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Friends of Puna’s Future seeks equitable services for their district

Friends of Puna’s Future (FoPF) has delivered a formal letter of demand (see attached) to the County of Hawaii administration to achieve equality in the delivery of public services to Puna.   Public records show a long term pattern of discrimination in delivery of public services in Puna and other areas of Hawaii County.  FoPF looks forward to working with the County to resolve these inequities and avoid the need for filing of Federal complaints.

Friends of Puna’s Future

P.O. Box 1959, Pahoa, HI 96778 808-965-1555
www.fopf.org

Mayor Billy Kenoi July 6, 2009
25 Aupuni Street
Hilo, Hawaii 96720

Subject: Demand for Equitable Distribution of Public Services

Aloha Mayor Kenoi,

The District of Puna has developed a population level and tax base equal to or approaching that of Hilo However, the delivery and level of county services by all departments has not occurred on an equitable basis. Puna lacks public service and infrastructure by several magnitudes compared to the Hilo and other Districts.

We respectfully demand that you, as Chief Executive of the County of Hawaii, provide public services by all county departments throughout the county on a per capita basis. We make this demand under the equal treatment under the law doctrine provided by the U.S. Constitution. This is a civil rights issue.

It is within your ability to immediately locate county personnel, especially police protection, to the Puna District to provide service on a per capita basis. We respectfully demand that you do so forthwith.

We respectfully demand that you institute planning within the 2010 budget and beyond for delivery of the necessary infrastructure to meet present and projected growth needs for at least fire, water, police, roads, ADA access and recreation.

We know you are aware of the general lack of infrastructure and public services in Puna. You spoke of it during your election campaign. It is time and we believe you are legally required to deliver pubic services on an equitable basis.

We ask for an appointment to meet with you on these topics and request that your administration provide a written response to these demands on or before August 21, 2009.

Thank you for your time and attention.

Sincerely,

Rob Tucker, President

One Response to “Friends of Puna’s Future seeks equitable services for their district”

  1. damon says:

    The following is a comment I left on the Big Island Chronicle:

    “Message. MESSENGER. Audience.”

    I’m not sure where it states that are mayor needs to meet with anyone in this County because of a phone call, email, letter or personal request.

    However, if I do recall, Rob was a very vocal critic to Mr. Kenoi’s candidacy for Mayor (As was I).

    So I ask Rob, why do you feel that he needs to respond to FoPF.

    I joined FoPF, paid my dues and didn’t pay up for my following year because I didn’t think my $100.00 membership did much, and subsequently seem to have been abandoned and abolished by FoPF.

    If FoPF wants to gain more support from members of Puna… I would suggest FoPF be more supportive of those that tried to be members and then maybe we can all work as a team to get things going in Puna.

    I appreciate the effort initially, but getting slapped around because you may have a view or two that differ from an organization won’t help that organizations cause in the long run.
    # damon Says:
    July 7th, 2009 at 9:07 pm

    Rob,

    I asked you this at a FoPF meeting and you deliberately avoided the question.

    How many members does FoPF have. I have attended two meetings in the last year and there have only been a maximum of about 15-20 people and some were not members, just interested in the meeting.

    One fellow up and left because he felt his voice was not being heard.

    I will ask again.. since you are asking the Mayor for something… Will you tell us… How many members FoPF has…

    Or are you still using this as a tool to make it seem as if FoPF is MUCH BIGGER then it really is.

    I see no membership on the roster…

    I do have an email sent to me from about 6 months ago that apparently was sent via cc instead of bcc to all members at that time.

    Once again… I will ask… How many paying members does FoPF have?

    You have always talked about clout by numbers… so what’s the numbers if you are speaking for FoPF?

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