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Aloha Punawebers,
There are a number of important transportation issues and concerns being studied and discussed throughout the district. The future of Puna will be very affected by decisions made toward our transporation ways and means.
Puna CDP transportation consultant Wayne Yoshioka of Parsons Brinckerhoff, Inc. is returning to Puna to present a variety of alternatives to address the transportation issues and concerns confirmed during his earlier meetings with Puna residents in May. Participants will have an opportunity to compare and comment on a number of scenarios proposed to address the transportation situation facing Puna residents and the trade-offs associated with each alternative.
When: Wednesday, August 8, 2007
4:00 PM to 5:30 PM
Where: Kea`au Community Center.
If you can you should go, listen and comment.
If you would like to join the County mailing lists on the community planning efforts, then please go to the following Web Address:
Puna CDP Participants Mailing List
http://hawaiiislandplan.com/puna.asp
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Wish I was there! Good luck on this venture to all who attend and get involved! I'll be keeping my fingers crossed that all involved will take the long view of say the next 20 years or so. This is so important.
mella l
mella l
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Aloha Rob,
Thanks for the update and very important info regarding the planning meeting. I was just looking up some info on the hawaiiislandplan.com site, and I noticed your "Puna Parkway - An Alternative Route" contribution (Jan 2006) to the Transportation - New Alternative Corridors working group document (
http://www.hcrc.info/hawai-i-island-plan...s.pdf/view) .
I personally like this idea because it doesn't extend the road (via Old Railroad Ave or otherwise) down to the middle of Hawaiian Beaches / Hawaiian Shores. At the end of Lalakea St. next to the Nanawale forest, it is so quiet here, I want to make sure the Old Railroad Ave (Kahala St here) never turns into a major thoroughfare. A scenic bike path from here to the papaya farms / Kapoho might be nice, but not a big road / highway.
I will try to be at the meeting.
Mahalo,
Glenn
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Yes Glen, do attend if you can and tell others too. I believe that we are in a very important moment for the future of Puna. Growth is going to drive the district in one direction or another. Community input can shape things.
If this Oahu consultant isn't listening then we need to be there to speak up. If he is listening then we need to be supportive.
The old Railroad Ave. no longer exists. People tend to think it can become a road or bike path simply because the graded road bed is there. The easement was lost long ago and no legal right of transit remains.
I was working on the Land Use Working Group and we saw the areas south and southeast of Pahoa as a vital natural eco areas that should not be encouraged toward more development, roads or congestion. As much as possible it should remain as it is. We would advocate some new parklands, perhaps Green Mountain/Lake and Point Kumukahi. We want vast AG-1 areas in that area to be down zoned. Lots of issues. Land and transportation are very inter-related.
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Rob,
Thank you very much for the clarifications and additional info. I have hiked the old Railroad Ave trail from Hawaiian Shores to the papaya farms, and there just FYI there are a lot of bees nests and abandoned cars out there. Some sketchy characters on ATVs, too. I may see you there.
Glenn
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Today
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So as we all looked at Jeff's guesstamation on the lava flow, of course, the question was asked about alternative Keaau-Pahoa routes?
I havent heard anything at all in all these years about alternative routes in since Pahoa in general hasnt been threatened in many 100's of years.
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An alternative route has been a current hot topic. This afternoon we expect to find out if the consultant is ignoring this issue or recognizing it.
At the last meeting with him he caught some flack for putting the subject on the back burner.
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He caught more flak last night for saying the PMAR (Puna Makai Alternate Route) might be something we should look at 10+ years from now. Ouch.
Rob, I saw you at the meeting last night but I got sidetracked into another conversation right away afterwards and couldn't introduce myself. So hi.
Can you explain... What was the deal with the statement at the beginning about "Due to the sunshine law, anyone on the CDP working group shouldn't speak tonight..." ??
Aloha,
Glenn
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For all practical purposes the consultant ignored the major points made by the transportation working group. He also ignorded the comments made by Dave Fukushima. It will be interesting to see what the steering committee does faced with what amount to being competing reports - which one to include?
