West Hawai`i Today - September 18, 2012
Overwhelming testimony supporting a resolution asking the state to abolish the Public Land Development Corp. preceded the Hawai`i County Council’s Planning Committee’s unanimous favorable vote on the measure Tuesday morning.
Donald Wessels, testifying in Hilo, said the PLDC is usurping the counties’ authority.
“The Public Land Development Corp. is legalized theft,” Wessels said. “Send a message to the state that you, the elected representatives of the County of Hawai`i will not sit still while the State of Hawai`i gives away your authority.”
Other testifiers questioned the governor’s and legislators’ motives in approving the measures creating the PLDC. One testifier noted only Puna Rep. Faye Hanohano, among all of Hawai`i Island’s legislators, opposed the measures.
“What really concerns me is the non-transparency of the thing,” Patricia Shaner Knudsen said in Kona. “We won’t see the public hearings perhaps we should. This is a very, very important issue for the state, for the island in particular....”
