This is my rebuttal to Tom Liberty‘s recent letter to the editor about the proposed La’aloa Avenue Extension project. Mr. Liberty doesn’t believe this roadway is needed, according to the e-mail conversation I had with him. He’d rather see the Ali’i Parkway built.
Tom Liberty’s perspective on the La’aloa Avenue Extension is flawed. There is only two mauka-makai connector roads between Walua Road and Keauhou (one of which has speed humps). So, the residents of Ali’i Drive and Keauhou desperately need more evacuation routes if a tsunami strikes. The current roadway infrastructure in this area does not cut it.
Nevertheless, I’m afraid the La’aloa Avenue Extension will fall victim to the political games played by certain community members, the council, and the mayor. For example, why isn’t the list of proposed projects included in the current version of the bond float legislation (Bill 311)? The previous versions of this bill included this list.
I hope the new council and the mayor can work together. So, this much needed Kona roadway can be completed.
December 22nd, 2010 at 8:31 AM
My experience has been that Mayor’s submit bond requests with no specific projects tied to the proposal. Councils are usually the ones that add specific projects. The mayor wants flexibility to respond to when he manages to get money from other sources, changing priorities etc. Councils typically want to tie bonds to specific projects and their own priority list. Makes for an interesting song and dance routine. When and if this comes up on the council agenda it will be interesting to see what ends up on the version the council proposes.