What has Fred Blas done ?

[punaticbychoice]

Good point and good history PauHana.
Thank you.

[opihikao]

Point taken, PauHana. Well said. Just threw it out there as Puna always gets the "short end of the stick" regardless. We need strong representation and have not had any for many years (my opinion only).

With two (2) people representing Puna, perhaps we'll get some decent legislation drafted and passed, without the continued struggle of "East side versus West side" and Puna left behind as usual.

Only raised protocol because watching council meetings is bloody painful these days! (sigh)

[JerryCarr]

Opihikao makes an excellent point about drafting legislation, but there has been no need to wait for the second Puna council member to come on line for that. Can anybody name a piece of substantial legislation Fred has introduced, never mind gotten passed? He even has a full-time, talented Legislative Aide, Barbara Lively, who could do the bill writing for him. My guess as to why is that Fred consistently comes up lacking in the "vision" department. He seems to function in the nuts and bolts world of building bus shelters and repaving the occasional stretch of road. Puna is so deficient in so many areas of local government service, that it really needs a leader with big picture view of things. I don't see us getting that from Fred.

Instead, he has fallen back on Emily Naeole's strategy of tapping of the geothermal fund to be able to say he has brought home some bacon. While this is better than nothing, it keeps us on the fringe of the budgeting process while other districts without geothermal funds get their projects through building productive legislative alliances. What Fred gets in return for some of his votes is beyond me. Adding to the problem is the fact that Dominic Yagong has introduced legislation that will restrict the geothermal fund to something closer to its original purpose. What will Fred do then?

Like others have said before me, if one isn't in Hawaiian Beaches or Pahoa town, Fred has done very little, even in the concrete world where he functions best. He has recently made some rather late gestures toward HPP, the largest single population center in the district. (In fairness, I have to say the HPP is often its own worst enemy with fragmented, ineffective leadership that shows little sign of improvement.) He has offered to help HPP turn over Makuu Drive to the County, but that is of almost no use if Fred is the only person in a position of authority to support it. In meetings with HPP, he has shown a shocking degree of ignorance about the legally mandated structure of the largest subdivision in Puna. He even published a campaign ad with incorrect information about HPP's situation regarding Highway 130 and crime reduction. I will comment on the distortions in that in a later post.

For now, I will just say that I still haven't decided which candidate to support in the coming election. All three of them have deficiencies IMHO. I can say that Fred is the least likely of them to get my vote unless I see some dramatic improvement in the vision department.

[csgray]

Not only does Fred not introduce legislation, he doesn't even show up to vote on a highly disputed matter of rezoning land in a main commercial center of his own district, a piece of land that is not even 2 blocks from where he was eating lunch and talking story instead of getting himself to his job. He could have attended the county council meeting by phone, if not in person, there is no excuse for not voting on this matter. To be part of a very public ribbon cutting where he would get his face in the news, but then skip a county council meeting the same day, is really thumbing his nose at his constituents. Is he that confident that his two opponents will split the anti-Fred vote, or does he not really want to keep the job? County councilor is still Fred's job, one he is asking the voters to rehire him for, but he doesn't seem very interested in actually doing it, unless it is something that directly benefits his neighborhood.

Carol

[KeaauRich]

I don't live in either Fred's current or newly drawn district, so I only have a tangential stake in this discussion. I will say, however, that during her term, Aunty Emily was always out and about - easily accessible to her constituents (whether she listened or not is another subject for another day...). The only place to reliably see Fred Blas is marching in local parades with whichever kids' sports team has won a championship. Having said that, my current Council Representative (J. Yoshimoto) is even more invisible than Fred, and has never acknowledged any of the emails I have sent to him over the years.

Hopefully the new crop of Council Members will be more responsive.

[PauHana]

Fred reminds me of Major Major and his instructions to his Sergeant in the book CATCH 22, " when I'am here I'am not IN, I 'am only IN when I am not here."
Fred got elected because he wasn't Emily. Emily stepped on some toes, but she worked tirelesly and took peoples problems to heart, she also never tried to hide from anyone. Fred is definitely not Emily.

[Rob Tucker]

Fred actually got elected for more reasons than he wasn't Emily. Fred had picked up a lot of street cred by working in the community. Clean up projects, painting out graffiti, adding signs, working with a substantial team of volunteers. It was his own dime and his own leadership. Fred also was/is very proactive with children's sports creating a league for youth football and I gotta say, I'm not into football but a lot of people are.

James may have learned from Fred that he actually had spent pretty much all his time going to meetings and dispensing his wisdom.... not much street cred in that. The one place I know of that James spent community time this past year was defending his neighborhood from any potential PMAR. Kinda of James' equivalent of paving his own road.

Fred is Fred. If you expect him to be you you will be disappointed.

This election we will see just which personality gets the votes. James talks. Fred walks. Neither of them are Emily.

[Frankie Stapleton]

There is another candidate in that race and I think his vote will surprise you. But I could be wrong. Still, there IS another candidate.

[Rob Tucker]

Yeah, I heard a rumor to that effect. I will keep my eyes open. Not disinterested.

[JerryCarr]

The third candidate is Greggor Ilagan, and he is beginning to garner a surprising amount of support. He has been quietly, but diligently making the rounds, and he held a campaign event at the HPP Activity Center last weekend. I have encountered a number of his supporters among my contacts in the HPP Community, and they are spreading the word. He is young (26, I think,) a military veteran, and a UH-Hilo student. Google him, and you should get some more info.