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"Let them eat papaya." (***)
*** Any papaya generously given to any Puna peasant must be pulled from the rejected for sale stockpiles. Fancy grade A papaya must never be given to a peasant for free.
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There is definitely an attitude among locals that Punatics are dangerous, outsider, dirty hippie, cultist, icehead, haole, etc. Puna is only begrudgingly supported because some locals' kids have had to move there to buy a house. Most in Hilo are afraid to go to Kalapana now, or anywhere outside of HPP for that matter.
The 2018 eruption created a lot of recovery jobs in Hilo that are still paying salaries. I just don't know what they do all day, not giving out recovery funds.
Remember when our lava survivors were living in a tent camp? And Maui's fire survivors are in 5 star hotels and airbnbs? That sums up how much people care about Puna.
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(05-28-2024, 03:54 PM)randomq Wrote: Remember when our lava survivors were living in a tent camp? And Maui's fire survivors are in 5 star hotels and airbnbs? That sums up how much people care about Puna.
That sums it up perfectly. And no, Julie, a telescope ain't gonna make a damn bit of difference.
If you want to make life in Puna more than the backwater it currently is I'd suggest lobbying gov to deal with the real questions at hand.. starting with how do we live safely with our active volcanoes? How do we prepare and be ready for eruptions when they do happen? How do we reconcile all these substandard subdivisions? How do we get the State/County to be responsible for the district's infrastructure? The roads, water and sewage?
Otherwise, Puna is where folks go if they ain't got (ie can't afford) anywhere else to go. If you want to break that cycle it ain't gonna happen with a rich man's toy. All of their toys. That ain't it. That ain't even a fraction if it.
And, to think, the Hub (created by citizens not government) was what Puna got for their tax dollars, while as randomq points out Maui's refugees lived in some of the best hotels Hawaii has to offer.
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(created by citizens not government)
Which brings us perfectly, full circle, to the OPs point for this thread.
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Well then. If a telescope is a rich man’s wet dream, but the west side of Hawaii is such a success due to its sole business of selling tourism, why not bring a five star hotel to Puna? The workers would even be able to walk to work instead of that long drive from crime free utopia Waikoloa to the luxury hotels in Kona!
What about Oceanview and Black Sands Development project?
Success. That’s all that matters. Money. Tourism is god. Why limit this unbridled success to the west side?
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as randomq points out Maui's refugees lived in some of the best hotels Hawaii has to offer.
Do you think that was for the benefit of displaced Lahaina residents?
Or for the benefit of Kaanapali Beach hotels and restaurants which would have sat empty for months after the fire?
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(05-28-2024, 05:35 PM)Punatang Wrote: (created by citizens not government)
Which brings us perfectly, full circle, to the OPs point for this thread.
Yes, and the fact that we, Puna, don't have a large land owner that cares. In other words.. churches stepped in and filled the gap left by government's ineptness.. FB wannabes took care of, informed, while somebody's nephew played CD director and the people of Puna pounded dirt, and, drum roll here, Shipman did nothing.
So yes, Edge had an idea, so...?
Oh, I know, the TMT can take care of it.
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My husband and I spent hundreds of hours volunteering at the Hub during the lava flows.
Most who were there initially were entitled to thousands of dollars in FEMA, State and County relief money but we’re afraid to apply or even ask due to the conspiracy theory shit heads that came up with all their normal “microchips will be implanted” mentality.
My husband and I were able to get over 40 people to sit with and meet with FEMA representatives and each and every one of them got significant relief.
The rest of what was the Hub was unfortunately homeless people who had no claim for any form of relief that bar no lava flow emergency, would just be on the street to begin with.
And yes HOTPE, the 5 Star luxury hotel business realized real quickly that the tourist dollars were gone immediately so they were the first to latch onto that FEMA teat real quick!
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My husband and I spent hundreds of hours volunteering at the Hub... covering up for the fact that our government doesn't give a shit about Puna.
Helping folks get FEMA.. yep, maybe you should run for mayor.
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05-28-2024, 07:09 PM
(This post was last modified: 05-28-2024, 07:27 PM by HereOnThePrimalEdge.)