Eileen O’Hara Ashley Kierkiewicz
Ric Wirick Matt Kanealii-Kleinfelder
Index
Big Isle history B4
Classified B6
Comics B5
Commentary A4
Issue No. 215
22 Pages in
2 Sections
Today’s
weather
Page A9
Community A8
Crossword B4
Cryptoquote B4
Dear Abby B4
Horoscope B4
Letters A4
Nation A9
Religion A5
Sports B1
State A3
Stocks A9
World A9
Friday, August 3, 2018
Internet
Visit us on the Web at:
www.hawaiitribune-herald.com
Photos: HOLLYN JOHNSON/Tribune-Herald
Lava a hot topic for
Puna council candidates
Puna sits on the most
active rift zone of the world’s
most active volcano.
And a river of lava
runs through it.
Helping guide the district,
where the Kilauea eruption has
destroyed more than 700 homes,
to recovery will be Hawaii
County Council members
for council districts 4 and 5,
which both cover residents in
the affected area. With two
candidates running for each
seat, both races will be decided
in the Aug. 11 primary.
District 4
Running for District 4
(east Puna) is incumbent
Eileen O’Hara and challenger
Ashley Kierkiewicz.
Kierkiewicz, of Hawaiian
Paradise Park, is a senior account
executive with communications
company Hastings & Pleadwell
and a founder of Pu‘uhonua o
Puna, which started a grassroots
disaster relief center for evacuees.
The group also is working
on a transitional housing project.
She said that shows she can
work with the private sector to
get things done for the district.
“It’s about using government
to expedite these processes
and then get out of the way
so government can continue
focusing on its core function:
maintaining its public spaces
and the roads and public safety,”
Housing
recovery
efforts
advance
Resolution would create
redevelopment agency for Puna
Hawaii County officials have begun drafting
a resolution that would create a redevelopment
agency to oversee Puna’s recovery.
Roy Takemoto, an executive assistant to
Mayor Harry Kim, said the proposal would be
presented for County Council consideration
after state lawmakers and
council members have weighed in.
“As soon as everyone gets on
board with this overall concept —
that’s the next big thing — we can
quickly set it up,” he said. “And they
(the redevelopment agency) will be
the ones … to definitively define
the path and to dive deep in implementation.”
Kim has talked about crafting such an agency
to assist with the economic and housing recovery
of Puna, where more than 700 homes have
been destroyed by the ongoing Kilauea eruption,
almost since the disaster started three months ago.
The idea is similar to the Kaikoo redevelopment
agency formed to help Hilo
recover from the 1960 tsunami.
The agency would have its own board and
would be tasked with crafting and implementing
recovery plans. Takemoto said it
would have the power of condemnation and
be exempt from certain county codes.
“After we get the buy in, we will follow up
with extensive community engagement for the
actual details of the plan,” he said. “This is just to
enable the resources,” Takemoto added, regarding
the current process. “It’s not to set the plan.”
He said solutions that could be considered
include use of state land for housing, which
state Sen. Russell Ruderman has advocated.
Funding for the redevelopment agency would
be part of an aid package county officials plan to
request from the state and federal governments.
Category 2 storm
churns in Pacific
Hurricane Hector is
forecast to strengthen as it
enters the Central Pacific,
likely late Sunday.
It’s not known yet
if the hurricane will
impact Hawaii Island,
but the storm likely
will make its closest
approach Wednesday
through Saturday next
week, said Tom Birchard,
a meteorologist with
the National Weather
Service in Honolulu.
Long-term models,
which include a high
degree of uncertainty,
shows Hector passing
the island to the south or
veering north toward it.
“It’s 2,000 miles away,”
Birchard said. “There’s
still a lot that could happen
between now and
next week as far as evolution
of the forecast.” LAURA RUMINSKI/West Hawaii Today
Flames can be seen from the Waikoloa Post Office
Wednesday evening.
Roads remain
closed as
fire scorches
10,000 acres
KAILUA-KONA — Roads remain
closed near Waikoloa Village Thursday
evening due to a brush fire, prompting
Hawaii County Civil Defense to advise
motorists to avoid the area and round
the island’s south as an alternate route.
TAKEMOTO
By TOM CALLIS
Hawaii Tribune-Herald
See HOUSING Page A7
By TOM CALLIS
Hawaii Tribune-Herald
Editor’s note: This is one in a series
of intermittent stories about contests
in the Aug. 11 primary election.
Races for districts
4, 5 to be decided
in Aug. 11 primary
See PRIMARY Page A6
By CAMERON MICULKA
West Hawaii Today
See FIRE Page A6
By TOM CALLIS
Hawaii Tribune-Herald
See STORM Page A7
Next
man up
at Hilo
SPORTS, B1
/www.hawaiitribune-herald.com