Save Pahoa
Save Pahoa
At the onset of the meeting in the Pahoa Community Center (Wednesday) evening, Sen. Lorraine Inouye pretty much told us we are going to have the roundabout crammed down our throats whether we want it or not.
Someone is set to make a lot of money off of this deal, but it’s a shame Pahoa might become a ghost town as a result of all of the safety the state Department of Transportation insists the roundabout will provide. Construction is supposed to begin Aug. 10 and take nine months, but someone surmised it would take much longer.
Even if Pahoa is closer, customers might elect to shop elsewhere, as people tend to prefer the path of least resistance — seldom the case in areas under construction. The smaller shops still are reeling from the lava, so the roundabout will either make or break Pahoa.
I’d rather be optimistic, but this is most likely our “Bridge to Nowhere” and the highest-probability outcome is economic decline.
Whether we can handle a roundabout is not the issue. The question is: Can Pahoa survive the construction phase?
What will it take to save Pahoa from being saved by the state?
Dave Kisor
Pahoa
It’s progress
This letter is in response to Jackie Prell’s letter, “For Mauna Kea,” (Tribune-Herald, July 23).
History and geography have shown almost all indigenous people have had their territory invaded and overruled by some outside forces, and the invaders often decimated the population and plundered (stole) their land. Most cannot deny that to be a fact.
Conversely, however, most others would not deny that along with the degradation and defilement caused by the invaders, they also brought with them a new culture with a better educational system and higher technology for the betterment and benefit for all the people.
Or would Jackie Prell prefer to revert some 200 years ago and live life as she described in her letter, with all the primitive and pristine conditions, and without any of the modern inventions and technology we enjoy today?
Also, would she not want to learn about all the new knowledge and information we are learning about the cosmos, and to learn much more if we could build the Thirty Meter Telescope?!
T. Ono
Hilo