Governor Ige’s So. Maui Talk Story dominated by health, safety and environmental concerns

DOE’s High School in South Maui and Housing Concerns also raised

3/3/18 #kihei
This afternoon this very low key opportunity brought out several dozen concerned Maui residents as Governor David Ige conducted a public meeting at the Kihei Charter School location on Lipoa to seek input on community concerns.

Shortly after the announced 1:45 PM start, Ige opened by addressing education, guns in schools, the “Early College Program” (allowing high school students to take college classes at the same time), as well as “Hawaii’s Promise” (scholarships to allow students to enter Community College). Then he was open to questions, the first from Robin Knox concerning Maalaea Bay water quality concerns. Next was Vernon Kalanikau for the moku system, flooding and smarter development; and Autumn Ness on pesticide drift and buffer zones. Additionally a 6th grade student and several moms expressed concern for Kihei school safety for wide open schools. They questioned why parents were not informed when emergency actions were taken, even after they occurred, resulting in doubt whether they were actual dangers or just drills. Also housing/homelessness, the arts, healthcare, sidewalks, public access TV, state land use, and individual legislative issues were raised by people attending the meeting.

For the school safety issues, Ige said he is meeting with the superintendent to discuss improvements. For the High School in Kihei, he said contracts are to be awarded in June with construction to begin sometime later. For most other issues, he said to send him information and he will look into them.

Governor Ige has a representative on Maui: Leah Belmonte, Leah.M.Belmonte@hawaii.gov or 243-5795. If you have trouble reaching the governor, try Leah.

KCA had four directors present; two of us spoke on issues of concern before the meeting wrapped up towards 3:30 PM.