2015-10-22 Leeward Exh A (SMA 15-060)

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it to its present site. The year following Charles’ death I met his cousin Bernard Albert Waipa Johansen also from Kapa‘ahu at a Hawai‘i Marines reunion in Las Vegas – yay, Vegas. When Bernard asked me to marry him, I moved to Waimea ten years ago. He died in 2009. His daughter and my stepdaughter Lee Ann DeLima, and before her health issues, she was head of Kamehameha Schools Maui Campus – and I ask for your prayers for her, she is very ill. Selfishly I would like to see Kahalu‘u restored to its original beauty, and I voice my strong support for Kamehameha Schools’ effort to remove the last remnants of the property’s resort use and to recommit the future of Kahalu‘u Ma Kai as a cultural education hub for Hawai‘i Island. Mahalo. GRIFFORE: Hi, my name is Cherie Griffore and I fully support and I’m excited to see the cultural center. I’m grateful to see the prioritization of cultural history over commercialism. I just hope it’s done in the least evasive way possible. If destruction is going to do more damage, I rather us utilize what has already been done. The cultural value of this space is undeniable. Kahalu‘u is a fish sanctuary; the demolition could be harmful to the delicate environment. Is there any way to restore the heiau without destroying the hotel or jeopardizing the reef or ocean? Maybe restore the heiau as much as possible and use it as an example of how commercialism has taken away from the cultural history of areas. Is there a way to utilize the hotel as a cultural immersion hotel; have people come for a three-day program and get the real cultural experience, arrive together, eat every meal together, learn protocols together, fish, farm, and grow together. Have school children come and have somewhere for them to stay, have somewhere for the kupunas to rest after they spend the day sharing their mana‘o. I’m fully supportive of the community center. I’m just concerned about the management especially because of the Kona Lagoon Hotel property. Thanks. UNGER: Mahalo. Kaimi Kaupiko, Keone Kalawe, Nicole Collins. KAUPIKO: Aloha. I’m Kaimi Kaupiko and I am from Miloli‘i, one of the last communities to practice traditional fishing. And I’m here today with a few of our students, Hoku, and I want him to say something before I end my testimony before the Planning Committee \[sic\] today. I am very in support of Kamehameha’s removal of the hotel and I am in support of the area being a cultural educational place for our students. Where we come from on our side of the island we don’t really have a lot of resources for our kids, and so a lot of our kids down in our community don’t get access to things that happens. And I believe that with this center we’ll be able to provide a lot more programs for them. Currently we are taking our students to one of their programs, the plane table map, and it has been such a reward for the last few years for us to be part of those programs. And we’ve been really promoting these types of learning environments for our kids on our side because they need it now. And I think what is being proposed is so important to the bigger picture of what is trying to happen on our side, and I believe that their efforts in West Hawai‘i will pay back a lot for kids like us in our community that don’t have access to great educational learning environments and won’t have a chance to get that in public school. And what we do in our community is find ways to provide projects that will teach them our culture and traditions, and I think what’s going to happen there will be just like that, and I’m really in support of that, as well as the accessibility of those to allow educational center at Kahalu‘u Ma Kai. Our family has been practicing traditional fishing for years, and we will love to hear more of our communities on the west side start also bringing that back, because that’s what we did. We are fishing communities and our area from our side all the way to North Kohala is very known for fishing. And I think with the heiaus and all those important things there, they will help in connecting back to those place. And I’m really in support of that and I’m here 21 EXHIBIT A