Angus you are the house but looks like Shane is not here I mean yeah Shane
Martin is not here right he's not here oh good thing like a double time you get
you get twice the time now Aloha everybody and thank you so much for
being here tonight I really really appreciate it because you know as was
talked about by earlier our voter turnout was left a lot to be desired and
you being here tonight sends a strong message that people in our community do
care about a process that affects our lives in every way whether county state
or federal I just want to start off by making an announcement an important
clarification to an article that was in the Maui news today the Maui news
announced that the next phase the bypass the one from Hokio-Kio to Oluwalu the
project is dead that is false with the capital F it is going you'll see the
guys with the hats you see him on the side of the road counting traffic that's
the design bill team so we're expecting this to be on track Hawaiian judging has
had an incredible track record of being a on put you know above and beyond when
it comes to projects so that phase is secured the money that senator and I
were able to secure and working on this is going forward the battle ahead is
going to be for the term it the future going south and especially going north
where a lot of the growth is occurring and so this is a battle that I will
willingly and happily take to Honolulu against the governor or anybody else
because when we sit in traffic it's time away from loved ones it's lost job it's
lost economy and it ends up driving away many of the visitors that create the
opportunity we have so and also I just want to say that sense of place keeping
Lahaina Lahaina is important and I just want to also this session we plan to work
on things to try to ensure that our water users treat each other with a loa and
also treat the locals with a loa so that we can have people can understand we
have to live work and play together a lot of challenges ahead but a lot of
progress has been made and so I just thank you so much for your support but
most importantly for your involvement in the electoral process for voting and
getting out there and voting and thank you thank you thank you for that really
appreciate it so with that Joe well that's the bypass is on tell everybody
you know now when you've got it wrong there'll be a retraction hopefully
coming soon and again thank you for your support any questions I'll be in the
back and 870-8644 is the phone number actually we do have one question for
you yeah we have to but we'll ask you one so you've already talked about the
bypass one of the things for us here in West Maui is the Lahaina Luna High School
Boarding Department seems like every year it goes up there and you know it's
always put up in a chopping block you know we're just wondering what will you
do to keep the boarding program of Lahaina Luna safe and supported that's a
very good question Rick and the fact is on this the governor and the
legislature do agree there's been no move to defund either from the board
level or from the governor's budget the Lahaina Luna High School but a lot has
to be fixed and improved the dorm itself is in really really bad shape and I'm
being very nice about that the good news is we have private sector partners that
are interested in working with the state Department of Education both on trying
to put an additional dorm in there as well as the fixing and building the one
we have but the real issue is going to become we got to work on is governance
the Lahaina Luna boarding program and the things that made it great
unfortunately federal law and a Department of Education that only deals
with daytime students has created a lot of situations case in point issue that
happened a little while ago where the kids were cited by the Labor Department
for the work they were doing on the grounds as part of the boarding agreement
so this is one where Senator Baker I think I speak for her and everybody else
we need to look at some other forms of governance that will allow us to do the
things that were done in the past that made it such a great program that taught
kids how they taught the kids real-world experience I talked to the alumni they
came out with an advantage they had real-world experience they knew what it
was like to run a business they knew what it was like to have to sacrifice and
what it was like to work as a team and those intangibles are still very
important today so that's what we really need to focus on but as far as the
funding for the program itself it's intact but we've got to get the new dorm
done and we've got to work on trying to create these these opportunities in
education that the boarding program has bought for generations and generations so
new kids kids today and tomorrow can experience that and also working with
the University of Hawaii I think is a critical partner for the future to create
pathways so the kids in the boarding program could possibly get college
credits as they're working in the boarding program which will help of
course alleviate the crowding of Manoa which all our kids have to go to right
now so there's win-wins for everybody with a line in the boarding program the
funding secure but where there's a lot of work to be done for the building of
the dorm and trying to get this some of these assets that were not around
anymore back on the table so and of course we all need you every note is a
glad to set it no job can be done by one person themselves so and that's some
very good words of wisdom which is why with everybody working together county
state and federal we can make these things happen quicker than they have so
thank you we have another question here one of the major things in fact there's
a lot of people here today from the west coast I'm the west shoreline here that
are no I know what I'm talking about when they say the shoreline erosion is a
major problem here a big big problem in the entire West Maui shoreline
everybody who's drives to the other side knows that you see the road falling in
the ocean and so forth and properties are literally in danger of falling in the
ocean so so with this being such a major problem in the entire west side of the
island West Maui that's our Kuliana that's our home here and we know that
over 50% of all the revenue the state gets in tourism comes from the West
Maui so the income stream that needs to be protected is vital here if this
shoreline ask the people in Hilo how much they would pay to get a sandy beach
as anybody been to Hilo you know how it is it's a beautiful place nice people
lovely people but no more beach no more sand and do they have that same kind of
income that we've got from from tourists who come to Hawaii for all the things but
a sandy beach is important we've got beautiful sandy beaches that are going
away and there's a huge issue there's a bunch of people talking and it's been
working with the county and the civil defense and engineers to try to do
something that in Kahana to save the shoreline and individual properties are
doing their own things what do you believe what what will you do to support
expedited relief to effective property owners and what can you contribute to an
overall program to address beach renourishment and safety along our shoreline
okay so this is beach renourishment in general or for the properties up on the
north side of West Maui well it's a big break into that we have a highway sea
walls issue which is an issue that is you know quite frankly you look at that
that's not the way to engineer for the future it's protecting the road from
imminent erosion but there is much better engineering solutions that can do
that and not create the sand drift issue that Joe's talking about it'll take away
our beaches I'm happy that we've had people come like Mariah coming back in
others who have engineering experience people who can add new ideas the big
battle will be with the Department of Transportation and that mindset of just
throw up a wall emergency funding come in for an emergency proclamation we so
this is going to be the fight for next session is getting them to understand we
can't be just throwing up walls at the last minute and going in after the fact
we have to plan and also DLNR we last session we pushed to do a strategic
beach renourishment plan to get them to identify all the areas across the state
of Hawaii where this is becoming a problem and to use some of the one of the
things suggested that could be used up north is to take the sand that has
already moved away and bring it back but you need to have a system in place to
where you're not simply going to create the locomotion again back out to the
deep so having those smart engineering solutions is intact but the also the
support of the county and whatever they can do to help move the road inland
whatever they can do with land that they have a joining to the highway this is
one of those things where it's going to be a partnership with the federal
government with them they need funding from the feds we to do these
innovative things we have to show the state that the federal government will
support us on that so to everybody here federal state and county we all got to
work together on this my commitment is to fight the mentality of throwing up a
wall and trying to work to getting some innovative engineering solutions and we
have actually an award contest the state does every year where they do exactly
this so that's my hope this next session with your support that we can do this
thank you Angus now is there any one comment you want to make or why people
should be saying that you're the guy why they need to vote for you do you want to
give us that I actually want to think that you're the guy not me you're the
guy okay my whole stick from the very beginning is about taking the daily
battle we have is working families and making sure that voice never gets lost
in Honolulu whether it's highway projects being gutted by people in Honolulu
whether it's solutions that are thrown at us at the last minute no I'm sorry I
mean we need to work as a team we need I will say where I disagree with the
county but I will say where I agree am I only pleased to just work together and
let's push on what we agree and again it's not about me it's not about any
single politician or office holder it's all about you and that is the most
important thing I want to leave you with tonight so thank you again God bless
thank you a gas
