HomeMy WebLinkAboutComm No 0021.141 - Testimony - CA-7 - PONC fund and Maintenance fundTyra Wong Yuen
7th grade
Volcano School of Arts & Sciences
Volcano, Hawai'i 96720
February 5, 2019
Charter Commission
Hilo, Hawai'i 96720
Dear Commissioners,
Regarding; 2% Land Fund Program
My name is Tyra Wong Yuen, my parents are Lauren and Christopher
Wong Yuen and we live in Pahala or you can call it Ka'u. I go to Kawa
because I love to clean up the place and see what the ancient Hawaiians
built and what they made. At Kawa, I learned what kind of plants and
animals are there. Some plants there are the wiliwili, niu, coconut,
naupaka, alahe'e, and the kukui nut. Kawa is important to me, my
friends and family because we aloha aina and Kawa is beautiful and
wonderful.
When I go down to Kawa about every 3 weeks, we take care of Kawa by
removing the invasive plants and putting in the new native plants. We
also help Kawa by picking up any marine waste that we see. We help
Kumu Akau, Uncle Duane, Aunty Clarissa, and Uncle Kaui at Kawa. The
first time I went down to Kawa with my classmates, there was trash
everywhere and the plants, trees, and grass was all overgrown, but now
since we cleaned it up, there's no trash and there's no overgrown
bushes. If you stop funding the 2%, all of the hard work we did would be
all for nothing. If you keep funding that 2%, we can keep on cleaning
and make it better that it is now. Places like Kawa is not just good for
Comm. No. 21.141
us, it's good for other people like tourists and it could show them the real
part of Hawai'i.
The people on the Big Island want Kawa to continue being funded and
so do the 63% of the voters too. You should keep funding the land fund
because three times the majority of the voters voted for the land fund.
Kawa is a special place to me because that's where I learned how to do
lots of things like swim and throw net. Kawa is a beautiful place to go to
and be at. When you look to the left side of you at the beach, you see
rock walls that is the heiau where only men are allowed to go in. If you
look to the edge of the cliff, you can see a rock face.
So can you please save that 2% Land Fund so we can keep Kawa the
same and make it better in the future.
Mahalo,
Tyra Kehaulani Lahela
Wong Yuen