Maunawili Community Association

Maunawili Community Association Minutes, September 3, 2002

Maunawili Community Association Minutes, September 3, 2002

Maunawili Community Association
Regular Meeting: September 3, 2002
Maunawili Valley Neighborhood Park

Present: Don Bremner, Jim Corcoran (Director), Clifton Gadsden (Rep. Pendleton’s Office Staff), Rose Faria (Treasurer), Virginia Fine (Director), David Laeha (Vice President), Joan Riggs (Garage Sale coordinator), Linda Ure (Secretary), Robert (Boys’ Home Representative),

The meeting was called to order by Linda Ure, Secretary, at 7:05 p.m.

Correction to August 6, 2002 Minutes of Regular meeting: Clarification: Students from Marshal Islands, Guam reflects in 42% of students requiring ESL programs which includes Puohale in Kaneohe.

August 6, 2002 Regular Meeting Minutes were approved as corrected.

Update on the Boys’ Home and Community Projects:
Boys’ Home needs a folding pruning saw to work with the vegetation at the entrance to Maunawili Valley. Boys’ Home will provide their own rubbish bags for green waste collection and will place the bags for collection at curbside on the first and third Mondays of the month. The Boy’s Home appreciates this opportunity to work with the community in assisting the boys to move through their program of community service.

It was motioned by Corcoran and seconded by Riggs that the boys home construct a sandwich board for the upcoming garage sale financed by the Community Association. Motion carried unanimously.

Co-ordination by Joan Riggs for lumber and supplies to construct a sandwich board by the Boys’ Home and the posting of bulletin board posters for the Garage Sale was approved by the board. The Community Bulletin Boards are in disrepair. It was approved by the board to fund the repair and re-painting of the Bulletin Board as a community service project with the Boys’ Home. Future projects for the Boys’ Home were discussed: 1) Rubbish sweeps of Auloa Road are a possibility provided Safety Vests are provided and it comports with the policy on safety with Child and Family Services, Inc. 2) Recognition of Community Service provided through the Boys’ Home will be written up in the MUSE and Certificates of Award will be coordinated with the Boys’ Home for the individual participants. 3) David Laeha queried the Computer literacy being addressed by the Boys’ Home programs and determined that there was one computer for the 6 boys and the computer training was geared to job skills training. Additional equipment may be found through donations from businesses. 4) Other job skills have, from time-to-time, been offered to the residents of the Boys’ Home when contractors offer the youth apprenticeship work in electrical, woodworking and painting. 5) Dr. Virginia Fine offered to work with the residents of the Boys home. 6) Appreciation was expressed by the Board for the Boys’ Home attending the August Pot Luck in the Park.

Treasurers Report: Balance from August 6, 2002 was $3,791.61. Household Membership Dues and Donations collected were $1085.00. Mailings of the August MUSE include purchase of a new Xerox card at Mail Boxes Etc and postage on our bulk rate permit, totaling $295.39. The total balance of $4,581.22 includes the Stop Development Fund ($1482.25) and General Operating of $3,098.97. It was noted that Bumperstickers may require re-order as it was anticipated to order every third year. Current supplies are anticipated to cover this year.

MUSE Report: The July 2002 edition of the MUSE has generated Household Membership Dues via the mail and good attendance at the Community Pot Luck. The upcoming August-September edition will include a flyer for Candidate Night and the Community Garage Sale. Coordination will be done With Joan Riggs on the Garage Sale and with Gary Wiseman on the Candidate Night.

Waimanalo Gulch Sanatary Landfill – Kapaa Quarry: Corcoran reported a public hearing on the temporary solution to raise the height of the landfill is awaiting final approval of the Department of Health despite great resistance by the members of the community. This measure is only a temporary solution until the EIS is completed for the Expansion of the WGSL which the local community also opposes. The Kailua Neighborhood Board opposes the addition of Kapaa Quarry as a replacement site for a sanitary landfill and urged the city to use other technologies to address the old ideas of landfills. The KNB supported the City Council Resolution 02-191 which also opposed the Kapaa Quarry site and supported new technologies to address the problem of continuing to use sanitary landfills. Pressure will increase when WGSL fills up in an estimated 5 to 8 years and Municipal Solid Waste buried in landfills will probably be with us for a long time yet to come, thus Kapaa Quarry remains a real concern to our residents despite DES Director Tim Steinberger’s promise that about 2008 no more landfills will be used on Oahu. H-Power will have a 3rd incineration unit, and while this ash is buried in landfills now or used in glassphalt for roadways and an additional 40 Tons of Sewer Sludge will be processed at the Sand Island Wastewater Treatment facility, the additional new technologies are not in place to preclude landfills. It was suggested that the MUSE run tips on reducing trash going to landfills that would include green waste treatment and recycling of paper, bottles, and aluminum. Steve Holmes has stated in his news notes that the EPA regulations on leaching would prevent Kapaa Quarry from being used as a sanitary landfill and would impact Kaiwainui Marsh. Bremner reminded the assembly that the Kailua Community has already “given at the office” with the several landfills sites, both open and closed in Kapaa Valley. As the EPA Regional Offices in the San Francisco, regulation over the current administration’s practices concerning landfills may not be well supervised. City Council has budgeted $6M to examine advanced technologies and $60M to put in the 3rd unit at H-Power. Upon investigation, by the City, the Hitachi System in Japan does not meet our need on Oahu. Bio remediation (organisms); plasma arc- for extracting precious metals and manufacture of glass beads; mixed aggregates of wood, concrete, plastic for manufacture of building materials, and composting companies producing soil and mulch from green waste are still a viable alternative.

Candidate Night: The schedule has been confirmed for Wednesday, October 2, 2002, at 6:30 p.m. Last time over 100 persons attended to listen and query candidates at all levels of elected government.

