11-07-2009, 06:56 AM
This is rather disheartening news, Rob. Once again the entrenched incumbent interests in the county government are trying to avoid carrying out the will of the voters and constituents.
As far as Ms. Leithead-Todd goes, I had heard a lot of positive things about her when she took office, and I am disappointed to learn that she is resistant to what is sounds like a sensible approach to the CDPs. My own personal exposure to Ms. Leithead-Todd was at a recent HPP General Membership Meeting where she was the guest speaker. When it came time for the very important owner input section of the meeting, I brought up the PMAR (Puna Makai Alternate Route,) an issue which is very important to Puna and which HPP has not adequately addressed as a community. I mentioned that it was a shame the our guest from the County had already left, but someone in the audience pointed out that she was still there, but had been in the parking lot for nearly an hour having a private conversation with a couple of attendees.
***Note to Ms. Leithead-Todd: If you're going to go through the motions of participating in grass-roots community meetings, don't give more attention to one or two people than you give to the group and the issues that concern them. If you needed to talk to those people privately, there are other times and places. You didn't make a great first impression.***
And yes, I'm emailing her a longer version of this critique.
As far as Ms. Leithead-Todd goes, I had heard a lot of positive things about her when she took office, and I am disappointed to learn that she is resistant to what is sounds like a sensible approach to the CDPs. My own personal exposure to Ms. Leithead-Todd was at a recent HPP General Membership Meeting where she was the guest speaker. When it came time for the very important owner input section of the meeting, I brought up the PMAR (Puna Makai Alternate Route,) an issue which is very important to Puna and which HPP has not adequately addressed as a community. I mentioned that it was a shame the our guest from the County had already left, but someone in the audience pointed out that she was still there, but had been in the parking lot for nearly an hour having a private conversation with a couple of attendees.
***Note to Ms. Leithead-Todd: If you're going to go through the motions of participating in grass-roots community meetings, don't give more attention to one or two people than you give to the group and the issues that concern them. If you needed to talk to those people privately, there are other times and places. You didn't make a great first impression.***
And yes, I'm emailing her a longer version of this critique.