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HomeMy WebLinkAbout04/24/2013 Public Hearing Transcript re: Res#2013-47 & Bill#2484 PUBLIC HEARING APRIL 24, 2013 A public hearing of the Council of the County of Kauai was called to order by JoAnn A. Yukimura, Housing & Transportation Committee, on Wednesday, April 24, 2013, at 1:34 p.m., at the Council Chambers, 4396 Rice Street, Room 201, Historic County Building, Lihu`e, and the presence of the following was noted: Honorable Tim Bynum Honorable Gary L. Hooser Honorable Nadine K. Nakamura Honorable Mel Rapozo Honorable JoAnn A. Yukimura Honorable Ross Kagawa Honorable Jay Furfaro The Clerk read the notice of the public hearing on the following: 1. "RESOLUTION NO. 2013-47, DRAFT 1 - RESOLUTION DETERMINING THE COUNTY OF KAUAI FUEL TAX RATE AND REPEALING RESOLUTION NO. 2004-06, DRAFT 2, 2. Bill No. 2484 - A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE AMENDING SECTION 5- 1.1, KAUAI COUNTY CODE 1987, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO THE COUNTY FUEL TAX," which was passed on first reading and ordered to print by the Council of the County of Kaua`i on March 27, 2013, and published in The Garden Island newspaper on April 7, 2013 and April 14, 2013. The following communications were received for the record: 1. Michaelle Mintcheff, dated April 15, 2013 -2. Frank O. Hay, dated April 15, 2013 -3. Ronald Horoshko, dated April 15, 2013 -4. Palmer W. Hafdahl, dated April 15, 2013 ,.5. Sylvia Partridge, dated April 15, 2013 -6. Joe Metzger, dated April 15, 2013 ,-7. Liz Crites, dated April 16, 2013 8. Joan Langan, dated April 16, 2013 9. Vera Benedek, dated April 16, 2013 10. Linda and Keith Silva, dated April 17, 2013 11. Judith White, dated April 21, 2013 -12. Marj Dente, dated April 21, 2013 A3. Chuck Laskter, dated April 21, 2013 -14. Ray Carpenter, dated April 19, 2013 -15. Reve Solomon, dated April 20, 2013 AG. Diane Devries, dated April 22, 2013 `17. Maria Snyder, dated April 22, 2013 ,18. Pamela Burrell, dated April 22, 2013 PUBLIC HEARING 2 APRIL 24, 2013 RESOLUTION NO. 2013-47, DRAFT 1 and BILL NO. 2484 49. Tracey Schavone, dated April 23, 2013 ,20. Terry Sullivan, dated April 22, 2013 .21. Elaine Albertson, dated April 23, 2013 22. Jane Garma, dated April 23, 2013 23. Erika Hahn, dated April 23, 2013 ,24. Neil Clendeninn, dated April 22, 2013 , -25. Elli Ward, dated April 23, 2013 /26. Barbara Labitska, dated April 23, 2013 X27. Colleen K. McCracken, dated April 23, 2013 ,28. James "Kimo" Rosen, dated April 23, 2013 29. Angela Flynn, dated April 24, 2013 -'30. Carol Ann Davis, dated April 24, 2013 31. Marty Curnan, dated April 24, 2013 32. Glenn Mickens, dated April 24, 2013 -33. Christine Bothmer, (undated) -34. Apollo Kaua`i, dated April 17, 2013 /35. Alice Pauleen, (undated) ,p36. Luke Evslin, (undated) The hearing proceeded as follows: PAT GEGEN: I am for increasing the fuel tax to support The Kaua`i Bus. I have a couple of quotes I would just like you to think about first. This is from Paul Hawkins who is considered a Green Environmentalist or Economist. First quote is, "We have an economy that tells us that it is cheaper to destroy Earth in real time rather than renew, restore or sustain it." I would argue that the amount of money we are paying for fuel these days indeed does that. We have too many subsidies out there and we are not paying the actual price of what it cost to bring that fuel at this point. The second one, "We can either create assets for the future or take the assets of the future. One is called restoration, the other exploitation." I would hope that the decisions that we are making are looking to the future and looking for that restoration of the Earth for the damage that we have done versus continuing to exploit it. The third one and these are all from Paul Hawkins, "We can just as easily have an economy based on healing the future instead of stealing it." I would say increasing the fuel tax which potentially will have fewer people driving, increase the amount of people on the bus, and have the bus services more convenient for people would be more of that healing the future instead of continuing to harm it the way we are. A couple of things, first the expansion of the bus. It was done a year and a half ago and that was tremendous. Our ridership continues to go up and personally we do use the bus, my daughter Olivia goes to Island School, almost every morning of the week, if I am not driving into town myself, you can find me at the park-and-ride dropping my daughter off, watching her get on the bus, and it drops her off right at Island School. It is a tremendous asset. It keeps me off the road; it keeps other parents even if we were carpooling. There is at least six other kids that go to her school getting on to that one stop, so it is a very tremendous service. It is safe and I am very comfortable with her doing it. Door to door service, in this case because