HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0224.008 2002-2004 OHANA ORCHIDS, INC.
PO BOX 1236
PAHOA, HI 96778
PHONE/FAX 808-965-6062
W W W.ORCHIDSONLINE.COM
"Ewtraordnnary orch%cLs- at ord~iv?.a~-y price.:..... »
DATE: 5/6/2003
REGARDING: RESOLUTION 65-03
Six years ago, when my family began orchid farming on G Road in Hawaiian
Acres, we did not anticipate that the twenty minute commute from home in Leilani
Estates would turn into almost two hours a day of driving through Keaau, Kurtistown,
and along six miles of Eight Road through Hawaiian Acres just to get to work. During
the frequent flooding rains the dips in Eight Road fill with water to the point where it
takes even longer to drive safely to the farm, and on school days trips must be timed to
avoid being trapped behind the many school busses that stop often and cannot be passed.
I have spent as long as ninety minutes on the road during these conditions..... And that's
just one way!
Three members of my family work at the farm, and we all have our own vehicles
and our own schedules. Three to five employees also work at the farm, and we are
served by FedEX and numerous venders, who also depend on getting to our business by
the most direct route, along Ainaloa Blvd. When you add it all up this amounts to over
fourteen hours a day of unnecessary traffic on what are already some of the most
congested roads in Puna. The waste of time, the money spent on gas and additional
maintenance, the increased use of fossil fuels and the resulting pollution take a huge toll,
not just on my small business, but on our whole island.
During the time when our access was blocked, before the Ornellas family had the
aloha to open their yard to our traffic, we lost two trained workers who were unable to
justify the added money and expense of the much longer commute. Last year when I was
undergoing treatment for cancer and was forced to drive to Hilo every day for almost two
months, the driving became such a nightmare that I actually rented a room in Hawaiian
Acres because I was just too tired and ill to make the drive around. My brother is a
disabled Veteran who lives in Hawaiian Acres and has had his PO Box in Pahoa since
1981..... [t is a hardship for him to drive so far just to check his mail. When the road is
blocked I cannot just stop by to visit my sister and niece in Ainaloa on my way home
from work without driving an extra ten minutes out of my way..... and so I do not see
them as often. All of this because I am prevented from driving on a road that has
historically been open to my passage, and that was paved at public expense..... What a
shame!
I respectfully ask that you take action to keep the road open for us all.
Si~erely, _
Barbara C. Beardsley Comm. ?dc•
Ref. T .
Ref. Dote MA