Alternate route
needed in Puna
I’m writing in response to Aaron Stene’s letter to the editor published on Wednesday, Feb. 12.
I appreciate that he is looking over at the situation with Highway 130 in Puna from the Kona side, and he rightfully suggested that the state Department of Transportation Highways Division take on the Puna road study.
I’m just really dismayed that our county Department of Public Works, aided by the County Council, couldn’t latch on to the million dollars that Greggor Ilagan had secured from the state. If you recall, the council majority wouldn’t initially agree to accepting a million dollars for the county to conduct the road study, because council members who do not even live in Puna were all caught up in where this hypothetical road would end up in Hilo!
It was so ridiculous and infuriating to see the council majority reject a million from the state for these bogus reasons.
Then Ashley Kierkiewicz came forward with an attempted remedy, calling for a county match of a million, so $2 million to fund this road study.
But, look, we lost the million from the state, and we now have Ilagan, no longer the vice chair in the House of Representatives, with a steeper climb to convince his colleagues that this is something we need for Puna.
And let me tell you, this is something we need in Puna!
So, thank you, Aaron Stene, for recognizing this need and for questioning, “Will it turn out to be a dog-and-pony show like the previous attempts to address this issue?”
I’m not so confident that, if the county continues to take the lead on this, that we aren’t going to see anything happen. Maybe with the state taking the lead, we’ll actually get some traction.
We have people in the county, whether we blame Public Works or a certain contingency of council members, who think that million dollars is Monopoly money or something. It’s a million dollars!
Maybe the state will take a million dollar allocation more seriously and actually fund a study that will lead to a plan that will lead to a road, like a real road that we can drive on! Otherwise, we have to wait for someone to run for office or seek reelection and claim that this is their priority, and we get to see the headlines again, and think to ourselves, “Yeah, right, another empty promise from the new aspiring leader of the dog and pony show.”
We need that road! We don’t need any more promises of another plan for a study! Geez.
Whoever is responsible for this, make it right, especially if you are still sitting at your desk job in Public Works or on the County Council. Make it right.
We need you to do your job a little bit better; you don’t just let a million dollars go bye-bye. We need that road study, and we need that road, like 10 years ago!
Tiffany Edwards Hunt
Pahoa
America: The
State of dis-Union
Economy, autonomy, the elephants and mules.
Our government’s in disarray, we all just look like fools.
We’re out here digging ditches, teaching children, doing trade.
The rich keep getting tax cuts, we’re just hoping we get paid!
We try to love our country, working hard and being true.
But what can we believe in when big daddy breaks the rules?
We work three jobs, we pay our bills, we feed our hungry youth.
We try to stay off welfare, but now eggs are through the roof!
So get a grip, America, try not to screw your friends.
We need to come together if we’re going to make amends.
The black, the white, the rich, the poor, Hispanics, Muslims, Jews,
The Catholics and the Protestants, we shouldn’t have to choose.
We need to get together, or we’re bound to feel the pain.
We need to find some pride in our America again.
What happened to the chant, “It’s all for one and one for all”?
United we will stand, divided we will surely fall.
(Add your own verse, Hawaii. There’s so much to share.)
Judy Laird
Waimea
