HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0898.071 2020-2022 P/Council
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From: Joel Cooperson
Sent: Monday, April 17, 2023 12:04 PM
To: Council Testimony
Subject: Support of County Council Overriding Mayor Roth veto of 194
Aloha. •
My name.is Joel Cooperson. I taught mostly 7-8 here in Kona for over 31 years and have lived here since
1969.
When I moved here there were no traffic lights, zero traffic, no Queen K Highway, next to no condos. A very
cute undiscovered community.
Since then development of Kona has gone unchecked for many, many years.
That's understandable because the bulk of our property taxes go to the East side.
The mayor, who many, many of us voted for has made his distain for the West side crystal clear in a number of
ways. Among them are appointing Zendo Kern, a developer's consultant as Planning Director. Kern is
absolutely unqualified for this job. In addition trash is constantly being shipped from the Eastside to the
Westside, ad nauseum.
But, by far, is the mayor's overriding the 6-3 vote of the county council to stop the never ending extensions of
proposed developments here on the Westside.
Many of these proposed developments were approved in the '90s when the population was able to absorb
additional development without huge infrastructure changes like additional roads and schools.
Now the Westside's roads and schools are overwhelmed. It does not take a genius to see this on a daily
basis.
And these previously proposed developments have changed hands numerous times and they still get
extended.
Our mayor has more than shown his distain for the Westside. Zero doubt.
Every single person over here that I have spoken to is absolutely fed up and will prove that in the next election.
With that said, I implore the County Council to to the right thing and veto the mayor's override.
Every time extended development needs to be evaluated with scrutiny with the current substandard
infrastructure. (ED
If they want to include road and school additions that would be helpful. _j?
Very best regards. --
Joel Coo erson
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53.5 year resident of Kona, Hawaii.
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1 Ref. Date APR. 1 9 2023