General Plan approved despite fervent opposition

[Durian Fiend]

Did you look at the photo I posted previously?  

Or read your post that clearly indicated you were currently in Japan?    The Civil Beat article was right on target.  Thanks for sharing it.

[MyManao]

If anyone has actual insight into these concerns about zoning for "for natural use" vs agricultural or conservation, please do share..

Interestingly, back in the early days of statehood, Hawaii was eager to spawn new growth, and one area of their efforts was in agriculture, of which the Volcano Farm Lots was one. Carved out of dense Ohia and fern forest, the Lots are 30 acres each and originally were acquired as homesteads. 

Homesteading, back then, was a deal one made with the state whereby they agreed to a five year plan in which they would move onto the land, clear the forest and begin ag pursuits, and, by the end of five years be making more than 50% of their taxable income from the land. If successful, the state would transfer ownership of the land to the homesteader.

And, over time, things change.

Fifty years later we bought one of the parcels from the state, that they had acquired as a forfeiture for an unpaid ag loan, and then secured funding, again from the state, in grants, to reforest the property. On top of that, back then (in the early 2000s), the tax rate for dedicated forest was ten times less than ag. Today they are the same. The county supports/encourages both equally. Open, rural, actual ag, conservation, these are the land uses that make our island what it is. What it always has been. Urban sprawl and tourism are our reaction to the changing world, and our desire/need for their tax dollars, and to absorb our share of the (what was until very recently) ever growing world population.

I agree wholeheartedly with the county encouraging future population growth in areas already given over to dense populations in order to persevere our rural communities and open spaces. Although I think farming here, in general, is a failing proposition, I think it is by far a better use of the land than more bedroom communities. But we really need to face it, with the cost of our isolation being so high the cost to ship in raw materials and equipment, and ship out product, is prohibitive to making a successful agricultural industry.

What has been a more lucrative endeavor is the Earth sciences. We, until the madness took over the great white chiefs in DC, were a capital of maintaining and the science of the various aspects of nature. From the different nature preservers to the atmospheric studies, we really have been a beacon of hope for creating the tools we’ll need to face the changing environment. And, although I have not seen a quantitative list of our losses, I suspect natural sciences have suffered dearly from the orangutan’s bastardization of intellectual pursuit, science. I look forward to that pendulum swinging back in Nature's favor.

I personally don’t have a problem with our, until the current administration, government’s socialistic underpinnings. The support of science, in all its myriad forms, has been exemplary of our success as a society, and the Big Island has been lucky to be the recipient of so much. It’s a shame we’re now giving all that up to return to the dark ages, which the 'angry mob' response to the General Plan 2045 is a great example. For a lifetime the repugs have under/defunded education.. and now we live with the resulting uneducated fools. The ‘angry mob’ who don’t believe a professional because they know better, they heard it on FB and X.

For those that did not see the entire Trib article, which imo gave way too much focus to the crowd of idiots that took the opportunity to make fools of themselves, it ended with the following..

After public testimonies wrapped up, Kohala Councilman James Hustace called on Planning Director Darrow to sit before the council and present a short history of the 2045 Plan.

“There was a tremendous amount of input from the public,” Darrow said. “That’s what the plan is made up of.”

He attempted to address concerns expressed by testifiers like D’Alerta, who claimed the plan’s “natural” zoning would supplant agriculture-zoned land and prevent farmers from growing food.

“This does not limit anybody’s ability to farm or build a house or change their zoning. It’s just a new type of overall General Plan land use designation,” he said.

“There’s nothing in the plan that is gonna force anybody to do anything,” he added. “It’s not gonna force anybody to buy an electric vehicle or give up your truck or lose your land or rezone or anything.”

[Punatang]

NO inbred hapa tongan fakas - Olohana 1790


I'm trying to work this one out Olohana.  I always learn a great deal from your posts.  Can you please illustrate how that would work with a sample family tree or even using F1, F2, BC1, etc?  Mahalo in advance.

It is very cool that you turned your baseball career into a Japan oriented business.  There are other Owhyhee connected players that have done the same, as I'm sure you are uniquely aware.  Keep up the good work.  Aroha.


We're not in Kansas anymore, Olo. - プリマルエッジ

Toto has been dishonoredッ

[HiloJulie]

NO inbred hapa tongan fakas - Olohena 1790

I'm trying to work this one out Olohena.  I always learn a great deal from your posts.  Can you please illustrate how that would work with a sample family tree or even using F1, F2, BC1, etc?  Mahalo in advance.

I think the sincerity of your question has already been answered by the intentional misspelling of the posters name. 

Toto has been dishonored

Respectfully, these last few posts prove that human intellect has been dishonored.

[ironyak]

kalakoa - Provided you don't mind the lack of jobs and services, sure.
What lack of jobs and services exactly? Sure there's no chip fabrication or AI data centers being done (won't someone think of the electricity rates!), but you could always be a Sales Representative for Cannabis Company in Hilo Hawaii now. They used to try and lock you up for being such an entrepreneur back in the day - wild times!

Not a bad lifestyle choice, but it takes up all your time.
Don't all lifestyle choices take up all your time? Time is just a number, or what you make of it, or something similar I read once on a Jungle Love bumper sticker. ;)

...and that's why Oahu gets to tell Puna how to live.
Do they? Not sure they could bother to find or maneuver the local "roads" to come tell most Punatics how to live...

