HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0972.004 2008-2010 COY N ; HAWAII COUNTY ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY COUNCIL
47 Rainbow Drive
Hilo, Hawaii 96720 -2013
Telephone (808) 961 -2681 Fax (808) 935 -9213 Email marymiho.finley(4).gmail.com
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November 4, 2010
Hawaii County Council
Jay Yoshimoto Chairman
SUBJECT: IN SUPPORT: CIP Bill # 311 — for county parks
RE: $100,000 item to create a park at Kikala - Keokea, Kalapana
Kaimu Bay, Queen's Bath, Harry K. Brown Park... for those of us who have
experienced them the names evoke places of beauty and wonderful times. While we cannot go
back to these places, we can make new parks and special places. One such location proposed for
a new park is at Kikala - Keokea, within a Ceded Lands subdivision the State created for Kalapana
survivors with native rights guaranteed by the federal government. * The lessees from Kalapana
are building homes in Kikala - Keokea and will be forming a Friends of Kikala - Keokea Park,
ensuring its support as a place of Aloha. After almost two decades of planning, they are anxious
to begin the park they have been dreaming about. **
As a community non - profit organization that has worked with Kalapana for decades, HCEOC •
wholeheartedly supports this CIP proposal for this and other parks.
1. There is no public facility, no bathrooms between the lava viewing area at Kaimu and
Isaac Hale at Pohoiki.
2. A park along this stretch of coastline will take advantage of breath - taking beauty
3. Parks provide important places for residents and visitors to interact and positively impact
on the economic and social well -being of our communities and the State.
4. As a place where the heritage of Kalapana Aloha culture can be perpetuated a park at
Kikala - Keokea will be special. It can become a place where the heritage of live music
and talk story, where the culture we remember can be perpetuated by the people who
carry the culture of Kaimu Bay, Harry K. Brown Park and Queen's Bath in their DNA.
On behalf of HCEOC I urge you to approve CIP #311.
Lester Seto, Executive Director
US Public Law #680 of 1938 guarantees the ancestors of Kalapana lands annexed to expand Hawaii Volcanoes National Park
would be able to carry on fishing and gathering in their ancestral lands in perpetuity.
** KALAPANA HAWAIIAN MARKET, a 2007 feasibility study prepared by Susan Guyette, Ph.D. (505) 670 -2577
sguyette( a)nets.com puts together the thoughts and ideas for the park gathered from Kalapana community groups and was done
with the support of HCEOC and underwritten by funding from USDA Rural Development's Rural Business Enterprise Grant.
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