2024-10-29 Mele Akua Testimony GP 2045

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From:Mele Akua To:Planning General Plan; WPCtestimony Subject:Revise Hawaii General Plan Testimony Date:Tuesday, October 29, 2024 12:51:53 PM Aloha Hawaii County Windward Planning Commission and Planning Department, I'm a Hamakua resident, and just found out about General Plan 2045 a couple months ago. If this plan is for all of us living here on the Big Island, then it is of great concern that only a few people attended the workshops and meetings or watched the Planning Department videos on YouTube, and even fewer, only a "handful", commented on the General Plan draft online, out of our island population of almost 200,000 people. This shows lack of transparency, as most residents are unaware, and no attempts were made by the Planning Department to increase public awareness and interest. This means just a few appointed officials, who we did not vote for, are making plans and decisions that will affect the majority of us. GP 2045 appears to place the County Council, who we elect, under the Planning Department, as it must write laws in compliance with the plan, and it gives a lot of power to the Planning Director to approve various issues. This is government with no representation. I request an extension of the commenting period for more public awareness and input, and revision of GP 2045 according to public comments be allowed. General Plan 2045 is very vague and does not specify how you will carry out the policies in it. It is very troubling to see "acquire private land" mentioned several times. How are you going to take a private land owner's property away from them? By purchase? What if they don't want to sell? Also mention of "incentivizing compliance of land owners through property taxes" - is behavior manipulation, and telling us what we can or can not do on our land that we already paid for. Furthermore, "limit miles traveled" is unconstitutional and "cluster developments" will drastically change how we live here. This is the "Big" Island, which means there is plenty of space for everyone if we choose. "Cluster Developments" sound like a return to the plantation days where workers lived in clustered camp housing and were taken to work in the cane fields, which was owned by someone else. That sounds like Communism. Is that your intention? Is it your intention to fulfill the World Economic Forum's quote from 2016: "By 2030, you will own nothing and be happy"? (They really said that, you can Google it). Whoever owns everything will be happy, while the rest of us rent everything. Hawaii County General Plan 2045 is very similar to General Plans throughout the United States with words like: cluster, stakeholder, buffer zones, limit miles traveled, etc. Why is that? This plan sounds a lot like Sustainable Development Goals of UN Agenda 2030. How can this plan, modeled after UN Agenda 2030, be relevant locally to residents of the Big Island, and serve our needs that are unique to us? In case you don't know what UN Agenda 2030 is, it is explained here: WHAT IS UN AGENDA 2030? 3 MIN SUMMARY | ROSA KOIRE (Lawyer) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0pa42x4V5I I've read the General Plan 2045 Final Draft, and agree with the revisions "Stand Together Hawaii" listed here in this pdf: https://www.standtogetherhawaii.com/_files/ugd/86fc0c_b34739e4c99c461685de4c0207bf286e.pdf Please create more public awareness of General Plan 2045, and allow for input and revision, so it is by the people and for the people. Encourage stewardship of the 'Aina and regenerative agriculture. Encourage everyone to be self-sustaining by growing their own food, as "supply chain issues" have become the new normal, instead of imposing more monitoring, regulations and restrictions upon us. Instead of imposing more taxes and fees on us, how about finding ways to reduce our cost of living, and ensure protection of our rights and freedoms guaranteed by our