HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024-03-08 PL-SMA-2023-000046 Shanell Hi'iakaikapoliopele Leilani Dedman Opposition Testimony From: Shanell Dedman
To: WPCtestimonv
Subject: Fwd: Lineal and Cultural descendant testimony regarding the Development at Punalu'u Black Sand Beach
Date: Friday,March 8,2024 8:36:05 PM
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Begin forwarded message:
From: Shanell Dedman <shanelldedman@rocketmail.com>
Date: March 5, 2024 at 4:17:39 PM HST
To: counciltestimony@hawaiicounty.gov
Subject: Lineal and Cultural descendant testimony regarding the
Development at Punalu`u Black Sand Beach
Aloha a esteemed County Council of
the Windward Planning Commission of
Hilo, Moku nui O Keawe KO Hawai`i
Pae aina. O Shanell Hiiakaikapoliopele
Leilani ko`u inoa. My great great great
great tutu wahine are
Keakealaniwahine &
Kalanikauleleiaiwi .
I am the eldest granddaughter of Pele
Kuaimoku Hanoa and daughter of
Raymond "Fish" Keali`ikoa Dedman
and Jessie Ku`ulei Kamakea Keahiolalo
and Aunty Keolalani Hanoa my mentor
and inspiration and motivation .
My ohana has Kuleana Royal Patent
Crown Lands in an undivided trust on
the shoreline at Punaluu.
I spent some of the best years of my life at Punaluu from 1996 to 2013 learned
valuable information as a cohort and assistant to my Aunty Keola and grandma
Pele.
I was the secretary,treasurer and coordinator for Ka`u Preservation , mau a mau
our non-profit that saved Punaluu from developers for the past forty years.
Punaluu is a wellness Center in of its own wahi kapu, no need four walls.
You cannot have a continent mentality in an Island way of life. The food,water,
cultural and spiritual resources are too valuable.No can mahaoe and desecrate
kapu aina that mo i ali`i of the highest lineages malama and protected for
centuries . You need to research deeper.
You are violating lineal and cultural lineage rights by law by inhibiting
descendants from access to any cultural sites such as heiau and burial caves. You
need a list of descendants and leave them alone. You have to know the
mo`oku`auhau the geneologies.
I tried reaching out to Eva Liu but had a bad miscommunication and her son and
herself caused a personal rift between myself and my own ohana.
If you Punaluu Black Sand Beach LLC .com a foreign corporate investing
developer are going by the SMA Plan of the past two developers. You are relying
on outdated information that was not completely accurate.
Also,your website is chock full of the words and kaona straight out of our non-
profit Ka`u Preservations mission statement and parts plagiarized from our
documentary The Punaluu Experience,produced by Danny Miller in 2006,that
won the Silver Lei award at the Honolulu Film Festival. Look for it on YouTube .
In the future no one is allowed to illegally use my picture for financial gain for
public relations in a frivolous SMA Plan for a foreign investors development
where my ancestors are buried.
My tutu Pele was extremely opposed to development at Punaluu and thousands
of her supporters know this and remember the Malama Punaluu Festivals we had
for two summers.
Kamehameha Paiea trained at Punaluu as a teenager with his cousin
Keouakuahuula and other ali`i. Kuleana Lands. Four heiau, one dedicated to
Kanaloa, one to Lono, one to Kane and one to Ku , numerous historic and
archaeological sites, caves and ali`i burials are extremely sacred and need to be
protected.
The daily impact to the environment of hundreds of people traversing on the tiny
beach, taking sand and iliili pebbles is inevitable,if this gigantic development is
approved.
A corporation will be encroaching upon the fragile and pristine ecosystem of
Punalu`u Bay and Black Sand beach and Nmole Cove.
This would be very detrimental to the indigenous and endemic animal habitats,
native flora and fauna and the freshwater springs that is the life for us all.
The native Loulu Palm tree, native hawaiian poppy, Pua Kala and the Native
cotton plant Ma`o important to the fauna ecosystem there.
Endangered species live here including the `Ope`apea the native Hawaiian Hoary
bat, the Honu`ea Hawksbill Turtle who lay their eggs and build nests on the sand,
the `ilioholoikauaua monk seal,the native damselfly,the Koloa duck,Nene the
Hawaiian goose , `auku`u,the Pueo native Hawaiian Owl,the Io native hawaiian
hawk and many rare varieties of limu, ko`ele, opihi.
There is no need for a wellness Center. Punalu`u is the wellness Center and is a
living classroom. My Aunty Keolalani Hanoa had Kukulu Kumuhana o Ka`u
Hawaiian cultural Immersion program for students K-12th grade. Empowering the
youth to become the stewards of the aina and keepers of the mana`o of this place.
A continental mindset encroaching upon our cultural heritage and Island way of
life. As usual. Time to change the narrative huli maka flip the script.
There is a dire need for an updated shoreline survey certification and entirely new
SMA Plan.
They have ignored CDP guidelines, needs an Environmental Impact Statement
and Updated Shoreline Survey Certification and fixing all the fire hydrants . You
cannot approve this monstrosity.
Please do not approve this SMA Plan Planning Director Zendo Kern and Mayor
Mitch Roth .
You cannot approve this. Look at the Big picture. All eyes are on you. KWe !
Imua ohana. Kapu Ka`u. Save Punalu`u.
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