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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0363.002 2018-2020 P/PWMTG Colo V4, To: Chairwoman Sue Leeloy and Members of Public Works and Mass Transit Committee From: Kauilani Almeida, President of the Panaewa Hawaiian Home Lands Community Association (PHHLCA) Re: Communication 363, Request a discussion with Administration regarding County road improvements in Hawaiian Home Lands CD August 6, 2019 Aloha Kakou, I am here today to speak on behalf of Communication 363. It is my hope that this 1.0 discussion will lead to more PROACTION than just wala'au by the County of Hawaii an? �® it's departments, by doing so we (kakou)can work together to do exactly what this bill was intended for and that is to improve roads in Hawaiian Home Lands. Twenty five years ago, I became the President of the PHHLCA and we developed a plan to look at our community like you would through a microscope. We decided it was our time and kuleana to determine what it would look like after investing just five years worth of time and energy,just five. You might think this is poor planning. But just like this it started as a discussion and slowly it developed into a dream then an action plan. We decided to start at our playground, the "Hokule'a". It was a monster, improperly maintained piece of playground equipment. In case of falls, sand was used as ground cover surrounding this apparatus. It was atrocious to say the least filled with buried cat feces, dog feces and a limu-looking alien species of guck. To make it even worst, yes it gets worst,the apparatus itself had a 8 ft ladder to get you above where the swings below were attached to a 8 ft long catwalk and how you exited was an 10 ft firemen pole, which by the way, in order to get on the pole, there was a three foot diameter hole. Imagine, a family going there with children supposedly able to use this apparatus, because it was built and maintained by the County of Hawaii. Imagine, the 8 year old barely reaching the fireman pole, but he did cause his arms were long enough, not knowing any better his younger sibling, wasn't so lucky. He fell through the hole and just by luck, fell on his bottom. The parents looked up and then realized the unsafe situation, picked up and left. Next scenario, it is a private homestead park with homes surrounding it. Our families send their children to play there thinking that it's safe. The children come home with skin disease, puka heads, parents are called because their child needs to rushed to the hospital because of concussions, etc. Parents make reports at the hospital, County Parks and Recreation Division all failing on deaf ears. Which lead me to the incident that broke the camel's back. True story. Comm. No. V Ref. Tojivvym `' I Ref. Date I don't know how it happened, but a two year old baby in diapers was able to climb that ladder, walk across the catwalk and fell through the hole and ended up with a brain fracture. Where was the supervision, parents? How in the world DID this happen? Well, it didn't matter to us how or why it happened, it had to be removed immediately, the County response was the usual yellow caution tape on the entire apparatus. Our response was to take over the situation and what we did was we made it into a KAKOU thing! The PHHLCA didn't point fingers, we made relationships with all agencies willing to get on board and make this a success. There is a point to this story and I hope that we will have more discussion and plans for improvement after getting this approval today. All of what we presented to you is on your records,just like problems we've had in the past and continue to have in regards to our roads in Hawaiian Home Lands. The initial and usually the only thing that happens immediately when a road issue comes up is the famous YELLOW County of Hawaii caution tape and cones. The County of Hawaii's fast response to curing the road problems of DHHL is not as quick and as we share with you most times it's not even fixed, let alone properly. The PHHLCA needs to encourage the KAKOU thing again! Together, we can do this!