07-28-2008, 02:42 PM
I live in HPP, the population of which is variously estimated at from 8,000 to 14,000 residents. If I or any of the rest of my fellow HPP residents want to buy groceries, we have to get on a dangerous and crowded highway and burn expensive and irreplaceable petrol to do it. The Puna CDP at least provides a framework for changing that with the village center concept. In the case of HPP, several 20 acre parcels of land have been set aside for this, but the powers that be in the county government have never zoned them for such purpose.
How many communities the size of HPP have no grocery store, no police station, no schools, and no service businesses to speak of? A long history of zoning by Hilo-based interests has kept things this way. Do I wish we could retain the frontier aspects of life in Puna? Yes, in a way, but it is already mostly gone where I live. If we want to save what little is left and make the best accommodation to the emerging reality of life here, we have to have self-determination. The Puna CDP is our best hope for that.
Cheers,
Jerry
How many communities the size of HPP have no grocery store, no police station, no schools, and no service businesses to speak of? A long history of zoning by Hilo-based interests has kept things this way. Do I wish we could retain the frontier aspects of life in Puna? Yes, in a way, but it is already mostly gone where I live. If we want to save what little is left and make the best accommodation to the emerging reality of life here, we have to have self-determination. The Puna CDP is our best hope for that.
Cheers,
Jerry