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stryker brigade
#31
With cane long gone and no viable industry to replace it, there will be limited employment opportunities in East Hawaii. Acerbating that problem has been the abundance of affordable land and housing in East Hawaii, luring new residents. The problem is greatly magnified when the new residents are of the age and economic status that employment is a necessity. Were they all suddenly filled with new residents seeking jobs, the vacant lots in HPP alone would create problems unless some East side employment opportunities were created. Multiply that by the other large subdivisions. Unfortunately, many prospective residents are blinded by East Hawaii’s attributes and fail to give employment issues proper weight in their decision-making process. Some (a lot) of blame can be attributed to earlier county leaders that allowed so many subdivisions to be platted. Wages in East Hawaii will remain low as long as there continues to be an over supply in the labor market. The job market would be improved if more of the prospective new residents were retirees, such as I will primarily be. Retirees will not add to the labor oversupply and will actually create some service job opportunities. However, other than skilled medical positions, these are not generally high paying jobs. An over abundance of the elderly also comes with its own set of problems. (Care to start a new thread?) Land and housing in East Hawaii is still a bargain.

Hilo has a very nice small port. Why should large amounts of freight be shipped over the saddle? If many service trucks are having to drive from Kona to the East side, that sounds like a business opportunity. 300k might not be out of line. I don’t know enough on that project to have an opinion. However, housing used to be much less costly than what it is now. But with many homes on the market now, the over supply may decrease the values to perhaps a more affordable range. (Another thread ??? Today’s younger generation expects larger starter homes than what our parents or grandparents started in without having the finances to pay for it) It is good that the employers (resort industry) are trying to address the problem. It sounds like a form of capitalism at work.

Greatly improving the Saddle would relieve some of the pressure that is finally causing some of these other solutions to be implemented.
Sprawl will be the result of much easier access across the island. I don’t think any of us having lived in other populated centers want to see that in East Hawaii.
Kona does have more sunny, sandy beaches.
The increased traffic at Kea’au probably does necessitate some intersection improvements.
What happened to the hotel that I heard about that was to go up near HPP?
A person should try to take advantage of employment opportunities close to home.
For the record, I don’t object to the idea of a military base there. It has to be somewhere and everything can’t be NIMBY. I would like to see it properly controlled so as to do minimal damage to the environment. I don’t think the volcano will notice a few artillery rounds.
There are a lot of turns on the Saddle Rd. But none I would consider dead man’s curves. Of course if your that man!! I have driven roads much worse. Other than needing a new surface it didn’t seem that bad.
Low income housing is not necessarily the same as affordable housing. We are dealing with that issue here. With the recent real estate boom, teachers, cops, and service employees have been nearly priced out of the housing market. It is a problem in many areas that is being addressed in some places. More on that in a later thread.

S. FL Islander to be
Pua`a
S. FL
Big Islander to be.
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#32
Change is good and should be embraced. So many complain of our little town going the way of the big city. Our little town
was a little smaller before we moved in, and you thought that was ok?
98% of us are from the mainland we to are tought by of as INVATERS It’s a comin’ with or without Saddle Road Improvements.
The construction of the new Saddle Road provides a safe ride and
lotsa jobs, I build roads for a living. Not only the direct construction workers
but numerous ancillary jobs that go unnoticed.


If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it cost when it’s free...now here come the taxes.....
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#33
Actually the Hilo port is the main port on the Big Island. The great majority of our freight comes in through Hilo, with the rest coming through Kawaihae.

As for the current Saddle Road, it doesn't
meet the AASHTO (http://www.transportation.org/) standards.
When completed it will meet those standards
for a two lane rural roadway.

I completely disagree on the dead man turn.
There is plenty of dead mans turn up there.
Those one way bridges are tricky too. I've
had people not yield there.



Edited by - Aaron S on 10/10/2006 19:20:30
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#34
Well, that's kinda odd, the new saddle road will now be on the other side of the Waikaloa road down to to Kawaihae. It would seem a straight shot from Saddle road to Waikaloa road would move traffic through there faster.

Who is trying to get to where, though? Isn't the new road "realignment" for the military folks to get from Kawaihae to Pohakuloa?

Has anyone figured the costs of living in Puna and working in Kona? Exactly how many more hours do you have to work or how much more per hour do you have to get for the job in Kona to pay for the costs of getting there? A "cheaper" job in Puna may actually put more money in your pocket after all the expenses are deducted. Not to mention the less time and the less wear and tear on the car!

My head hurts with all these mainland directions. Can we call it "Hilo side" and "Kona side"? "East" and "West" don't mean anything on a round island. Then when we add in a touch of dyslexia, it gets even worse!

There is an awful lot of new rock moving going on over on the Kona side. We were there today for a conference and there was all sorts of machinery down along the coast areas between the fancy big resorts and Kailua town. New roads? New subdivisions? Hard to tell, it was rather hazy today and we didn't go over and look closely.


"I like yard sales," he said. "All true survivalists like yard sales." 
Kurt Wilson
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#35
Finally looked at the map! Thanks Aaron for the site.

I thought the deal was to straighten it out and drop it close to Kona, or maybe I am many drafts back. Correct me if I am wrong but all they are doing is making portions safer? So driving to Kona will still be in the 1-3 hour range (depending on departure point).... So exactly how will that be a big benefit to workers? Did I miss a reply on the gas thread that said it dropped to $1.50/gal?

And on the tangent of industry in Hilo... there are many things we could do here and be environmentally friendly but... (AGAIN... Talk of SIMULATOR FLIGHT SCHOOL...or High Tech Corridor at one time!) but someone opposes everything.
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#36
No problem, its the best resource out there on the Saddle Road re-alignment.

Many a moons ago back in the late 1960s I believe a county council person tried to get
a road between Kona and Hilo that would directly end up in Kona. It was going to traverse below the Mauna Loa observatory.
But it ran into the problems and the council member was not re-elected. Thus the road was
never completed.

As for the benefits. Since a lot of those dead man turns will be removed, the overall
travel time will be shorter. Especially when
the road is fully completed. Plus the new
road will be considerably safer.

See the long range plan is you'll be able to
drive to Hilo from Queen Kaahumanu Highway
to Hilo over a completely new road. Puainako
Extension was the first part of this long range plan. Eventually Puainako Street itself
will be re-aligned between Komohana and Kanoelehua. So theoretically eventually you'd be able to drive from Prince Kuhio Plaza in Hilo all the way to Queen Kaahumanu
Highway.

Hotcatz, as far as I understand the Malamahoa
Highway to Queen Kaahhumanu Highway portion has already gotten funded to plan this segment. It seems the primary beneficiaries will be the resort workers.As the segment is south of Waikoloa.

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