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what would we do then, you know in this response. When it hit Kona, I was there the
<br />next day, my entire team in Kona and we had Public Works work overtime to put that
<br />road back together in a day. I was so proud. Mike McCartney was there from HGEA.
<br />He had the chairman of HGEA board, Brock inaudible with him, and he came up, he
<br />said, Mr. Mayor, you should be very proud. I’ve never seen such committed
<br />government workers. He said he walked up to him and said, how long is it going to take
<br />for you guys to do the road? And it’s all ripped up. Machines ripping up Alii Drive.
<br />They go, oh, one day. He laughs, he goes, no for real kind, how long is it going take
<br />you? One week, two weeks? They all looked at him and said, one day. The Mayor just
<br />talked to us, and he said we need to get it done in one day. So, we’re going to work
<br />overtime and get it done today. I mean, so you know, everybody, it’s easy to say,
<br />government this, workers that, but there’s a lot of good people out there doing a lot of
<br />good work in the community. Can we do better? Absolutely. And I don’t mind sitting
<br />here saying county government is cut as far as it can be cut, cost and size has been
<br />reduced as far as we possibly can be, absolutely not. But also remember the other
<br />balancing of that is providing key, critical programs and services. We’ve maintained
<br />services. We haven’t cut a single senior program because I believe our kupuna have
<br />earned every program they receive. They put their life into this community and it would
<br />be shameful of us. It’s like reneging on a promise. Children’sprograms –that’s penny
<br />wise palm foolish, you know to cut a program that keeps a kid engaged in the positive
<br />recreational, educational, drug free activity and provide what alternative? Drugs, gangs,
<br />violence? That’s foolish of us to do something like that. I’m not going to cut Police,
<br />Fire, Civil Defense. We have, when we fail to respond in a timely manner to an
<br />emergency that results in a death,Corporation Counsel, as talented as Kathy and those
<br />other attorneys are, they’re not going to save us from that liability.
<br />You know, trying to cover an island, that’s why when I, another example, real quick that
<br />advocating for resources for our island, and they tell me, we’re going to give $5 million
<br />to each of the neighbor island counties for their bus system. What? $5 million, you
<br />mean we all get the same? Kauai, Maui –with all due respect to my dear friends on
<br />Kauai and Maui, I could take Kauai and drop it in Kau and you couldn’t find them. Maui
<br />is the same size as Hamakua. It’s one council district. We get the same amount?
<br />That’s impossible. Thankfully, Hawai‘i Island has received more in rural transit funds
<br />from Senator Inouye and the federal government than any other neighbor island in the
<br />history of the State of Hawai‘i. Why? Because quality of life issues, transportation.
<br />When do you think we’re going to have four lanes in Hamakua? Notin my lifetime.
<br />Where are you going to put those other two lanes? We have a hard time widening
<br />Queen Kaahumanu, and that’s flat lava on the ground. It’s crazy. No more one bridge,
<br />no more one tunnel. What about South Kona? Where are you going to put four lanes
<br />over there? We have a cliff and we have a mountain. So given that reality, and given
<br />the fact that people live in one area where they can afford and work in another.
<br />Unfortunately our employment urban centers aren’t where most people can afford. 83%
<br />of our resort development is in South Kohala. But people who work there cannot afford
<br />to live there. Where do they live? Oceanview, South Kona, Ka‘u, Puna, Hilo, Hamakua.
<br />So people are constantly on our roads. We’re going to have intolerable congestion
<br />unless we create a safe, efficient, timely transit system that allows people to get out of
<br />their cars and into a transit system. And this year we’re getting two hydrogen buses
<br />and have the first hydrogen beginnings of a renewable energy transit system. That’s
<br />the future. So, that’s cost of government just in a nutshell. But government cannot
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