HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0143.062 2014-20161106*
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Murashige, Laura
From: Stephanie Bath <stephbath@icloud.com>
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Sent: Sunday, May 03, 2015 11:46 PM
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To: Council Testimony
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Subject: Hawaii county budget 2015-16
Dear Chair Eoff and council members,r�*-i
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Last week a copy of PCDP goals and subcommittee history were forwarded to you for review.
I am sorry I am unable to testify in person. In February I was hit by and then run over by a truck.
I am healing.
The Hele- on bus serve or lack of service disallows me from using it for medical appointments and testifying before you.
My current circumstances are giving me the opportunity to view things through the lense of a disabled person.
This body has before them a budget.
Each department has thoughtfully considered the needs of the people they serve and presented for consideration their
request.
Enthusiasm... What a great action word. It is an effective and contagious force.lt helps us to achieve seemingly
impossible tasks. It give us a future full of possibility!
I ask, what is stopping this council/ administration from enthusiastically financing and implementing our CDP Goals?
I see one of the biggest obstacles we have is not the actual challenge of managing resources, but rather the self
imposed limitations, negative "no can do" attitude and complacency of those having authority to submit viable budgets
and strategies to move forward and act.
Mayor Kenoi campaigned on the statement.. " together we can".
We can never really tell what potential
we have as a community/ admin team
Until we are given the opportunity to work together.
Does this council see how this admin, for example,MTA is disallowing cdp implementation by not allowing community,in
equal partnership to create our hub and spoke system as adopted by ordinance in 2008?
The community has done our part in presenting our plan Freud said" thought is action in rehearsal" we invested much
thought into our CDP.
John Whalen,PCDP consultant with plan pacific commented numerous times on how impressed he was with the
commitment, dedication, enthusiasm and sacrifice of personal resources by the puna community as we developed a
plan for our future.
We have been in the implementation phase of our plan for years. Still few goals have been realized.
Not every challenge faced can be realized however nothing can be realized if it is not faced.
Attitude dictates our approach.
Rather than fearing the creation of a collaborative team of community and county departments, embrace the idea.
We can alter specific outcomes by taking simple steps to alter attitudes:
1. Embrace that communities are free workforce and valuable resources. In
2.Trust that communities know their needs best. Comm. No.
3 Implement our CDP as a template to plan fiscally. Ref. To: V I�L
Ref. Dote WAY 0 3 2015
4. Evaluate those in authority.
Are they engaging, committed,and enthusiastically striving to assist communities in receiving a level of service that is
sorely lacking?
if not what is the reason for this?
5.Delete projects in the budget that are quick fixes, unless they fulfill a planned goal.
6. Move towards achieving positive long term solutions for Island communities..
7. Focus on and finance CDP high priorities now.
In Puna our highest priority is looping buses from Hilo to Kea'au and from Kea'au to Pahoa/ volcano.
I see no funding for this, yet MTA has indicated "no can "because we need another driver,etc"
At the same time big bucks are proposed to purchase 2 motor coach buses.
We need smaller buses!!!
Some view this as an environmental justice issue.
You are our leaders.
A leader is best known when people barely know that he is in the way ...when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, the
people say,"we did this ourselves",- Lao Tse
What is stopping this council from requiring that departments overlay project requests with other departments.
The more community goals are overlaid by various departments the higher the projects rate on being financed:)
Lets start running this counties budget as we do our own families... I am hopeful that's a good thing:)
Sincerely,
Stephanie Bath
Former PCDP steering committee transportation lead PCDP AC subcommittee on mass transit member, former chair
PCDP AC subcommittee in health, safety and connectivity ARC shelter manager- June 27 lava flow Volcano CERT PRCP -
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