Puna Informational Fair - Satuday, Sept. 22

[Rob Tucker]

I am going to be lazy and hope that Hunter Bishop will not mind if I reproduce his notice on:

http://www.hunterbishop.com

which reads....

Town meeting, info bazaar, Saturday
Numerous county government and private social services agencies will converge on the Pahoa Community Center this Saturday (9/22) in a sort of combination town meeting, informational bazaar and talk story session organized by Fifth District Councilwoman Emily Naeole.

Here are just some of the organization that will be setting up tables and booths at the event to interact with the public: Hawaii Volcano Observatory, Pahoa Weed and Seed, Malama O Puna, Turning Point, County Police and Fire departments, Public Works, Parks & Recreation, Prosecuting Attorney, Office of Aging, County Council, Arc of Hilo, Big Island Workplace Connection, Queen Liliuokalani Trust, Office of Hawaiian Affairs, American Red Cross, HPP Neighborhood Watch, Neighborhood Place of Puna, Kokua Counseling, Boys & Girls Club, County , County Governor's office, Hawaiian Beaches Action Team, Salvation Army, Quake 'Ohana, Ku'ikahi, Kamehameha Schools, Child & Family Service, Child Welfare Service, and Patch.

Whew! Shouldn't be too hard to find somebody there to talk with about your particular interests.
It starts at 9 a.m. and lasts till 3 p.m.

Kudos to Councilwoman Naeole's office for bringing all these people to Pahoa. And yes, there'll be free food, too.

Now please pass the word around because I haven't seen or heard much publicity about the event yet. What a disappointment it would be if there wasn't a big turnout for this wonderful opportunity to demonstrate our civic interest in bettering our communities. Hope to see you there.




Punaweb moderator

[hunter]

I don't mind at all, Rob. Thanks for the help getting the word out.

[Rob Tucker]

12 noon

I just got back - lots of interesting things to learn and the ability to speak directly with commuunity groups or county departments is great.



Punaweb moderator

[JerryCarr]

I attended this event today, and I really enjoyed a chance to learn about what is going on and to express my opinions on a variety of issues. I found Emily Naeole to be quite approachable and got to talk with her for about ten minutes. She had a questionnaire/survey for her constituents to fill out. Interestingly, two of the the dozen questions had to do with a prospective road across HPP and one was about big box stores. Both of these issues have drawn a good bit of interest on Punaweb lately.

There were some guys there with a display on roundabouts, but neither of them seemed enthusiastic about the concept. One of them kept talking about how the local drivers don't know how to merge. A lot of charities and service organizations were represented, and I even signed up to be a volunteer with one of them.

All in all, it was very encouraging. I hope they do this again only with even more agencies and citizens participating.

Cheers,
Jerry

[LavaOcean]

Nice meeting you finally Rob. Yes its great to see things actually being activly discussed among the public. Kudos to Rob and the punaweb crew for this great forum.


Shane Turpin
Lava Ocean Adventures

[emorata]

does anyone mind sharing more information about what they learned from any of the sponsored groups that might be of interest to the punaweb forum....ie what was the general consensus about doing the roundabout in the kahakai turnout?

Or other issues that brought more discussion/awareness to the general public...thanks for observations....inquiring minds want to know.

noel