Mauna Kea Resort is poor steward of Maumae
Access to Maumae Beach is through the Mauna Kea Resort. You go to the main entrance and request a pass to this beach. Four times in the last month, I have requested access and was told there was no access available because the parking was full. You can see the cars parked when driving south on Queen Kaahumanu Highway toward the Mauna Kea. Each time I told the guard at the gate that I could see there were very few cars there. Each time I was refused entry.
I then drove and parked at Spencer and hiked the fire road to gain access and to see the parking lot. One time, there were three cars parked and the other times there were five and six cars there. The last time I didn’t bother to inspect the lot. I have pictures of the near empty parking area.
This is an unacceptable restriction of access to a public beach by a private company. I have spoken with others who have given up on going to Maumae because they can never get in. The Mauna Kea does a good job of providing fair access to the Mauna Kea beach parking and we should expect the same for Maumae.
David Kaplan
Waimea
Consulting jobs are conflicts of interest
Zendo Kern in his own words is seeking “Just basic guidance from the board” (of Ethics) as reported in West Hawaii Today on Tuesday.
He is asking for an informal advisory opinion. Why? Does he think he is unfit to serve as Planning Director due to an ethical violation?
I would offer the following for consideration by the Hawaii County Council and the Ethics Board: Section 6-7.2 of the Hawaii County Charter requires the Planning Director to: “Be Fit to Serve, without conflicts, created by his having worked for Clients and Projects that will come before the Planning Department.”
One example of Mr. Kern’s conflicts of interest is that he is being paid by the developers of “KV3”, which is adjacent to Kona Vistas. (There could be more.)
Mr. Kern has been likened to “being a lawyer … that represents clients ….” He is not at all like a Lawyer. His situation is more akin to practicing “Insider Trading”*, where he can advise developers on tactics for approval, provide inside knowledge of county resources, etc., that may otherwise be unknown. He would have the ability to steer developers’ proposals by disclosing internal county discussions and opinions without anyone knowing. “Sunshine Laws” would not apply to him and his “clients.”
* Insider Trading is defined using as “material information not in the public domain.” A person who becomes aware of non-public information and trades on [uses] that basis may be guilty of a crime.)
Also, Mr. Kern would need to recuse himself from countless developer proposals due to his conflicts of interest, which renders him unable to discharge the duties he will have sworn to as Planning Director.
The Board of Ethics Members should advise both Mr. Kern and the mayor that Mr. Kern’s consulting job(s) do qualify as conflicts of interest.
Janice Kerr
Kailua-Kona
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