HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0711.067 2008-2010Yoshimoto, J
From: Gray Mento [ paintingtherainyellow @gmail.com]
Sent: Friday, March 05, 2010 9:23 PM
To: joshimoto@co.hawaii.hi.us
Subject: Hawaii County Band
Grayson Mento
3/8/2010
Page 1 of 1
To Hawaii County council member J Yoshimoto
I am a student at Hilo High School and I have been sitting in with the Hawaii County Band since september, 2009. On
January 5th 2010, three members of the county, Claton Honma from Parks and Recreation, and Marc Kunser and
Ron Takahashi from Human Resources attended our rehearsal to inform us that they made the decision to un -fund
the County band. The reasoning they gave us was that Hawaii is currently under rough economic times, and the
budget that Parks and Recreations had to make room for was 25 million dollars. They also told us that they needed to
think of organizations that are beneficial to the keiki and the kupuna of our island.
Although it is reasonable to cut organizations to accommodate a declining economy, I completely disagree with the
Department of Parks and Recreation's decision to unfund the band. I'm sure you are aware that the county band has
already been in existence for 127 years, back when Hawaii was a republic and the county had yet to be established.
The music that the band brings to our keiki and kupuna make a bigger impact than anyone who has never heard us
play can imagine. Many of our keiki are involved with the music field, and the majority of all of the east Hawaii high
school band directors play in the band itself. As a high school student myself, playing with the county band has
benefited my playing tremendously, as I'm sure it benefited the several other high school student who are aloud to sit
in and play along with the band.
Out of the budget of 25 million dollars that the department of parks and recreation needs to accommodate for, the
327 thousand dollars is only 1.4 %. Out of the entire budget, the money saved from unfunding the county band is less
than one tenth of 1%. I sincerely hope that you can rethink this decision.
Comma No (
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