2012-04-19 Leeward Exh A - Tim Bostock

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GONZALEZ: To answer your first question, originally when the festival, in my opinion, when the festival was originally put on in the early days, it was always advertised as a Father’s Day ‘ohana event, and that particular brand did attract the ‘ohana, the family, etc. so forth. And I recall one of the first concerts I went to was very sedate; it was very kind of geared towards the family, and the types of concert players they had up there, as someone here in the Commission mentioned, did attract that type of people. However, I recall several concerts after that where, because security was so lax, people saw an opportunity and they exploited the opportunity. And then from then on, you had groups and gangs of people. And now with the social media, information is so quickly gathered and so quickly transferred that you can have people up here in a flash – I think they even call it flashmobbing. And it’s a whole another, it’s a whole another communication system that occurs now. And I think it’s, it’s changed, it’s changed quite a bit, and the types of groups they have and the brand that it has now that it attracts different kind of people. The Saddle Road being open to Hilo, I think you are absolutely right, that will access people from the Hilo area in a much quicker rate and in much quicker time. And again, it’s that brand of the Waiki‘i Festival that’s, it’s the type of attitude that people have; when we come up to a rural area, and you can pretty much do what you want to do, because you have a limited amount of security people. And the security people have a limited amount of enforcement, okay; they cannot arrest you, they can not search you, okay. They are limited really in what they can do, and they know that, people know that. And so I think it will attract people from a widespread area from the Big Island. GIFFIN: Thank you. Any other questions of the testifier? Hearing none, Leslie? AGORASTOS: Hello. Obviously, I have a very different take on the Waiki‘i Music Festival; I thought it was just wonderful with the fabulous array of great Hawaiian singers. It did toward the end of the festivals where you were aware of more, you know, people with their beers and things, sure; but I think Tim is making a huge effort to get this under control. I think it’s fabulous for our whole island. I think it’s wonderful. It’s great for our communities and it’s an opportunity; we don’t usually get to hear lots of different Hawaiian performers. And it’s a beautiful setting. So I feel confident that Tim is professional enough that he can take care of these issues. He has already said he’d have more security than we ever had and be professional. So I look at it quite differently and I have a lot of confidence in Tim and his ability to do a good production. GIFFIN: Commissioners, any questions of Leslie Agorastos? BOWMAN: Just a -. GIFFIN: Commissioner Bowman. BOWMAN: Quick one, because I think it’s important. And you’ve lived in Waiki‘i how long? AGORASTOS: Since ’79. BOWMAN: Okay, so you are a pretty long-term, probably one of the first residents. AGORASTOS: Yes. BOWMAN: Okay, thank you. 17 EXHIBIT A