Jen Ruggles, Kanealii-Kleinfelder, and Wirick

[Punaperson]

I agree that in this election for most it is not a question of who to root for, but as KeaauRich said above "Which candidate will I be less embarrassed by?". It comes down to a binary choice, and my own vote, as a long time resident of Orchidland is determined by the following:

Kanealii-Kleinfelder: - I agree with his position of finding homes for evacuees in in vacant/foreclosed homes: seems to help 2 problems at the same time
- has practical experience with alternate energy ( solar )

Wirick - doesn't know that the County Council has no jurisdiction over federal National Park policies
- doesn't know that the agencies most helpful in aiming for food sustainability are State , not County: UH College of Ag, HCC Ag Program, CCESS, Co=operatative Extenstion Service ( to name a few )
- doesn't realize the idea of much of Puna being able to sustain itself via agriculture has been supplanted/surpassed by the suburban pattern of home ownership


It sounds wonderful to fight for '"farming for food sustainability". If it were possible/feasible to make a living doing so, more people would be doing it.

In any kind of sustainable food production, it comes down to '"how much does it cost to grow/get it to market", versus " how much does it sell for". ( Has anyone found the price of lychee, Avas, peapods, papaya, macnuts, etc going down ? ) As someone who has ( tried ) to make a living with different crops over many years, the battle with bugs, diseases, critters, is not one that most people will want to take on, or succeed at. ( I won't get into how much damage pigs can do to a food crop over one night, and how they are smart and come back repeatedly. Pigs don't read map lines, and hunting them in spaghetti-shaped lots is a not a situation I want to increase. ) As someone who grew crops through the extremes of weather that Puna presents ( 30" of rain in one day, followed by 4 months of not a single drop ), I know that infrastructure is necessary for sustained production: greenhouses for too wet times, and irrigation for too dry times. ( Note to Kalakaua - good roads nice, but not necessary.). Solar seems a possible way to help with the long-term costs of needed infrastructure.

Neither candidate has experience in how the County Council works, or what is the best way to get things done. But I think that the positions put forth by Wirick would only present the most extreme, pie-in-the-sky, not tied to reality, positions that let other Council members not take Puna seriously ( again ). I think that Kanealii-Kleinfelder would be seen as being much closer to the reality of working people in Puna, and would be a better Council representative.

Edit: spelling/grammar

[Midnight Rambler]

- doesn't realize the idea of much of Puna being able to sustain itself via agriculture has been supplanted/surpassed by the suburban pattern of home ownership

The whole reason the bigger subdivisions were sold off by Shipman in the first place is that they're not much good for agriculture. Much of what was, in lower Puna, has now been covered by lava over the past 70 years.

[DaVinci]

What struck me listening to the last candidate forum was that Kanealii-Kleinfelder and Eileen O’Hara were the two candidates who specifically mentioned that they wanted to hear from their constituents. Listen to them and form policy based on the feedback they received. That, to me, is significant in a representative position. I remember that Jen Ruggles also made it clear two years ago that she wanted to know what were the priorities of the people living in her district.

Jen learned a lot on the job, and I wish she was going to continue, but I am buoyed by the thought that Kanealii-Kleinfelder also seems sincerely interested in serving the needs of our district. He and O’Hara and Ashley were vocal in their support of the PCDP also, which is and remains a valuable blueprint moving forward. Wirick specifically dismissed that document, which disturbed me. His ideas about how to move forward seem top-down and dictatorial, as if he would rather tell us all what is best for us than listen to what we’d like to see happen. We’re a residential district now. We don’t all want to be farmers. We don’t all want to turn away those shipping containers from the mainland. (Pretty sure Hawaii farmers still don’t know how to grow scotch...)

Kanealii-Kleinfelder is young and he’d have to learn on the job. This is true. But he also admitted as much. He’s confident, and he knows his strengths and he seems willing to admit to his weaknesses and work on them. And his desire to serve the community and his reasons for wanting to do that seem sincere. He reminds me a lot of Jen Ruggles, who two years ago didn’t have much experience either. Maybe if we can get Kanealii-Kleinfelder elected alongside Eileen O’Hara, she can teach him a thing or two and bring him up to speed.

I’m voting for Matt.

[randomq]

Eileen can teach Matt how to kowtow to Hilo and Kona, not reign in the county budget, and not stand up to Oahu...

[kalakoa]

He and O'Hara and Ashley were vocal in their support of the PCDP also, which is and remains a valuable blueprint

Really? Were's my "neighborhood commerical" then? Alternate routes?

[Rob Tucker]

One thing the PCDP did, which I worked on, has been to preclude commercial development of Hwy. 130 and prevent it being a string of strip malls. That did not accomplish everything for sure but if Hwy 130 was commercially developed we would have had a Route 66 situation which would kill Pahoa Village among others. The CoH is is still an obstacle to commercial village centers but it will only be private sector investors that build them. The PCDP is merely a plan for development.

An alternate route for Puna is supported in the PCDP but it is not the PCDP that will build it eventually. The PCDP also is in a position to undercut expressed plans for a "new subdivision" for displaced property owners from the lava disaster.

So, Kalakoa, you may be unhappy that some things are not done as yet but it is not the PCDP that would be a developer. PCDP is not a developer.

[Chunkster]

If you want to see the "participatory" element of the county apparatus at its mind-numbing worst, attend a meeting of the Puna Community Development Plan Action Committee. Having attended three of their meetings over a period of years, I can't decide if it's a cruel joke or a cure for insomnia. We always hear candidates and office holders "support" the CDP, but no one ever passes legislation making any of it real.

[Rob Tucker]

Well, with great effort we got the PCDP passed as written. It involved demonstrations in front of the county building. Unfortunately as is par for this county Councilman (at the time) J. Yoshimoto later rammed through in bulk 19 amendments drafted by Bill Walter of Shipman without allowing debate of the individual amendments.

This is the way it works here. Straight out of "Land and Power in Hawaii". I can't say all the 19 amendments were bad. For the most part though they were designed to meet the goals of Shipman Ltd the largest landowner in Puna.

Hundreds of citizens labored on the PCDP and it is not without effect though Shipman did succeed, with the help of Hilo's good ol' boys, to bend it to Shipman's needs.

[kalakoa]

PCDP is not a developer.

PCDP is mostly irrelevant: Planning refuses most development; everything else is "sorry, no funding available".

Shipman did succeed, with the help of Hilo's good ol' boys to bend it to Shipman's needs.

...and what is Shipman doing with all these custom amendments? So far we have an HMSA adminstrative building and a new Long's...

[Rob Tucker]

If it is irrelevant why worry as you do about it? It has, as I have pointed out, had some limited success. For anything more to succeed people need to support it not denigrate it.