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Some residents who have come to Wa‘a wa‘a may not know that the land is classified as a State Agricultural District and a County Agricultural Zone and that they pay less taxes because of that classification. They then start complaining, complaining about bumps on the historic road that was once called the Old Puna Trail, taking pictures of potholes to show to officials, complaining about driving new cars on the road, complaining about their taxes not giving them the infrastructure that the higher Urban District taxes provide for.
Some residents may not realize that they could have a working farm, goats and roosters, kennels, an orchid farm that sprays toxic chemicals, a papaya processing plant, and an aquaculture farm next to their house. Just to name a few of the permitted uses. It seems the idea of some, not by any means all, of the people who want the road paved is to make the Agricultural District look like a rich little suburb and paving the road is one step to getting there. This is agricultural land and it should remain affordable to small farmers.
You somehow made the choice to live off of a dirt road, maybe you have not considered the reasons most other people made this choice. Not only is the Government Beach Road an historic roadway that takes one back to the feeling of what Hawai‘i was once like, it is unique, it is relaxed, it causes one to breath a sigh of relief when coming back from town, and makes one slow down and appreciate what is still here. One of the many travelers who wrote about the beauty and significance of this road was King Kalakaua in the late 1800's. He traveled down this road and called the area a small historic district, thankfully, so far it still pretty much is. It has Hawaiian cultural significance and current cultural importance as well. We once had a meeting regarding the preservation of the Beach Road that a friend who was a planner was invited to. The first question she asked was "Where do you talk to your neighbors most?" We all chimed in, "The Beach Road". Why? Because you can stop and pull over and talk to people in cars, on horses, on bikes, people walking, people walking dogs, people running. It is a safe multi use road which is remarkable in this day and age. I don't know if you have noticed but dirt roads have a kind of humanizing effect in that people wave to even strangers as they pass, not so on busy paved roads. So sorry you cannot seem to appreciate one of the few places left like this and don't seem to be able to live with a few bumps for a few months on one very small section of your commute in order to keep it this way.
You seem to have really picked the wrong place to live. There were so many other places you could have chosen that would have been right for you. Why don't you consider moving to a place where you can be happy and that is more convenient for you instead of trying to make this unique place like everywhere else?
Sherry Palmer
PS
Notes:
Seems like about every couple of years public works has a meeting and every time the results are about the same, 80 some percent do not want the road paved.
It is a County road.
The County currently maintains the road twice a year.
This is a very safe road as the natural speed bumps keep the speed down.
Ambulances and police have never had a problem coming here.
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quote:
It is a County road.
The County currently maintains the road twice a year.
I find this very interesting; not only is the road listed on the official RIL inventory, but County is not legally allowed to maintain any unpaved road.
Bravo. Well said. I hope to buy property down there sometime and wont if any of what you said changes.
Aloha.
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Throughout my life I have lived on unimproved roads.. I suspect I ended up that way because I want a rural isolated lifestyle. Unfortunately we can't stop development from following us into every nook and cranny as long as someone thinks they can make a buck off of it. The two things that have impacted my life the most in this regard is HELCO's SSPP program and improvement of the roads. Both have had a positive impact on property values.. ease of life.. and the car's shocks! But then those.. except for the shocks.. haven't been my interest. And now, with practically a whole lifetime to look back on the cause and effect of the thing I can see how once a rural area is penetrated by any of the main components of first world infrastructure the rest follows. It might not be immediately but they do. it seems to me that the only way to prevent this is with some sort of natural barrier. Waipio valley for instance would be paved over if it wasn't for the limitations of the pali road and untamed water ways. With that in mind I'd speculate that Red road 's present condition is probably going a long way towards keeping the community from being heavily invested in by outside concerns and all that would follow. Anyone want to speculate what the differences in property values would be?
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I finally had to drive down there today to see for myself.Fearing the worst I took my truck.
There are some pretty impressive chuckholes toward the Hawaiian Beaches side but I could have gotten through in my Mazda 3 that has about 7 inches of ground clearance.
Sorry to report this to you Kalakoa but the county has been maintaining this road for quite a while.It's true that the state dumped these roads on the county.The county needs to step up and start maintaining the ones that actually exist and are of some value to the taxpayers.
This is one of those roads.Filling the bigger chuckholes with gravel is not going to destroy the scenic nature of this road.
For what it's worth you can fill out a complaint here :
http://www.hawaiicounty.gov/pw-pothole-repair/
quote:
Originally posted by Rob Tucker
The roads are for everybody, not just a few.
But you choose where you live. (By the way... you may have too much free time on your hands).
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Take a look at all the people commenting on this topic, this isn’t a back road in one of the several unpaved subdivisions throughout Puna, comparing it as such is ludicrous. Old Government Beach Road is currently used as an arterial linking the shoreline Communities and its rapid deterioration between County maintenance re-grades clearly demonstrates this heavy usage. Yes, the County has adopted the road into its maintenance schedule (how effective that is, that's a different topic altogether), so it's clearly not just another road in limbo regardless of what a dusty document may state.
