2017-04-18 Public Testimony on SMA 16-063 Contested Case

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it’s very sacred. It’s called the sacred place, the whole region. The aquifer you can feel it every time you get in and out of the water. You feel the cold water coming in. You know it’s running. You know it’s there. So it’s not proper for us to go building and bulldozing and breaking into anything. That really, we should just respect the last generation and the generation before that, forever, for our generation. Thank you. NATHAN ABE: First of all, my name is Nathan Abe, and I’m a, I lived in Kahalu‘u for generations; my father lived there, you know, I lived there, you know. Right now, but, I live on Kuakini Highway and I’ve got a view of, you know, Keauhou to Kailua. And, like I said, I was born and raised here. But, you know, my wife, you know, I think the people from Kamehameha Investments and Bishop Estates know her, Michelle, and she worked in the Keauhou area all her life. I’m a retired, I’m a commercial fisherman. And the reason why I lived up there on Kuakini Highway, that’s why I could see the ho‘olili-s. And then I’m also a throw-net fisherman, and my dad was a throw-net fisherman and we used to throw net from, you know, Kailua to Keauhou and we used to sell our fish at Oshima Store with my wife. And, first of all, I graduated from University of Hawai‘i in Agriculture, and I also, you know, is a West Pac, you know, AP advisor, I’m with H-Pac, and I’m with, you know, PIFG. You know, I might sound a little selfish, but if you build that timesharing project there, that’s going to be the lynch- that’s going to be the lynchpin that’s going to destroy the area; it’ll never be the same. I know, you know, like Mac, I don’t know if you know this guy named Mac Poepoe of Moloka‘i. Well, I’m the Mac Poepoe of Kahalu‘u, and, you know, I’m actually proud to say I know every single crack from Kailua to Keauhou. And I can tell you for in fact that you guys are going to – I can see you guys making that one affordable housing, you know, subdivision where the use is not going to be as strong. What I mean by that is if you have timesharing, there is going to be tourists every three days just coming and using, using the resources. You guys should have a village there to protect the area, not one, I mean we have a lot of development there, you know, already. My wife, you know, she worked for Kamehameha Investments, and we talk story at night and just, you know, she tells me everything about that area also, you know, how it was, you know, managed. The place was managed poorly, bachi. My father was the one that laid out Kona Surf, and he told me they had to hire one haole for bulldoze that, you know, that area right there; had so much heiau-s, and I’d seen it for myself. I mean even like, you know, the old Kam III Road, there was a big cave under the golf course that they say what, that’s the cave that, you know, Kamehameha used to conquer Maui. There is the Hawaiian slate on the golf course; that area is so precious. That’s, that’s, you know, only culturally. But I’m going to tell you, man, environmentally is what’s going to hurt that place and it’s going to be one place like Maunalua Bay or like, you know, it’s, it’s, you guys are going to ruin the area, for the next generations. You know, the locals gave up a lot, man, in Kailua already. You know, all our kumiai meetings used to be at, you know, at Kahalu‘u Beach, and like, you know, how many families live on Ali‘i Kai now, you know, that are, not Ali‘i Kai but Ali‘i Drive now? Zero. Mrs. Kimura, you know, Alfreda, you know, that owns, you know, Kimura Lauhala Shop, she don’t live on the beach anymore. I mean I think the last, I think the last people sold out was maybe the Akous, I don’t know. But I’m just telling you guys, man, like this is going to be lynchpin. I’m telling you, because I know because I’m one fisherman. You guys don’t listen to fishermen, but fishermen know, know more about the, you know, about the environment and, you know, fishing than anybody else. And, you know, you guys got to listen to me, because, like, I don’t believe in Kapuleo but I believe in, you know, Mac Poepoe’s project, you know. Please, man, just think about what you guys are going to do over there. It’s going to harm the 7 2017-04-18 Public Testimony on SMA 16-063 Contested Case