Roads before Puna development
I am writing today to ask The Planning Department to not approve any further residential units in Keaau.
1. There are still tens of thousands of undeveloped lots in subdivisions of ex-Shipman land which have not been developed. No paved roads, no electricity, no water, no phone. I could understand adding homes if the lots were all full, but they are not.
2. Thousands of people live in lower Puna, have no escape as there is only one road to Hilo. Anyone below Ainaloa is trapped if that one road, Highway 130, becomes impassible. Shipman Estates has refused to provide an alternate access to Hilo, even though almost all substandard subdivisions in the entire Puna District were created from their land with the full knowledge and approval of the Hawaii County Planning Department. Emergency roads should be priority before any further development.
3. Instead of providing secondary access to lower Puna, the county is using Puna road money in Hilo district to improve Shipman Industrial roads for business interests, and this should be investigated. If Shipman Estates needs to use Puna Road money to pave their industrial park roads, they certainly can’t afford to buy 900 more units.
4. Both Upper and Lower Puna flood terribly from old dikes or walls put in illegally and without permits by sugar companies to divert flood waters from sugarcane fields. Please correct the flooding.
5, Once 1 through 4 above have been corrected for the people, then perhaps the county planners can approve new residential construction.
Sara Steiner
Puna
Drastically dumb court ruling
Thank you, 9th Circuit Court of Appeals based in San Francisco. The court recently ruled homeless people in California and Western states cannot be prosecuted for sleeping outside if shelter access is lacking, court rules. The court, as a side note, is far and away the most overturned federal appeals court in the USA.
Having previously worked in downtown SF (Civic Center area) for many years, people often ask me if there’s anything I miss about the City by the Bay? I tell them “Yes there is — the smell of fresh excrement in the morning.”
Now, many years after retirement, I’ll be able to enjoy the smells of SF whilst not actually having to live there.
As it’s not against the law, if there’s available homeless housing, tent cities on our sidewalks greeting our visitors can’t now be far behind. This will undoubtedly be a boost for tourism and our Alii Drive shops and restaurants. Lest we forget the beach at the Old Airport will be a great place to take your ohana and keiki. Trash, needles and human waste mixed with sun, sand, and the ocean a perfect combination — for needle sticks, Hep C, HIV exposure and other serious pathogens.
Tony Poggi
Kona
