HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0494.016 2008-2010
Hawaii County Council
25 Aupuni Street
Hilo, Hawai'i 96720 October 7, 2009
REF: CONTINUED SUPPORT FOR BILL 136 AND BILL 137
Aloha Council Chair Yoshimoto and members of the Hawaii County Council,
More than 50 people from around our Island have told you, your Planning Committee
and the Leeward Planning Commission that they support Palamanui.
7 have told you they are against Bills 136 & 137 including two residents of Makalei who
primarily don't want traffic through their subdivision.
If you are keeping score for Bills 136 and 137, that's 50 for and 7 against. Now we are
faced with 42-pages of nonsense. These amendments seem like one person's opinion,
not what this community wants!
Are these amendments a stalling tactic aimed at chasing Palamanui away and our
chance for the start of a university campus for West Hawaii? I certainly hope not! Or
worse, are we trying to prevent native Hawaiians who live here the chance at getting a
higher education.
As Hawaiians, we look to move forward, you know imua. Look at what Ali`i of the past
including King Kalakaua, Queen Lili`uokalani and Princess Pauahi stood for. Higher
education and moving our people forward!
Roger Harris and Guy Lam are members of our community. They live here, we shop at
the same grocery stores. I mean, come on, these are not big bad developers, the're our
neighbors. Our community has worked with them before on other projects including the
dry forest restoration of Kaupulehu and Hualalai.
We trust Roger. If he says Palamanui will build the mauka-makai road and the regional
park, they will. These are community members who have been here for decades if not
all their life. They want West Hawaii to be successful too. Just like all of us.
This is not a "project" but the chance to build a community. A community where higher
learning is the piko. Please do not stand in the way of something good for us and our
keiki because of a very small few who don't want our Kona community to move forward.
I know there are some who want Kona to stay just as it was when they moved here.
Palamanui wants to help our community build a community, let's imua and move
forward.
Mahalo,
Gene "Bucky" Leslie
Comm. No. (J
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