http://www.hawconews.com/stimulus-list
Letter to the Editor,
Can you tell me why North Kona's fire station at Makalei was not funded in the stimulus monies?
Take at look at the attachment above (9.12.pdf) from Hawaii County Data Book. You see who pays the most taxes. http://co.hawaii.hi.us/databook_current/section09.htm
North Kona over 10 million in property taxes collected.
We get the mid level road $35 mil. Is that what we want? How about connecting all dead ends and requiring all subdivision and commercial building to have 2 exits. Start planning and building this town like a real city. Connecting the dots if you know what I mean. When you are in Hilo you have a huge variety of roads to take as alternate routes. In Kona if thereis an accident on Palani that's it. Just sit or maybe you can turn around.
Why the mid level road? It is because back in the 90's a Japanese Companybuilt Hina Lani Road with grand plans of developing it as a business center,and their market fell out and they went home. But they did build 3 LARGE water tanks and the best road in Kona before they left. The water tank atthe bottom is being used by Kaloko Industrial. The other two tanks are still sitting waiting for a developer to come to build some pipes leading to thesetanks. The mid level road would get to those tanks. Hopefully they will besmart enough to create a 4 laned road (2 lanes in each direction) for the future. Hopefully they will require HELCO to build back from the road (it'scalled setbacks). Building with the plan in mind for the future generations.
Our roads are done so poorly that even when they are finished it is a mess.Look at Palani Road. An engineering student could have done a better design. Lack of knowledge and leadership at the department Heads and management levels for years on end have lead to this miss-management of tax payer dollars. The thousands of residents that live on the West side and have to battle these poor roads are the ones that are paying the price.
Another great example. Phase 1= Henry St. to Honokohau Harbor Road Improvement on Queen Kaahumanu Hwy.7 Years later only about 4 miles of road is a another fiasco. The Company that did that job should be banned from any further work with the County. If these guys built your house like that, do you really think they would getthe job to do the garage? NO. Does anyone working with the County know how to write a contract? Like if you are late or over budget you will need to post a bond protect the County and the Tax payers. We are run like a third World Country. Kona/ Holualoa is known for the arts. You would think we could have done something a little more creative then lawn. Everyone is trying to go Green and rather than picking something that is low water, low maintenance, maybe with some lava... perhaps a design contest for the students of Kona or maybe the Kona Outdoor Circle; they did an outstanding job on Hualalai connector road. Let's be a little more cutting edge and show a little class. Lose the grass and let's start planning smart.
Susan McGeachy
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