02-10-2012, 05:50 PM
What I have already been doing is working with people in the community to develop an alternative building code for residences on agricultural land in rural areas -- something realistic for rural Hawaii Island and not intended for urban North America, like the existing building code.
Seeb's question was about how to "fix the new building code".
If this means tweaking it, then I would submit that is not what is really needed. Starting over from square one sounds drastic, but may well be what is needed.
Something a Council member can do (that a citizen cannot so easily) is get more information from the Dept Public Works/Building Division -- for example, (far too numerous to list here) questions answered that have been asked by citizens and have not been answered. Just last evening I spoke with the owner of a construction-related business and heard how DPW and the Mayor ignored and made zero response to repeated questions and suggestions regarding Bill 270.
As a Council member, on the matter of the "new building code" and other issues, my bottom line is:
"Does this serve the community well?"
Clearly, in the case of the "new building code", the answer is no. That is, unless you think the overwhelming opposing sentiment heard from the community was because the community does not have enough sense to know what is good for it and need the government to tell them -- which is not how I view government.
Seeb's question was about how to "fix the new building code".
If this means tweaking it, then I would submit that is not what is really needed. Starting over from square one sounds drastic, but may well be what is needed.
Something a Council member can do (that a citizen cannot so easily) is get more information from the Dept Public Works/Building Division -- for example, (far too numerous to list here) questions answered that have been asked by citizens and have not been answered. Just last evening I spoke with the owner of a construction-related business and heard how DPW and the Mayor ignored and made zero response to repeated questions and suggestions regarding Bill 270.
As a Council member, on the matter of the "new building code" and other issues, my bottom line is:
"Does this serve the community well?"
Clearly, in the case of the "new building code", the answer is no. That is, unless you think the overwhelming opposing sentiment heard from the community was because the community does not have enough sense to know what is good for it and need the government to tell them -- which is not how I view government.