What has Fred Blas done ?

[bluesboy]

Putting a disaster relief center in lava zone 1 doesn't seem too wise to me. Having it north of Pahoa would greatly reduce the risk from the volcano.

[Rene Siracusa]

Yes, Riverwolf, there are other possible disasters. But Leilani is in lava zone 1, so if the lava comes that way an evacuation center there will be useless. So that's 2 types of disasters that argue against siting the center there. If we are going to spend some big bucks on this, let's put it someplace where it will work for blowouts, lava flows, hurricanes, tsunamis and earthquakes - north of Pahoa. A comprehensive emergency evacuation plan will look at ALL the possibilities and determine the best location. Neither you nor I nor Fred Blas has the professional competency to make that determination - nor should we.

[opihikao]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Rene Siracusa

Yes, Rob, such a facility is needed...
but
No, Rob, Leilani is the wrong place to put it.

Let's think this through together: in a geothermal blowout, Leilani residents evacuate their homes to evacuate to....Leilani! Better options would be to stay home with doors and windows closed, or pack an overnight bag and visit friends or relatives in Hilo. Residents of other surrounding communities would have to get closer to the disaster if they evacuated to Leilani. It does not compute!

After the blowout the EPA sent a team here and they said we needed an emergency evacuation plan for the neighboring community. That has not happened. We have been waiting for it for 21 years! And one of the things a plan like that should address is the siting of evacuation centers - ten miles away! Putting such a facility in Leilani before a comprehensive emergency response plan is drafted and approved is bass ackwards (aka cart before the horse). And therefore a total waste of money. It will also distract from the real work of creating a viable plan.

---

First, Rene, thank you for all of your efforts on behalf of Puna over the years. This is a very important issue, and my only comment is, as we await Mr. Harry Kim's decision to run for Mayor (who I have great respect for):

As Civil Defense Director for 16 years, and Mayor for 8 years, what was done during his tenure in both positions to rectify this ongoing problem?

[Rene Siracusa]

When PGV came out with its emergency response plan, it was only for their on-site employees. Harry was CD administrator at the time. He refused to sign off on the plan because it excluded the neighboring community in its scope. Lorraine Inouye was mayor and overrode Harry.It appears that she had the legal authority to do that.

However, once Harry became mayor, I have no idea why he didn't revisit the issue. If he decides to run, I suggest that you ask him, because it's a damn good question.

[Rob Tucker]

On that track what has Billy Kenoi done on the issue? Aside from getting interested once the council came to Puna for a hearing?

[Frankie Stapleton]

Billy Kenoi has reacted to the threat of lava inundation/geothermal dangers like most of the local Hawaiians: they live with it because they've always lived with it and it may sound trite, but it's true: it's part of their culture. Read Rev. Ellis's account of people living in Puna; they'd wake up in the night with the earth opening up under them, regularly. Have you seen the upheaval Pahoa went thru in the 1920s prior to the 1924 explosive eruption of Halema'uma'u? There's film you can see on the USGS website. What did the government do then? Well, it's the same now: nothing (except draw maps creating lava zones). It was a part of life for Puna residents and they lived with it. Remember, this was still a territory on the most isolated population spot on the planet! And Puna being the fastest growing district in the state currently doesn't mean we have the most people; it means the ratio of people moving here is greater because there were relatively fewer people here to begin with!

Harry Kim essentially imposed martial law in Puna subdivisions when he was CD director and grass fires would break out makai of Hwy. 130. Pre-cell phones, parents literally ran his barricade (one mother was actually prosecuted for doing so) when he refused to let parents drive home to gather their children who had been delivered home by school buses before Kim imposed the roadblocks. The Territory of Hawaii was the only state or territory to function under martial law throughout WWII. So local people were used to that; didn't question it and knew nothing about "a man's home is his castle."

Re: the Leilani community relief center, it's my guess that Leilani's board is the only one that had CERT people in their community pushing for it. I took the CERT course and was CERTified, but I was the only one in Nanawale Est. to do so and I was totally unable to get the Nanawale board to consider networking or doing anything that the CERT program tries to establish in our neighborhoods. I know there were a number of HPP residents taking the CERT training at the same time as me and I'll bet they couldn't get their community to establish a CERT relief center in HPP either.

I wonder if Fred Blas even knows what the CERT program is about. He should. I haven't seen him do anything outside of getting Kahakai Blvd. paved and he voted with the Hilo majority on too many issues of importance to Puna to get that blacktop payoff, IMHO! It also bothers me that Pahoa business "leaders" don't pay much attention to politics unless it affects the Pahoa business community. IMHO...

[opihikao]

Thank you, Mr. Stapleton for your view. Always enjoy your posts.

Perhaps a four (4) year term would give the council person a better chance at being more productive, once the protocol is learned. (ducking...lol)


(Vividly recall when council meetings were first televised and watching Kalani Schutte was a real treat. Bless his soul.)

[csgray]

FYI,
That's Ms. Stapleton who makes such great posts here.

Carol

[opihikao]

Please forgive me...Ms. Stapleton![:I] See, I'm still a newcomer here...mahalo for the correction. Apologies.

[PauHana]

OMG; Four year terms! We would be stuck with Fred for twice as long, and as for learning protocal a fourty year term would not be long enough. If you want four years on the Council do a good job and get re-elected.
It was a long fight to get two year terms, and we only got it by accident. The "Hilo Junta" added a two year term to single member districts as one charter admendment, thinking both together would not pass ( they wanted neither). The strategy failed, democracy suceeded. Hilo use to elect EVERY district's Councilman, Council races were Island wide and cost big bucks,you could loose the district and still get elected if you carried Hilo.