Welcome fellow 2a members, to this months coverage of the Hawaii Kai Neighborhood Board Meeting!
HFD: There were 3 structure fires, 53 calls for medical assistance, 9 rescues and 16 misc. calls.
Paige Altonn, again, had to ask how many of the rescues were at the KH trail, HFD responded that there was only one.
HPD: 5 car thefts, 5 burglaries, 15 thefts and a total of 5,822 calls. Marion Grey asked, again, that HPD provide a map with a breakdown of the crimes by area.
BOW: There was a main break at 723 Hahaione.
Publicly Generated Issues: The Friends of Haunama Bay Stood up to say that they were upset that the lights for enjoying the bay at night and educational seminars that used to be held there are not being taken care of in spite of the millions appropriated and apparently spent.
Some guy by the name of Ed Hampton stood up, claiming to be a member of 2a, HDF, and HRA and spoke about the incursion on the rifle range and silhouette range by hikers from KH trail on 3/30/14.
Here's what he had to say,
At approximately 3:30 pm, fortunately during a cease fire, 3 hikers from KH trail appeared on the floor of the range at about the 200yd mark. They then proceeded to march across the range, ignoring repeated commands from range master over the loudspeaker system to clear the range. They then proceeded to climb over the berm separating the rifle range from the silhouette range and interrupt firing on that side of the range. Again ignoring commands to clear the range.
HPD was called, however they arrived too late to apprehend the trespassers in their 30 minute jaunt. Range personnel were not sent out to detain them either. I cannot answer the "why" in either case.
What is truly disturbing is the fact that in order to reach the range floor at the time of the cease fire, they had to have been hiking down the side of the mountain during live fire. I think we can all agree that this is not only dangerous but incredibly stupid as it is difficult to imagine that someone couldn't hear the gunfire coming from the firing line while the range was live, or be so blind that they couldn't see that they were walking onto a rifle range. Not to mention the signage in area they hiked down from that clearly denotes it as such.
I'm here tonight to ask the C&C to take responsibility for either making the improvements necessary to prevent this kind of idiocy from happening again or to permanently close the trail to accomplish the same end.
These people could've caught a stray round and been killed if they had stepped out in front of live fire. It's only through fortunate circumstance that they weren't hurt.
I believe I can speak for everyone that uses the range when I say that none of wishes to be responsible for the death of any hikers.
According to an article posted on the Honolulu Civil Beat website 3/4/14 by Denby Fawcett, in the last 6 years, according to numbers provided by HFD, rescues on the trail have increased150%. There were 15 last year and 33 in 2012. I, in fact, witnessed one the day after this incident, due to the high winds that day I thought that the pilot was going to lose control as he was dropping the firefighter onto the mountain. Fortunately, he was able to keep the helicopter under control and complete the rescue. Kudos to HFD, but, for what are these men and women risking their lives? Will it be worth it if one or more of our first responders dies, or a hiker? Or is that what we're waiting for?
I implore the C&C to take action in this matter immediately and either close the trail to make improvements or close it permanently so that no more lives are endangered.
Any argument for leaving things as they are now is ludicrous.
Thank you for your time and attention.
Or words to that effect. Mr. Knudsen was strangely silent, but Ms. Altonn expressed a great deal of interest in the matter.
Public Transit: Bus stop guy was back, after an extremely long winded diatribe by possibly the most boring speaker ever, it seems as if Grandma may get her stop back. The board decided to put that on the agenda for next month.
HK disaster preparedness: HK isn't prepared, they feel they should have a plan, but need to figure out where to start. Will look at the Kailua plan as an example.
Oahu bike plan: No show
Rep. Hashem: No show
Mayors Rep.: Roadwork is progressing, no set completion date. Kamiloiki park gets a new roof, work to be done at Koko Head District park, getting bids for Sandy beach bathrooms. Signs to be put up to discourage Sandy beach homeless from camping there, DTS is investigating traffic calming measures. Herb Schreiner questioned the 5million expenditure to study traffic lights, said we could hire someone for less.
Councilman Chang: Re hash of previous problems.
Govs. Rep. Abercrombie feels we're doing great with education, seemed like an election ad.
Sen. Slom: Spoke about the budget that just passed, called it more of a spending bill, said it doesn't balance and by 2017 the state will be out of cash. Asked the GAO to investigate the Hawaii Health Connector since we spent 54 million and the website doesn't work.
Rep. Thielen: No Show.
Rep. Ward: Hawaii and Bali are now sister states [ wow ] Congrats on the great coconut tree. Chided C&C on the cost and length of time it took to finish the Moanalua bathrooms.
That's it for this edition folks! As always, I'll be here for the foreseeable future.
PS. A big shout out to Q, who would've shown up and lent his support, if only someone had reminded him!