the one bus does stop by Island School, so it is great. My wife also rides the bus quite often. Again, she will take her vehicle down to the park-and-ride, hop on there but she works at Waimea in the Hospital, and the bus drops her off right there. The only thing that keeps her from driving or from taking the bus more often is the fact that if she has one patient PUBLIC HEARING 3 APRIL 24, 2013 RESOLUTION NO. 2013-47, DRAFT 1 and BILL NO. 2484 that takes her five minutes longer during the day, she is potentially is going to wait an hour to catch the next bus and after working a full day, like all of us, we would like to get home. Waiting an extra hour is a little more than what she would like to do. If it was half an hour, that would not bother her. If it were fifteen minutes that would even be better. Myself, I did not buy an annual pass this year because I have not been able to use it as much and unfortunately a lot of my driving is really driving my daughter around and it does not go to the violin places for lessons and gymnastics and those types of things. The Kaua`i Energy Sustainability Plan which this Council supported and paid for originally it had a very large amount going for an increase in the gas tax but I think the final one was at 2% increase. If you take a look at the four cents that is being proposed, that is still less than a 1% increase over the next three years. So, we are still being conservative compared to what was suggested. It makes sense to have a more of a user tax. Like I said, we subsidize the fossil fuel industry and they are not even giving... we are not even near capturing the full cost of what the environmental impacts are or the health impacts. One of the things to remember is that places where they do have good public transportation like buses, people end up walking a few blocks more here and there. It actually improves the health of the people who are riding the bus as well as keeping the rest of the pollution out there. The other thing I want to say is that our fuel is much cheaper than the majority of the other develop Countries. While most of those Counties have significantly better public transportation systems, I remember being in Germany in 1982 and the cost of gas there was already like $3 or $4 a gallon and at the time we were paying $0.79 or under a buck. Why? Because they used that money to capture the real cost, to develop their infrastructure for the public transportation which really is fabulous through most of Europe. I am for it and if you do not pass the fuel tax, I would say please do vote to expand the bus, give them additional money if there is another way to get it. To me the fuel tax is one that makes sense. If we can get more cars off the road and get more people on the bus that makes sense. Thank you. Ms. Yukimura: Thank you very much. Are there any clarifying questions for Mr. Gegen? If not, thank you. CHRISTINE BOTHMER: I am here to voice my support for the proposed gasoline tax for the purpose of expanding the Kauai Bus. In particular, I recommend expanding paratransit with smaller vans. Smaller paratransit vans would improve the quality of life for many Kaua`i residents and I speak as an advocate for the older population in particular. I am a registered nurse and have been visiting older adults, families, and caregivers in their homes, teaching chronic disease management and safety. Many of the island's kupuna who are no longer able to drive become isolated. If they have family members on island, they often have good intentions of helping, but the older adult can see that nowadays many family resources, like time and money, are stretched thin. They do not want to be a burden so they quit asking for rides unless absolutely necessary. Paratransit allows them to remain independent. I have seen that the drivers are courteous and help frail older adults to and from their doors. Despite these benefits, many older adults remain homebound for three reasons that I have identified. One, the current paratransit busses are unable to navigate steep driveways. If the old adult cannot safely walk up or down that same driveway, paratransit is not available to them. Two, some do not like to draw attention to themselves and they feel like a neighborhood spectacle, especially if it takes them PUBLIC HEARING 4 APRIL 24, 2013 RESOLUTION NO. 2013-47, DRAFT 1 and BILL NO. 2484 awhile to get on and off the bus. And three, some have needs that must be attended to in a shorter time frame than paratransit allows as it drives through various neighborhoods to pick-up many passengers. In the end, smaller paratransit vans would be able to transverse steep driveways, draw less attention for those with privacy concerns, and transports people more quickly. This would allow more older adults to remain independent and socially engaged both of which are big factors in their overall health. Thank you. GLENN MICKENS: I am strongly against raising