HomeMy WebLinkAboutCommunication No. 2022-04 -R. Smith Testimony to PD Dir. Kern
Communication No 2022-00 R. Smith Testimony
January 19, 2022
Mr. Zendo Kern, Planning Director
County of Hawai`i Planning Department
101 Pauahi St., Ste. 3
Hilo, Hawai`i 96720
Testimony of Ruth A. Smith at the Joint Meeting for all Hawaii Island Action Committees
Director Kern, thank you for joining the Action Committees of the Big Island today. We
appreciate your time, your knowledge and passion for the well-being of our communities now
and in the future.
Briefly, these are my thoughts and my hopes for all our Action Committees regarding the
substantial federal funding of $1 trillion from the infrastructure bill, passed with bipartisan
support in the last Congressional session, and signed into law by President Biden.
Hawai’i State is receiving $2.8 billion in the allocation among the 50 states. As you well know,
this is an unprecedented influx of funds for long-delayed infrastructure repairs of roads and
bridges, plus traffic infrastructure needed in areas of population growth. And it will be a very
long time before we see this kind of investment again.
That’s why is so important to take Right Action now. The funds will transfer from the State to
the County of Hawai’i. I’ve not heard what amount of money is expected to be allocated to the
Big Island. \[If you have a ballpark figure that you can share, please give us that information
after my testimony, or now if you like.\]
In the County of Hawai’i, the distribution of the funds will ultimately come down to Mayor
Roth’s decision on which communities and projects get what and where. It is that process
where I would ask you to advocate on behalf of the priorities that are well established in
each area’s Community Development Plan regarding infrastructure and emergency
preparedness needs.
In Puna, Ka’u, Hamakua, Kona, North Kohala, and South Kohala, local communities worked
diligently to research what actions were fundamentally necessary and to craft Community
Development Plans that best prioritized the needs and desires of all our people for their future.
The volume of work by many volunteers in each of our communities was substantial and
decisions were well vetted.
I’m asking that Mayor Roth respect the work that’s already been done and the priorities that have
been established when making the decisions on the distribution of funds on the Big Island. Please
emphasize the importance of starting with the CDPs infrastructure and emergency
preparedness lists, which often go hand-in-hand, as the structural foundation for projects to
fund.
The lengthy mayoral review and delay of finalizing the County General Plan, now 8 years
overdue, concerns me, as do negative public statements made by the mayor about the CDPs. He
needs to honor the very democratic process used for the CDPs and respect the will of the people.