July 25, 2012
KAHULUI — Democratic candidates for the South Maui 11th House District seat expressed mostly opposition Tuesday night to Eclipse Development’s work on two mega-malls in Kihei, with one candidate taking some flak for seeking to accommodate anticipated heavy traffic and not opposing the projects outright.
Four Democratic candidates — former Rep. Joe Bertram III, Netra Halperin, Colin Hanlon and Kaniela Ing — are vying for their party’s nomination to challenge Republican incumbent George Fontaine. He is unopposed for the GOP nod to return to the House seat for a second term.
The South Maui mall projects now under construction are located mauka of Kihei’s busy Piilani Highway-Kaonoulu Street intersection.
During a candidate forum televised live Tuesday on Akaku: Maui Community Television, Hanlon, the head of the Boys & Girls Club of Maui, drew attention to the intersection when answering a question about development projects aggravating traffic congestion on Piilani Highway.
I say ‘No’ to the Mega-Mall that is proposed for the North Kihei area. How was this approved from a light Industrial Complex into a Kihei Pi’ilani Promenade? I hope that the concerned citizens of south Maui will have the time and input into the answer of this question; from 1992 until 2012, give us twenty (20) years to digest such an enormous inpact on our community. We have several projects that currently define what Kihei will become and have been accepted by the Kihei community as a whole. Again, I voice my oppinion to the Pi’ilani Promenade; ‘No!’