Inevitably Old Government Beach Road will be fully adopted (paved) by the County, just as it’s adopted and used by the community - a main arterial connector extending Highway 137 linking the lower shoreline communities. Yes, that means paving.
Effective community infrastructure is the bottom line and will prevail sooner than later regarding Old Government Beach Road.
If anyone would like to pull up a map of the Puna areas shoreline communities and take a look at the roadways and separate themselves from personal opinions and temporarily adopt a rational puzzle solving mindset, they would quickly realize exactly what will happen with Old Government Beach Road. It’s a no brainer.
A rational mind that was seeking to live off the beaten path, would select a road that wasn’t a connector between communities. They would select a place at the end of a dead end road far beyond and not between community interest and needs. So as I read some of these comedic oppositions with regard to improvement, I wonder if they took the time to apply their rationale on a broader horizon if they would recognize the humor and hypocrisy in their positions.
Like it or not, Community needs will prevail and that community is far broader than Waa Waa and its immediate neighboring communities. Paving is what happens when you select and move into a connector community, that's the way it always has been and always will be.
Old Government Beach Road belongs to the People of the County of Hawaii and is exactly what it has been for several hundred years, a “main road”. That's something everyone here should know well and it should also be a key indicator as to its future use also. I'd bet anyone that had the King of Hawaii had pavement in his days, "Old Government Beach Road"/THE KINGS ROAD would have been one of the very first roads paved on this island. BTW - Don't try to sell me a bill of goods that it is now as it was then historical crapola with regard to position and width, etc. (it's already long since changed). It’s as clear as the existing line between Point A and Point B. Until humans adopt the ability to travel through worm holes, we’ll continue to adopt the shortest, easiest and most cost effective distance between two points… think about it. Expecting something else is simply absurd.
- Armed citizens provide security of a free State.
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One of the things I like about the County of Hawaii is that they can still pave a road without adhering to heavy regulations. This County has a lot of flexibility roadway wise without much complex established bureaucracy and heavy handed regulations. For example the road below Leilani Estates with a split in the road with a Mango tree in the center... I like THAT! But I also fear that type of road design flexibility will shortly become history.
One of my fears is waiting 5 or 10 more years and having the county come in with no input from us and tossing in a 40' wide straighter and leveled highway quality road with the trees cut way back because their roadway regulations change and then Helco is granted an easement and comes along and tosses up high tensions power lines on that approved type of roadway. The State will eventually establish heavy County regulations on all roadway designs in the near future, that's for certain. It's coming, just like the State required adoption of IBC codes for the County building codes. More and more uniform heavy regulations are coming down from the State and Federal levels.
So while we sit here and bicker over capping the current meandering road in asphalt, all of us be it against or for capping the current road may end up getting shafted much worse if we wait and have a roadway type forced on all of us that we don't want. Like now for example, we could ask that the big mango going up the hill just South of the Waa Waa line be left and the road split around it. Now we can ask for these types of things... later, more than likely not. Now we can be part of the design process - tomorrow we wont be allowed input on design.
By putting in the improvements today as we want them with our input and todays flexibility... the less likely a straight 40' wide roadway with power lines will ever be adopted. We can effectively stamp out the possibility of more subdivisions being put in for years to come but only if we make improvement that disallow those possibilities. We could get a nice park put in at sand hills if we lean on the state to hand over the land to the county. We could put in chicanes on the beach road designed on the existing topography and trees. We wont get that type of chance in the future, it will become like the mainland's regulations and we'll have limited to no a say in the matter.
A neglected area is developers dream, low cost land and no obstructions is a place to establish something, VIOLA! People who resist improvements unwittingly promote new developments. That's how it works. Either get on the ball and make improvement that are unfriendly to new developments or resist change ignorantly and let someone else make the changes for you. The choice is up to you, shape and form your community or neglect it and turn it over to others. The only way to fight development is through development. The ball is currently in our court... the choice is up to us.
- Armed citizens provide security of a free State.
You simply don't know much about the area if you think this way. It isn't going to get paved, it has been put out for debate before, the county showed up with equipment but when they saw the oppostion they beat feet out and later claimed confusion. To say that a great king of Hawaii who loved his land would have used pavement if he had access to it points to your lack of knowledge about the island. Waa Waa won't become your short cut at the cost of the mango trees and the great history down here. Now run along to your paved subdivision and enjoy.
quote:
Originally posted by dragon2k
So it's a county road, where does the county get their funding from? On a related note - how many of you pro-pavement folks have contacted your elected representatives? Time to be the squeaky wheels...
Nothing left to do but
Smile
Smile
Smile
I can now see that this forum is nothing more than a lot of whining transplants, some from screwed up places like Canada where they marry their sisters. The problems on this island are the people that post on this site, there are exceptions but for the most part it is nothing more than a whine and bitch session for the needy.
I'm done reading the postings of this person. Nothing more than the rantings of a crazy that is asking everyone for a beatdown.
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