2008-07-10 TKONACDP - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

the committee in making all of these cultural decisions and recommendations that come out of the Puna CDP. We do have several members from the Kanaka Council that live in Kona. We have several members from the Kanaka Council that live in Puna. Actually we have members of the Kanaka Council throughout the island, through the entire island. And that’s why the inputs that we are able to get and give in all of the issues that we have been able to take on have been widespread for all of the island that comes from the different sides of the island. And, for example, in Kona, again, we took on the Kona Blue Ocean Fish Farms when they made application to DLNR to expand the Kona Fish Farms. And we intervened on a contested case there and as a result Kona Fish Farms had withdrawn their application for any expansion to the Kona Ocean Blue Fish Ponds. In addition to that we did the Kona buoys that went from Kona all the way down to Kau. And we were able to talk to the DLNR in regards to the, not DLNR but the Army Corps of Engineers that had jurisdiction over that. Over its West Hawaii Fisheries Council, they went ahead and put the buoys into the ocean, into all of the ancient ko‘a from Kona all the way down. There were over 100 buoys that they put in. And so as a result the Army Corps of Engineers is ordering for those buoys to be removed. And this is just some of the examples that we have, including Ahuena Heiau that we are right in the middle of in litigation with the hotel owners in making a determination as to who owns the heiau in Ahuena in Kona. Okay, so we have a wide reaching effect with the Kanaka Council. And to this day we have yet to see other members of the Hawaii community stepping up and taking on the issues that the Kanaka Council has taken on. We don’t see them. We don’t see them in any of these arenas. And we’re concerned about that because guys that are being appointed to these commissions, we have a lot of question marks about these guys. And so as a result the Kanaka Council has gotten a reputation, not as somebody who’s trying to block progress but our reputation is to protect our resources that we have, and to make sure that we have the resources from mauka to makai, and that is going to be here today as well as tomorrow. That is our primary concern. It’s not whether or not the Kanaka Council gains power. It’s not whether or not the Kanaka Council’s name gets out there. Because all of us, we’re not funded by anybody. We put in our own money and our own time, and we’ve been meeting almost every week and traveling all over the island to meet with various groups. I got a call yesterday from DLNR to take on an issue down in Kalapana because they’re not sure of their “jurisdictional responsibility” because it is on State land but the DOCARE officers are not allowed to do the enforcement. So they called us, Kanaka Council, to help to intervene; and that’s only one example. We’ve got several examples of which we’re being called to assist and intervene in different situations that are coming up. I don’t see any other groups doing that kind of stuff, because there are no other groups stepping up and being accountable for these things, not only for the Hawaiian people but also for the people in general that live here on this island. So I ask that the same thing that you did with the Puna CDP that the Kanaka Council be recommended or amended so that we become part of this committee. And, yes, we have members of the Kona community that will sit with this. But I believe that this committee can be very, very effective with the participation of the Kanaka Council. Mahalo. EXHIBIT C 16