any of our taxes to pay for adding more buses to our roads. We are subsidizing our bus system at $7,000,000 a year now and certainly do not need to add more of a burden to our overtaxed citizens. We gave our County employees a chance to ride our buses for nothing and only about fifty of them use this gift, so where is this huge need to add more buses to the fleet? Why are we not trying a taxi system? You heard I think it was Debbie who was here talking about it, she drove one of these taxis on the Big Island, as it was used by the Big Island to pick-up our seniors or ADA people and saving huge amounts of money by not having the big buses pick-up and take our seniors to their destinations and home. We have to prioritize our limited funds and since 98% of our population uses their vehicles for transportation, let us get alternate roads built on Kaua`i and help alleviate the traffic problems we have. Expanding the bus system is not the answer for those 98% nor is raising the taxes on the already over burdened families. I have heard other testimony here so far that you know they still have to have their automobiles because these buses are not going to ever go to every place you need the car for. When you leave this place I keep asking you guys, "When you leave here what do you get on - the bus, the bicycle? No, you get in your automobile because you need it." At this stage of the game the people are being taxed enough. Ross pointed out that we are drained in our Budget and we are going to have to replenish that. We certainly do not want to burden our taxpayers with anymore. Thank you very much, JoAnn. LAUREL BRIER: I have been an employee with the State Department of Vocational (VOC) Rehab for over thirty years. I am speaking for my Office today although my main motivation is that in looking at the bigger picture, I want a cleaner World for us to live in. Despite what Glenn had to share, I think there is a lot of support for putting an increase in gas tax. Just in a week we did... and I also work with Apollo Kaua`i and we composed a letter and just in people I could speak to in agencies, I was speaking to that I come in contact with through my work and otherwise, I will share it with you. We shared a letter supporting expansion of the bus services and looking at a gas tax to support that. I believe the burden that it would be is relatively small per year and that the biggest burden would go on those who drive the most which is appropriate. It would also be shared with tourist who fills up their cars on our island. I think I have twenty signatures of a variety of different agencies that had to go to their Boards and others for support also. As far as the VOC Counselor goes, I know that we buy an average of fifty bus passes a month for our people so they can go to work. Basically, that is what it is for. There are others who buy their own bus passes also. We have a blind group PUBLIC HEARING 5 APRIL 24, 2013 RESOLUTION NO. 2013-47, DRAFT 1 and BILL NO. 2484 that I think everyone except for one or two members uses the bus in order to get to meetings and get to places that they need to go. It is really a service for our people who have disabilities, who are not able to drive, and expanding that and supporting that is essential. Thank you. JOE ROSA: Why raise the guy's tax? Let us all be fair and raise gas and raise diesel. We got a lot of diesel trucks that kids are riding around. Because the thing with government is when they raise the tax, they forget to remove it because there are a lot of things that the County still have in the gas tax like the so-called "Malapit Gas Tax" that was set on that was used for the Kokee Road. I do not know if it was ever taken off because I know when they were talking about gas going up and up and I said "What about the so-called Malapit Gas Tax?" It is still on. I do not know if they finally take it off. Let us be fair — you tax gas, tax diesel, tax kerosene, any fuel because it is all comes out from fuels. The taxing of gas is something that I disagree with because if you look at Maui and Kaua`i, they are about the same distance from O`ahu but how come we pay higher gasoline rates than Maui? It is the same distance and a lot of the tankers who come direct from the mainland, they do not come from the mainland, they come direct from Barber's Point, and short distance because of raw fuel that is refined at Barber's Point comes from either Alaska or from Indonesia. While I was working with DOT we used to go scale our trucks at Barber's Point and the workers say our raw (inaudible) oil comes from Alaska or Indonesia. So, every time there is a war or anything, our gas goes up. When the Refinery was built I remember the saying was to the Legislature, they said that it is going to make gas cheaper in Hawai`i because they do not have to handle too much transportation. The way it seems, it just went up and up. It did not get any cheaper. The