Puna Regional Emergency Preparedness (PREP) Fair

[bluesboy]

This Saturday August 30 from 9am - 3pm.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Puna-Regi...6110676714

Thought I would post here so it would get more views. Hope that's okay. Please move if not.

[Tink]

I somehow have a feeling more steam will be vented there than the lava crack, due to what has happened recently, and what is happening now. I hope it does not happen, for they are just messengers delivering information to be digested and used at your will. They can not change procedures, and also can not fix your problem. Instead, thank them for volunteering their time to give you resources to use. Complaints should go to your district representative via e mail, so they can evaluate what their people really want, and not what they see.

Community begins with Aloha

[spunky]

Not sure people realize just how big this Puna Preparedness Fair will be.

70 VENDORS of various agencies including:

Jim K. of Hawaii Volcano Observatory
Civil Defense - Darryl Oliveira isa featured speaker
HELCO
Volunteer Organizations Active In Disasters
Firewise Hawaii
Red Cross
CERT
Council of Aging
and a lot more

There will be a mapping area where people can look at maps and make suggestions on evacuation routes etc.

This event has been in the planning stages since last August and hundreds of people are involved.

I hope folks check it out and find out more safety info.

[missydog1]

Yes, it sure is perfect timing. I looked at all the contributors and it's impressive. It wasn't until I found myself on the giving end of an event that I realized the insane amount of planning and giving of time to make even a small event come off, and this one is big.

Let's appreciate what others gave to make it happen.

Kathy

[opihikao]

FYI: (*Snipped - More at link incl. video)

http://www.bigislandvideonews.com/2014/0...pe-routes/

With all the talk these days about evacuation routes in Puna, the fair’s e-mapping room was a popular attraction. Stephanie Bath showed us how participants could lend their knowledge to the ongoing discussion on connecting Puna’s many private subdivisions.

Documents on the Puna CDP website show the top priorities:


The top three Connectivity Locations for each of the four Puna areas are:

Volcano Area:
1. Fern Forest/Eden Roc – Kaleponi to Punahele
2. Volcano Village – Wright Road to Stainback
3. Fern Forest/Eden Roc – Leila Road to Ahi Avenue

Puna Uka (Upper):
1. Highway 11 to Fern Acres – South Lauko to Puhala
2. Enos Road to Hawaiian Acres – Enos Rd. to Ao and Kea Roads in Hawaiian Acres
3. Connect Fern Acres to Kopua Farmlots on Puhala to Kahikopele

Puna Waena (Middle):
1. HPP/HB/HS – Hawaiian Paradise Park to Hawaiian Beaches/Hawaiian Shores (Railroad)
2. HPP/Hilo – HPP to Hilo (Railroad)
3. Orchidland/Hawaiian Acres – Pohaku Drive to Pulelehua Road

Puna Kai (Lower):
1. HPP to Hawaiian Beaches/Hawaiian Shores (Railroad)
2. Nanawale – Additional Access to Highway 132 via Forest Road
3. Seaview Estates – Kamoamoa Road to Highway 130

[jrw]

These connectivity locations are a good idea if the roads where all county roads. The roads are all in private subdivisions who are already having a hard time keeping up there roads. Maybe the county could bring all these roads up to county standards and maintian them too? The subdivisions cant afford it.

jrw

[leilanidude]

quote:

---

Originally posted by jrw

These connectivity locations are a good idea if the roads where all county roads. The roads are all in private subdivisions who are already having a hard time keeping up there roads. Maybe the county could bring all these roads up to county standards and maintian them too? The subdivisions cant afford it.
jrw

---

People bought those lots on the cheap because those subdivisions didn't have adequate roads. If the roads had been in place, the lots would have cost a whole lot more.

If the subdivisions now want the County to upgrade/maintain those roads, then the people in those subdivisions should pay some sort of additional fee onto their property tax bill for those roads. I do not believe that fee should be "cheap", either. After-all, the lot owner would be gaining additional property value along the way.

[csgray]

I exchanged several emails with Marlene Hapai, who is a big part of this process, and Larry Brown at the county, and two things in particular scare the heck out of me:
1-They are basing their suggestions for connector routes solely on the public commentary given at these meetings, this is why Railroad keeps showing up on the maps, because it is a popular idea, but it is one that lacks the legal easements to become a reality outside of an emergency order like the one the Governor just signed.
2-In addition, they plan to revise the maps of suggested routes every time they have the fair, so no one can know where they could decide to put in a connector in the future.

To me that is an extremely unscientific way to collect data. One small part of Puna (the people who go to these meetings) are the only people who get to vote, someone could "stuff the ballot box" so to speak, and they don't take into account any actual reality on the ground like the narrowness of Railroad through HPP (it also crosses other roads about 10 times crossing the subdivision) number of houses on which streets, or natural features like lava tubes. The fact that they will keep changing the maps and proposed routes also means that someone who actually wants to plan a home that would not be on the route cannot know where they can do that.

The time is way overdue for a comprehensive transportation plan for Puna, one that has 5, 10, and 25 year goals, and firm lines on paper showing where the PMAR will go. That way people like me, who do not want to live on a thoroughfare, will not wake up one morning to discover the county has designated my dead end street to be a major commuter route. Creating that plan should have already been done, then during this emergency everyone would already know where the routes are going to go. Instead, we are going to have something shoved through our neighborhoods with no hearings, no consideration for the people of the subdivisions that are going to be traversed by the new route, and no public input.

There will certainly be resistance to any route, but more people move here every week, more new houses are built, and the number of homes being affected goes up every day. By setting a route in advance the county could at least let people who don't want to build their dream home on a quiet street that is about to become a thoroughfare know where to avoid, and people who want the convenience could build on that route.

When I met with Counselor Ilagan about this issue last week, he implied that the Shipman's want all the connectors built first, before they will even consider allowing the PMAR to go through their lands. My question is this: if I have to bite the bullet and live with all of lower Puna commuting 30 feet from my front door on a narrow dusty gravel road for the good of the community, will the Shipmans also have to bite the bullet and allow the route to go through their lands? Or is sacrifice strictly something asked of individual homeowners, not the largest land owner in Puna, during this emergency?

Carol

Every time you feel yourself getting pulled into other people's nonsense, repeat these words: Not my circus, not my monkeys.
Polish Proverb

[csgray]

quote:

---

Originally posted by leilanidude

quote:

---

Originally posted by jrw

These connectivity locations are a good idea if the roads where all county roads. The roads are all in private subdivisions who are already having a hard time keeping up there roads. Maybe the county could bring all these roads up to county standards and maintian them too? The subdivisions cant afford it.
jrw

---

People bought those lots on the cheap because those subdivisions didn't have adequate roads. If the roads had been in place, the lots would have cost a whole lot more.

If the subdivisions now want the County to upgrade/maintain those roads, then the people in those subdivisions should pay some sort of additional fee onto their property tax bill for those roads. I do not believe that fee should be "cheap", either. After-all, the lot owner would be gaining additional property value along the way.

---

People deliberately bought lots that were not on major roads, if the county is going to turn these quiet private roads into public connector routes used by thousands of people to drive to Hilo and back every day, the county needs to maintain and upgrade those roads. The people of the subdivisions involved do not want these connectors going through their subdivisions, now you are saying they should pay extra for the dubious privilege of having that forced onto them?

Carol

Every time you feel yourself getting pulled into other people's nonsense, repeat these words: Not my circus, not my monkeys.
Polish Proverb

[Seeb]

Every time I hear railroad mentioned,I try to explain it's a cut and fill railroad bed. If you want to make it any wider it's going to cost you 10x what it would cost to cut a road from scratch.