11-22-2011, 01:49 PM
Report card for Fred? Well, he has been better than Emily, especially in regard to manners. (Doesn't throw pencils, for example.) When it come to bringing Puna to a higher level of county services, though, the record is mixed.
Fred is continuing Emily's habit of paying for Puna's improvements with Geothermal Fund money rather than getting appropriations the same way other districts do. I'm sure there are some other council members who really like this habit as it leaves more money on the table for their districts. If you live in Pahoa or Hawaiian Beaches, you get the fruit of these projects such as the repaving of Kahakai and Pahoa Village Road. The rest of us . . . not so much.
From my purely parochial view, Fred's approach to HPP really needs some work. When we invited him to talk story with the HPP committee on PMAR, he mainly listened. When he was leaving, however, someone had just mentioned the effect PMAR would have on our private trunk roads. Fred's response as he left the room was, "Why don't you just give the roads to the County?" That left us all speechless. How can you represent Puna and not know that we would love to give the County the roads if they would only take them?There are other groups in HPP who also have their own issues with Fred, and I'll let them post them if they care to. I just think that Fred needs to get grounded with our issues because any likely district alignment will have HPP as over half of the district population. A smart politician would educate himself about and address the concerns of the largest community in his district. Will Fred do it? We'll see, but he hasn't impressed me too much so far.
Fred is continuing Emily's habit of paying for Puna's improvements with Geothermal Fund money rather than getting appropriations the same way other districts do. I'm sure there are some other council members who really like this habit as it leaves more money on the table for their districts. If you live in Pahoa or Hawaiian Beaches, you get the fruit of these projects such as the repaving of Kahakai and Pahoa Village Road. The rest of us . . . not so much.
From my purely parochial view, Fred's approach to HPP really needs some work. When we invited him to talk story with the HPP committee on PMAR, he mainly listened. When he was leaving, however, someone had just mentioned the effect PMAR would have on our private trunk roads. Fred's response as he left the room was, "Why don't you just give the roads to the County?" That left us all speechless. How can you represent Puna and not know that we would love to give the County the roads if they would only take them?There are other groups in HPP who also have their own issues with Fred, and I'll let them post them if they care to. I just think that Fred needs to get grounded with our issues because any likely district alignment will have HPP as over half of the district population. A smart politician would educate himself about and address the concerns of the largest community in his district. Will Fred do it? We'll see, but he hasn't impressed me too much so far.