HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0208.091 2004-2006
May 17, 2005, at 01:4736 PM Janice Palma-Glennie (808) 324-0093
Janice Palma-G~ennie
P.O. Box 4849
Kailua-Kona, Hawaii 9679'5
TeI#:808-324-009j
Attention: Hawai i County Council members
Re: Bill 78 -
Please put in the County record. Mahalo.
May 18, 2005
Aloha, Council members:
lJ
I ask that you support Bill 78 in its entirety. This bill asks for=
i
a crucial 2$ funding that will give this county an unprecedented,
and extremely overdue, opportunity to help meaningfully protect
the natural beauty and cultural integrity of this island.
I'd like to address a few points regarding this fund:
2) Funding for land procurement isn't lust an expenditure: it is
an env m n ;n h o~n y's future. Without protection of
critical lands, Hawai i will shortly be nothing more than Paradise
Lost. Open space and protection of special places is as critical
to social balance and security as is an expanded police force.
2) Because of political considerations. it does not seem feasible_
to have a meaningful land procurement fund that requires yearly
council agproval (as is quite obvious by the time it has taken to
pass any legislation aimed at providing Comity funding for land
procurement).
3) In response to the mayor's statements that land can be
protected in the same way as was the Keakealaniwahine complex:
Without the work and commitment of unpaid community advocates like
Maile David, this important area would not, most Likely, have
been preserved. Ms. David spent many hours of her life working
toward that goal, which, in the end, brought it to the County and
Comm. No. ~
Ref. Tc~'r aUM ~
Reif. Date
May 17, 2005, at 01 :47:38 PM Janice Palma-Glennie (808) 324-0093
general public's attention. Is it feasible to expect that there
will always be a dedicated person who can take the time from
family, work and other commitments that Maile did to not only
fight to insure that special places get protection, but also to
follow the labyrinthian processes necessary to reach that fina
goal, including funding procurement? The mayor's hopeful scenario
also assumes there would be a county council and mayor on board
for such acquisition. This has not, and may well not, be the case
in the future.
4) The issue of speed is i i.al wh n ; m o purchasing
property. For example, if a fund had existed when O~oma was go.iny
for peanuts or when Rohanaiki was in a position to be foreclosed
upon, the public could now be the proud owner of those critica.'~_
properties. Instead (and, once again, not to slight the import~~nt
work done there), the public will have a much smaller piece of the
pie at Kohanaiki, and O`oma will no doubt be the scene of more
hotly contested battles that will waste the time and effort of the
community, government and landowners.
For those of you who are teetering on acceptance of this bill, I
ask that you remember the sounds and sights outside this room
from Kona to Hilo to Waimea to South Point: the constant din of
bulldozers which is leaving Hawai-i resident:s with nothing but
minor pockets of nature, insufficient to provide the sustenance
which this island's exploding population will need.
Best regards,
Janice Palma-Glennie