HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0284.013 2020-2022 From: Michael Foley
Sent: Sunday, June 13, 2021 10:24 PM
To: Council Testimony
Subject: Testimony in favor of Resolution 145-21 Mahukona
Dear Council Member Matt Kaneali'i-Kleinfelder, Chair, County Council Finance Committee,
I give my wholehearted support to Resolution 145, enabling the Council to negotiate for public
ownership and protection of Mahukona.
Mahukona and those shoreline places winding all the way to Kapa`a are so precious and dear to our
community, their preservation is of the utmost importance. I welcome this opportunity to do the right
thing by granting access in perpetuity to the beauty and history of this area. For twenty years I have
walked the trail from Mahukona to Kapa`a. During the pandemic of 2020, I paid my respects to that
shoreline when permissible, grateful for such a sanctuary so close to my home in Hawi. The presence of
the navigational heiau just beyond Nishimura Bay never fails to give me solace and a sense of direction.
Nishimura Bay itself is up there with the redwood forests in my family.
As a poet, the shoreline trail is where I come to deepen my connection to the land where I have lived
longer than any other place. Here, I see families and friends enjoying themselves where land meets
ocean as they have for decades. And beneath the natural beauty that changes daily, I see Kohala's
historical signature like nowhere else, remnants of an earlier village, the making of a railway, ships
anchored offshore, cattle and sugar cane...echoes of lives lived not that long ago.
Mahukona to Kapa`a is a raw, honest place. I welcome the possibility that it might one day belong to our
community, so that our strong connection to this place can be honest, too.
I applaud the drafting of Resolution 145 and implore you and your fellow council members to preserve
and protect this land for us and for future generations to come.
Thank you for everything you do.
Michael Foley
Comm. An
e.
Ref. To: P F�
Ref. Date a 5 2021
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