MyManao - the cost of our isolation being so high the cost to ship in raw materials and equipment, and ship out product, is prohibitive to making a successful agricultural industry.
Maybe better people grow for the local market, instead of trying to turn actual green fruit and veg into green paper or screen digits. All tertiary and quaternary economies rely on the primary sector of physical materials, a fact that should be increasingly clear as all abstractions like prices go up due to the haphazard lack of distant dino juice and an over abundance of warm pacific ocean water. (warning, contains info from topic experts - educate yourself at your own risk ;)

With all the possible explanative narratives possible, why some people are drawn to those that make them the victims of some vast unverifiable conspiracy is a question for the times as the number of people living in these alternate realities is growing and only going to show up more in both local and national politics as politicians are forced to represent their constituents' imaginative concerns.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

why some people are drawn to those that make them the victims of some vast unverifiable conspiracy is a question for the times as the number of people living in these alternate realities is growing and only going to show up more in both local and national politics as politicians are forced to represent their constituents' imaginative concerns.

Yep.
On the one hand, people enjoy quasi-membership in a massive organization of the like minded, while also believing they have some kind of inside information, secret society stuff, they are the chosen few, the fortunate who have discovered a hidden truth.

Eisenhower cautioned us to beware of the military industrial complex.  People will rant about socialism, and the necessity for getting rid of federal workers, federal health and scientific research, but support unlimited expenditures for the largest military in the world, by far, probably the biggest socialist workers program in the US.  

Locally many island residents find it quite acceptable to join the armed forces, or have family in the armed forces, while also protesting telescopes on Mauna Kea, one reason given that observatories use adaptive optics, a military application.  Without an ounce of irony.

politicians are forced to represent their constituents' imaginative concerns.

And vote for programs and funding for imaginary health cures, short term energy solutions, anti-scientific “research”, imaginary enemy weapon abilities, imaginary benefits and justification of protectionism, and in general a long list of boogeymen that can’t be easily refuted to those convinced they’re in-the-know, because HOW can you see them?  They’re UNDER the bed, BEHIND the closet door, and it’s nighttime, the scary time when it’s dark and no one can be expected to see anything?  But the fear is real, so let’s pay to alleviate it with middle class taxes.

[HiloJulie]

BUT but NO CRIME in Japan. NO Security, NO Bars on every window NO inbred hapa tongan fakas beating up 15yr olds and lifeguards for tikitokie view chit, no inbred Marshallese reetarded fakas shooting icehead homeless fakas w/ BB guns, no stabbing of home invaders BS!!!

You sure? Positive? Guarantee? 

Hold my beer:

Missing Auburn student found dead in Japan, mother says

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

You sure? Positive? Guarantee? 

It can’t be guaranteed, but you can’t guarantee safety anywhere.  In general, (very generally) what Olohana 1790 said about Japan compared (or as he says 180 degrees) to Hawaii is accurate.  The American student had a beef with his American mom because she used high carbon Chat GPT for directions, he took off on his own and became lost on a hiking trail.  In a non-urban forested area (as Olohana mentioned also exists in Japan), near urban Kyoto, easily accessible by train. He started out a day or two before the recent typhoon, so lots of wind, 5”-10” of rain, and probably not many on the trail to ask for directions or help.  No definitive autopsy report yet though.

It’s hard to find a dented car, crime is exceptionally low, if you lose something it will be turned in to police or hung prominently from something near where it was found.  Even money. I feel safer here than in Puna.  There are yakuza, an elderly woman sat next to me yesterday and started talking quietly, cordially to her bag, but generally I have a greater sense of well being.  Another woman, 87 years old, went missing in the neighborhood around 12:30 PM.  An announcement was made on the district public address loudspeaker system, where she was last seen, her name, etc, and updated when she was found safe a few hours later.  At 5:00 PM every day they play a short cheerful song which is usually the only time the system is used.

If you go north though, watch out for KUMA! Bears.  One poor guy was caught on video last week, chased for a minute by a kuma in a parking lot and building entrance, the bear caught up to him and partly pulled his pants down.  It’s been shown over and over on the national news every night.  Hopefully it’s earned the victim (who survived) free beer for life every time he walks into his local small town izakaya to offset any possible residual embarrassment.

Which is one of the great things about Puna, no bears.

Not sure what this would cost at Maku’u Sunday Market, or Malama Market, or the Natch, but 2 corn picked that morning, 2 cukes, big box of mushrooms, spinach, edamame (fresh soybean), and lettuce also picked that morning, bought at the local grocery for under $8. 

   

[randomq]

Yeesh, time to move to Japan...

[TomK]

kalakoa - 
With all the possible explanative narratives possible, why some people are drawn to those that make them the victims of some vast unverifiable conspiracy is a question for the times as the number of people living in these alternate realities is growing and only going to show up more in both local and national politics as politicians are forced to represent their constituents' imaginative concerns.

Has Sir Humphrey been reincarnated?

https://youtu.be/gmOvEwtDycs?si=6LYqEywyA_EbyjsJ

At least he made sense. What on earth does the following mean? Politicians being forced to represent imaginative concerns?

"With all the possible explanative narratives possible", "a question for the times", "Alternate realities"?

That's new-age hippie talk if ever I've seen it. If those people want to change anything, get them to vote if they can figure out how. Let us all know there's some other reality they can vote for rather than being victims of "some vast unverifiable conspiracy".