Taxes versus Services: Laeha wrote letters to various offices with addresses furnished by Clifton Gadsden and April Coloretti to Tim Hoffman and Robin Fuentes concerning assessments on property which generate $1.4M tax revenues. Is there a direct link between generated revenues in our community and the monies spent on our Parks, Recreation, Highways, Maintenance, Landscaping, and related services? To better understand the relationship it may be necessary to generate a tax map key listing for our community. Laeha will follow up on this issue of revenue versus services.

It was noted that the police reports given on a monthly basis to the KNB are not configured to list Maunawili separately as to other areas in crime statistics.

The KNB can be viewed on Olelo chanel 54 every Monday evening beginning at 9:00pm. The August meeting, being aired now, includes a 10 minute presentation by HPD Mjr. Dowsett on the problems plaguing HPD with repeat offenders being released early. To address this problem is an amendment to the State Constitution that will be ITEM #3 dealing with “Information Charging” as an alternative to Grand Jury and Preliminary Hearings. The ITEM 3 will be on the November 5th ballot. Note this subject, November Ballot Item 3 “Information Charging”, in the MUSE to inform residents of the issue. Remind residents that a BLANK vote counts as a NO vote.

New Business:
Landscaping Maunawili Entrance: A landscaper may be available to relocate donated rocks, plants (ginger, heliconea) etc, at no cost to common areas of the Maunawili entrance. Laeha would require coordination with Jaycox to the appropriateness of location and plant and rock types. It must be kept in mind that a new Corporation Yard of the City and County will soon begin construction and may impact the traffic in the area.

Garage Sale: 6 families are already signed up. Reminder signs will be posted on the community bulleting boards. Garage Sale signs will be up by the 15th. The Olomana Community has its rubbish picked up early by the City and County to facilitate the Garages Sale parking. We will ask the same service for that Saturday. While we have been sporadic in our event over the last 5 to 10 years, it is suggested that the Community Garage Sale be held twice a year in conjunction with Olomana: April and September.

OISC Meeting and the Coqui Frogs: the Kailua Neighborhood Board passed a resolution to have the State of Hawaii control and eradicate the Department of Agricultural Invasive Species Pest - Coqui Frog. The Coqui call is 173 decibels and can damage hearing, has no natural enemy in Hawaii, can increase rapidly to 8000 frogs to an acre and consume 46,000 prey items, including indigenous species and negatively impact the diet of native and migratory birds. The size of a quarter and producing live young, the noise is so intrusive that property values will decrease in its vicinity, decrease tourist stays, and disrupt the ecological balance of our native species. 3 tons of caffeine, on Maui, remain unused despite and EPA authorization for its use. This authorization runs out on September 27 of this year. As the known populations of Coqui frog have increased on some island from 30 to 300 in only 18 months, and as 30 areas are identified on Oahu, to include Waimanalo, the KNB has requested the Governor to declare an ecological emergency.

Motion to support the KNB resolution and send a letter to the Governor and a letter to the EPA to extend the authorization from EPA. Motion carried unanimously.

Maunawili - Old Government Road: the Na Ala Hele Trails System included the Maunawili Trail and the Maunawili Falls Trail. The Oahu Trails Directory, Mr. Leech has had conversations, and walked the grounds with Weinberg/HRT Planning Consultant, Kurihashi, that would give the State owned (that’s us) Old Government Road in a Quit Claim process to Weinberg/HRT in consideration of 1) a parking lot near the entrance of Maunawili for the Olomana Mountain Hiking Trail, 2) a contour trail at the 800 foot level on the south side of Olomana Mountain 3) A parking lot and Comfort Station across from the Hedeman Home on the Luana Hills Property. Several things must be done prior to a decision on this issue. 1) Environmental Assessment must be conducted, and 2) inform the Maunawili Community Association and the Kailua Neighborhood Board know just what is being planned concerning OUR Old Government Road. While Weinberg/HRT states it cuts through their property of the un-developed golf course and Weinberg/HRT is proposing to build a golf academy, food facility and pitch ‘n putt area the Old Government Road is the access to 900 acre Windward Regional Park now in negotiations (possibly for additional monies) with the City and County and Weinberg/HRT. It is suggested that a simple map of the area be placed in the MUSE to illustrate the scheme suggested by Weinberg/HRT. MCA Secretary will provide David Leaha with the tax map key to try to produce a suitable map. While there has been some form of communication between Weinberg/HRT and the Kailua Historical Society, there still remains no direct communication between Weinberg/HRT and the MCA or the KNB. It is suggested that Malcolm Tom of the City and County Budget Office may shed some light on the negotiations at this time.

There being no further business the meeting adjourned at 9:15 pm.
Submitted by Linda C Ure, Secretary

Agenda, October 1, 2002

Maunawili Community Association
Regular Meeting Agenda: October 1, 2002
Maunawili Valley Neighborhood Park

I Call to Order
II Approval of Minutes of Regular Meeting, September 3, 2002
III Elected Officials: State, County, City
IV Old Business
A Reports:
1 Treasurer
2 Garage Sale
a Report
b Letter of Appreciation Boys’ Home
3 MUSE
a Flyers for Garage Sale
b Flyers for Candidate Night
B Updates:
1 Waimanalo Gulch Sanitary Landfill –Kapaa Quarry Landfill
2 Candidate Night – October 2, 2002
3 Taxes vs Services
4 Coqui Frogs
5 Maunawili – Old Government Road
V New Business
A DOH Referral: Boys’ Home-Suzanne McNalty (Child and Family Services, Inc.)
B Halloween Event
C Christmas Event
VI Adjournment

Email us
Comments? Linda Ure