Palamanui development a boon for West Hawaii ADVERTISING Palamanui development a boon for West Hawaii As someone who has attended almost all the Palamanui hearings for the past 10 years or so, and who has taught at the University of
Palamanui development a boon for West Hawaii
As someone who has attended almost all the Palamanui hearings for the past 10 years or so, and who has taught at the University of Hawaii Center-West Hawaii both in Kealakekua and at Palamanui for close to 20 years, I feel compelled to say that I found Sunday’s op-ed piece on the Palamanui development inaccurate and inappropriate.
First, comparing it to Oceanside 1250/Hokulia is completely inappropriate, if not insulting. Unlike that ill-conceived development, Palamanui has already poured more than $20 million into infrastructure for our new UHC-WH campus: without that it would not have been built, and we would still not have a permanent higher education presence in West Hawaii.
If this isn’t a significant community contribution, I don’t know what is. Second, Sunday’s op-ed piece is inaccurate in that it accuses the Palamanui development of attempting to escape from its road-building commitment, which isn’t the case.
Instead, in recent community meetings the developer’s representatives responded positively to requests that road connector funds be reinvested elsewhere: in extending Ane Keohokalole Highway to Kaiminani, for example. Times change over 10 years, and so do community needs, along with financials and bottom lines, especially after a major recession.
Please, let’s not have any more of the knee-jerk resistance to development that has often appeared in WHT over the years; let’s not tar Palamanui with the Hokulia brush.
Ann Kern
Keauhou
Doh! Simply bad timing
To the Hawaii County Police Department, “Coffee with a Cop” was a great idea. Next time, think about hosting it the day after you do an enforcement trap at morning rush hour in Waimea. You guys backed up traffic even worse than usual and burned up all the positive PR from the free doughnuts the day before. Give your monthly citation quotas a break!
James Leavey
Honokaa
