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Jon, what you are proposing is precisely what a lot of us have been resisting and opposing. A plan to make Puna look just like everywhere else = A ten mile strip mall with piles of cars idling at traffic lights.
The overwhelming recurring input from the community has been to keep Puna a rural, agricultural district.... not turn it into a mirror of Honolulu. But we do understand that some folks like their traffic.
Assume the best and ask questions.
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I disagree with you there Rob. There are a lot of us here in Puna that want better, safer roads with traffic lights, and closer shopping centers and expanded bus service. The population of Puna is expanding so fast that it is going to be impossible to stay rural for much longer.
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I appreciate that you disagree. However 1,300 people who participated in the community effort made some things clear. Puna is to remain a rural agricultural district. That is the basis of the PCDP which has been passed by council into law.
It is possible to achieve safer roads....very needed. It is possible to achieve closer source of goods and services... very needed. It is possible to have improved public transportation... very needed. The PCDP shows how to do all that.
But it is not necessary to turn Puna into a clone of Honolulu to do it.
So the Hwy. 130 corridor is closed to commercial development. There will not be gas stations at every intersection. Car lots, bars, restaurants, laundry mats and convenience stores will be located in village centers. You will not be entering Burger King from Hwy. 130.
There is an amendment process approaching - Friends of Puna's Future is launching a amendment discussion on Oct. 11 in HPP. You are invited to particpate.
Assume the best and ask questions.
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quote:
Originally posted by macuu222
I disagree with you there Rob. There are alot of us here in Puna that want better, safer roads with traffic lights, and closer shopping centers and expanded bus service. The population of Puna is expanding so fast that it is going to be impossible to stay rural for much longer.
Safer roads with traffic lights?
You better do your research.
Traffic lights become death traps.
Repeated cases have shown that roundabouts are, overall, much safer.
Shopping centers?
In the PCDP process through large and small forums, in the beginning an in the end, there was wide agreement that what is need is distributed commercial and public services such as in village and town centers.
Rob's basic point is exactly correct: the community strongly expressed the goal of a rural and agricultural Puna, and not a suburban-shopping mall bedroom community of Hilo.
James Weatherford, Ph.D.
15-1888 Hialoa
Hawaiian Paradise Park
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I disagree with both of you...The main reason many people want to keep Puna rural and zoned agricultural is to keep taxes extremely low...nothing more. Many people had that dream until populations and demands for services increased.
The small village or town center just isn't going to happen in private subdivisions where many of puna's population reside. The best chance for stores and shopping is along HWY 130 like where they are going to build a Longs. They call that a village center even though you'll be able to see it from the hwy. You just can't enter it from the highway.
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Funny. Low taxes, to the best of my knowledge, was rarely mentioned in the community input phase. There are records, of course, of all the public input.
I am not pretending to speak for everyone or anyone else or guess why they provide the input they do. The input the PCDP received was the input we working group participants worked with. Rather simple.
Actually property taxes were ultimately addressed in the PCDP. Because the property the tax rate on Ag land is higher than for residential land there is a recommendation to lower taxes for AG. That recommendation was made to support the community intent to keep Puna a rural and agricultural district.
It is nice to have theories and opinions and everyone is certainly equally entitled to them. What James and I are speaking to here however are some of the facts.
Assume the best and ask questions.
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I don't need my Punaweb comments read to HDOT please. I will make my own statements to them.
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Assume the best and ask questions.
Punaweb moderator
macuu222 wrote:
“I disagree with you there Rob. There are a lot of us here in Puna that want better, safer roads with traffic lights, and closer shopping centers and expanded bus service. The population of Puna is expanding so fast that it is going to be impossible to stay rural for much longer.”
How can you make someone understand that the beauty of the Puna district is that it is a rural area. Just the idea of it being an aquicultural and rural area is the reason so many of us have settled here. I personal don’t ever want to see a traffic light when there are alternatives like roundabouts available. The thought of having strip malls along highway # 130 has me thinking about packing it up and moving to some place else.
I left Kona for this very same reason after living there for 35 years. Remembering Kona as to what it used to be compared to what it is now is heartbreaking. Now here comes someone that can’t see the beauty of the place that he/she is living in and wants to change it to her/his needs and wants. “Phooey”, move to Kona they already have what you want and leave this rural area to those of us that can handle it.
The Lack
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Well, you can resist all you want, but the majority of the people that live in Puna want a few things... Job, and Retail.... people are tired of driving to Hilo or Kona for both.
Your overwhelming input from the community is tested by the "people" the voters put into office.
If 130 is closed to commercial development you doom Puna to be a 3rd world look alike or a place where only multi millionaires can live. And as there are so many poor already here... I am guessing 3rd world.
Tom L.
Unfortunately a community is made up of different people with different ideas, Puna will not stay rural, it can't, people are don't like that their kids have to move to the mainland to make a living, or go to Honolulu for medical care. If you want Puna to stay rural, you better start buying up all the land and get people to move out now because otherwise the tide is against you.
Transplanted Texan
"I am here to chew bubble gum and kick some *** ... and I'm all out of bubble gum"
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I do not believe that America is better than everybody else...
America "IS" everybody else.
The Wilder Side Of Hawaii
