09-28-2008, 07:41 AM
I thank you for your responses. I don't think they explain your opinion that without a commercial highway Puna will be a 3rd world environment filled with millionaires..... seems like an oxymoron to me. Or how it would become one or the other. Still don't get it.
The situation you describe with jobs and shopping is correct... if you want to describe what is here now. Planning requires looking ahead. The PCDP is intended to describe what Puna can and will become.
The community has been asked to speak to the issues and that has taken place. The PCDP is not intended to be a blueprint of the existing Puna but a road map to a future Puna. In that I think it prudent to assume that things can and will change. Things like dependence on gasoline to operate private vehicles. The auto industry seems to be heading in another direction. Environmental concerns are turning away from burning stuff constantly as a bad, expensive habit. Like smoking.
Public transportation in a rural environment can work sufficiently if the destinations are clustered (Village Centers) rather than linear(sprawl). And Puna as a rural district can be preserved precisely by keeping our pathways rural. That is the part that most of us see and where we get our sense of place. If you are driving past farm land and Ohia forests (like we do now) you will know that. If you are driving past Toyota dealerships and fast food joints then that is what you will feel and experience.
What makes me optimistic is that Puna is not yet commercialized and channelized and paved. There is still a chance, for this district, to preserve some of what makes Hawaii unique.
But it is a battle. The battle is now between government institutions like HDOT and the community. The determination of the community plan has been made and it is, if you care to read it, rather along the lines of what James and I have described.
The situation you describe with jobs and shopping is correct... if you want to describe what is here now. Planning requires looking ahead. The PCDP is intended to describe what Puna can and will become.
The community has been asked to speak to the issues and that has taken place. The PCDP is not intended to be a blueprint of the existing Puna but a road map to a future Puna. In that I think it prudent to assume that things can and will change. Things like dependence on gasoline to operate private vehicles. The auto industry seems to be heading in another direction. Environmental concerns are turning away from burning stuff constantly as a bad, expensive habit. Like smoking.
Public transportation in a rural environment can work sufficiently if the destinations are clustered (Village Centers) rather than linear(sprawl). And Puna as a rural district can be preserved precisely by keeping our pathways rural. That is the part that most of us see and where we get our sense of place. If you are driving past farm land and Ohia forests (like we do now) you will know that. If you are driving past Toyota dealerships and fast food joints then that is what you will feel and experience.
What makes me optimistic is that Puna is not yet commercialized and channelized and paved. There is still a chance, for this district, to preserve some of what makes Hawaii unique.
But it is a battle. The battle is now between government institutions like HDOT and the community. The determination of the community plan has been made and it is, if you care to read it, rather along the lines of what James and I have described.
Assume the best and ask questions.
Punaweb moderator
Punaweb moderator