06-26-2016, 07:14 AM
With the mention of the PMAR I am assuming this thread is for discussion of how people and goods are/could be moved between Puna and Hilo, so here goes:
After his last election, but before announcing he was running for the Senate, a good friend of mine had a scheduled meeting with Greggor about the need to designate the PMAR route so people could buy or build knowing if they were going to have the inevitable PMAR going through their front or back yard, especially with the rapid growth HPP is again experiencing. This was not a brief chance meeting in a public setting, but a 2 hour sit down specifically about the PMAR. At that meeting Greggor said all the right things, admitted that he would not have been willing to bring the issue forward before the election, because it is a third rail of Puna politics, but would be willing to do so this term. Instead, he set his sights on even higher office, and worked to kill a proposal that would have at least studied possible routes for the PMAR. I've seen the notes my friend took at the meeting she had with Greggor, and the vast divide between what he told someone active in Puna community politics and his actions since the meeting has left me with no respect for the man. He is just another ambitious politician who is willing to say what the listener wants to hear, but isn't willing to take needed actions that might offend his donors or possible voters, there is a real lack of integrity displaced in this case that in my mind disqualifies him for public office.
A PMAR is needed and inevitable, the eventual route needs to be designated ASAP, so we don't have a repeat of the Puna Geothermal situation where people buy or build their homes, only to discover that the quality of life they invested in is about to be trashed. Not designating a route and having continued growth in HPP will just increase the cost of the project, because more people will have to be paid for the loss of part of a developed property. The new Mayor needs to be at the forefront of this effort, because they are elected island wide and not as vulnerable to voter backlash as a Puna councilor would be. No one wants this going through their yard, but if a route was designated at least people would have a chance to plan for it, as it stands now, tons of houses are being built in HPP with no idea where the PMAR is going to go.
After his last election, but before announcing he was running for the Senate, a good friend of mine had a scheduled meeting with Greggor about the need to designate the PMAR route so people could buy or build knowing if they were going to have the inevitable PMAR going through their front or back yard, especially with the rapid growth HPP is again experiencing. This was not a brief chance meeting in a public setting, but a 2 hour sit down specifically about the PMAR. At that meeting Greggor said all the right things, admitted that he would not have been willing to bring the issue forward before the election, because it is a third rail of Puna politics, but would be willing to do so this term. Instead, he set his sights on even higher office, and worked to kill a proposal that would have at least studied possible routes for the PMAR. I've seen the notes my friend took at the meeting she had with Greggor, and the vast divide between what he told someone active in Puna community politics and his actions since the meeting has left me with no respect for the man. He is just another ambitious politician who is willing to say what the listener wants to hear, but isn't willing to take needed actions that might offend his donors or possible voters, there is a real lack of integrity displaced in this case that in my mind disqualifies him for public office.
A PMAR is needed and inevitable, the eventual route needs to be designated ASAP, so we don't have a repeat of the Puna Geothermal situation where people buy or build their homes, only to discover that the quality of life they invested in is about to be trashed. Not designating a route and having continued growth in HPP will just increase the cost of the project, because more people will have to be paid for the loss of part of a developed property. The new Mayor needs to be at the forefront of this effort, because they are elected island wide and not as vulnerable to voter backlash as a Puna councilor would be. No one wants this going through their yard, but if a route was designated at least people would have a chance to plan for it, as it stands now, tons of houses are being built in HPP with no idea where the PMAR is going to go.