Our new State House Representative Angus McKelvey was last nights' Save Honolua Coalition speaker. True to his political platform, he has been working with other State House Representatives this past legislative session on various issues affecting our district such as traffic, small boat harbor improvements and other infrastructure needs. As a new member within the State House he is optimistic of what we will be able to accomplish by working together. He has networked with many other representatives around the state that are dealing with similar problems that we are facing here on the West side and is confident that a solution can be found. Angus is requesting our support in getting funding for a Maui Traffic Control center, a $400,000 system that will help to mitigate some of the impacts of the increasing number of cars on our roads, in effect increasing the efficiency of our existing roads. This is a good thing and we need to let Governor Lingle know that we want it so that she will release the necessary funds.

On issues specific to the Save Honolua Coalition such as: going after state funding to purchase the Honolua area and preserve it in a public trust as open space, Representative McKelvey will be following the lead taken by Ka'u Preservation Organization and their Save Punalu'u campaign. Governor Lingle has already indicated she supports the use of state funding to preserve the Punalu'u area on the Big Island and since she is a former Mayor of the County of Maui, it is reasonable to assume that she will also support our cause. Representative McKelvey is aware of our wish to restore stream flow to Honolua stream and has suggested working together with District 13 Representative Mele Carroll (who is more experienced in this area) to introduce a resolution to begin the process of studying inflow stream standards at Honolua.

Until next week,
Malama Pono
Tamara Paltin