony like this before, so IÓm a little bit nervous; so I thought I would just tell you that. IÓm here speaking on behalf of the HawaiÒi Community College at Palamanui. So IÓm here to speak in support of the amendments that were requested by Palamanui. And I think many of the people here are responsible for the development of the community college plan over the last X number thank everybody here in the room and everyone in the community whoÓs helping to work on getting our community college built for us here. th And most of you are aware of the impact that a 13 year of education has on a student or a resident of the community. And this was a study that was done by the federal government, and was very, very well summarized by Earl Bakken and Sharon Vitousek in terms of the impact. thth And in summary, to keep things brief, basically it says that if someone goes a 10, or a 13 year of college, theyÓll make 30 percent more money during their lifetime; thatÓs sort of an expected result as far as I can tell that you should expect to make more money, if you go to school. But unexpected result is that you actually live seven years longer; so the life expectancy of a person th that goes to a 13 year of school is seven years longer than it is without it. So you can get an th appreciation for how incredibly important just a 13 year of education is for our keiki. And if you look at the statistics for us here in West HawaiÒi, basically eight percent of our students go th onto a 13 year of education. And for the State, itÓs significantly above 25 percent. And you can see that there is a huge discrepancy between us here in West HawaiÒi and the rest of the State. And itÓs strictly because of the accessibility of a community college. So itÓs a vital importance to us here in West HawaiÒi to make sure that the community college is built. And Palamanui, the commercial development, was the spark plug that re-ignited the community college development plan. IÓve been working, and really not getting much acceptance in terms of having the community college plan move ahead. So for 15 years itÓs basically been dormant until the spark plug Palamanui came along. Rockne and Palamanui together worked out an arrangement where they would help finance the construction of the first building and putting in the infrastructure for the community college. And thatÓs the spark plug that got everything moving; nothing at all was happening. And so whatÓs transpired is we made, weÓve really made great strides in terms of getting the community college planned. The community college itself is going to be a beacon for us here in West HawaiÒi; itÓs not going to just service the students but itÓs going to be a beacon for West, for all of us here in West HawaiÒi. In terms of environmental sensitivity, as Guy Lam pointed out, itÓs going to be a Platinum LEED building. ItÓs going to be beyond that, though; itÓs going to be a Platinum LEED campus. And thatÓs the second one, the second Platinum LEED campus in the country. And we are actually taking a step beyond that, and we are committed to make it a zero carbon footprint campus. And being a zero carbon footprint campus itÓll be the first one on the planet in terms of showing the th way in terms of what has to happen with educational construction in the 2010. So IÓm very, very pleased with whatÓs happened in that area. EXHIBIT B 15