bus system like when I was working with DOT right across the street and JoAnn was the Mayor; we did not have enough stalls to park for the public between the State and the County building's here. We sent letters and I remember JoAnn would ask "Would you ride the bus?" I said "No, basically because the bus would get me to work late." Where I live I take five minutes to get to the State Building but with the bus, it comes in my area and circulate around go to the Neighborhood Center and down Block (a) and come out by Kentucky Fried Chicken, by the time I get to the State Building, I would be late. Ms. Yukimura: Joe, that is three minutes. Mr. Rosa: I mentioned to JoAnn time and time again, people will not ride your bus especially people that work or the students that go to school. When we were going to school we caught the bus by the old Lihu`e Theatre and it would get us to Kauai High School in fifteen minutes, so we knew we could get to school. There were two buses that you had to catch— 7:00 or 7:30 and the 7:30 one you would get there at 7:45 and you would be on time for school. A lot of the workers used to come from Kealia, they dropped off along the way at Tip Top, Kaua`i Stores, the Post Office. They had a scheduled bus that stayed on line and no detours, no distractions. You want a system for people to ride it especially workers or students, we need a bus line that stays directly on the main route, let us say from Kealia all the way to Lihu`e or wherever. That is the way it was in the olden days and it was good. It was successful. You would get some of those kids from Hanamd'ulu/Lihu`e area taking their cars to Kaua`i High School where they have a parking problem. Our time, we did not need a full parking lot and parking along the streets and in the back of the gym because people used to ride the bus. I, myself in my four years of High School, I rode the bus. It is the running of the bus system PUBLIC HEARING 6 APRIL 24, 2013 RESOLUTION NO. 2013-47, DRAFT 1 and BILL NO. 2484 and another thing like I said, if this is will cost you so much money, it is over $5 a gallon, why not gasoline which is $4.69. You are running a bus that is running something in high fuel, so you have to look into when you tax economy, go on gas or convert it where you can convert it from diesel to gas or gas to diesel. Those are the kinds of things, as I said, you people have to look. Maybe you might need a shuttle bus and bring in the people out instead of them going inside the camps and they do not pick up no passengers. It is just wasting diesel that pass in front my house and I get the smoke in the morning in my bedroom. Run a bus system that stays on the main line that can get people to work and students to school. You have to make it convenient for the public. Conveyance counts and those are the things to consider. Thank you. Ms. Yukimura: I just want to clarify that the tax that is being proposed is the liquid fuel tax, so it does cover diesel as well as gasoline. Mr. Rosa: Well everything mentions gasoline, so that is why I mentioned it and to give a clear picture... Ms. Yukimura: Yes, I know. Some people say gas tax, it is actually a fuel tax. Mr. Rosa: That is right. ALICE PARKER: The Kauai Bus is essential. I use it Mondays and I have a friend from Sun Village and a friend from Puhi. We ride from Lihu`e to Kilauea to the Ukulele Class up there and return. We could not afford it otherwise. I lived in Lihu`e Gardens and most of my neighbors do not own cars, they either physically or mentally drive and you would not want them on the roads and they use the bus frequently. In fact yesterday I was able to get a last minute eye appointment but I cannot drive to the eye appointment but the shuttle comes right there, took the shuttle went for the eye drops, got my eye dilated, called trans and told them where I was and they picked me up, and delivered me home. It is really essential. The thing is, our roads are too crowded. We need to have more people take the bus. I have written some examples and one was I took paratransit to perform at Kilauea Elementary School with the Kilauea seniors and some of us from Lihu`e for our Christmas Program and it was going to be dark so I did not dare drive and I could not take the regular bus because I would have to walk through a dark street to get to the Elementary School. We were supposed to perform at 6:00 and paratrans was going to pick me up at 4:00, they picked me up at 4:30 and it is pretty crowded. We picked up more people along the route, it was jammed and there was one woman who has dementia carrying on like that... I do not know how the driver lasted and I was delivered finally to Kilauea at 7:00. Now, I understand but they need more buses, they do not always need a whole bunch of paratransit but when you got fragile seniors and wheelchairs, some of them cramped into the paratrans and elbow to elbow — you better get along with your neighbor. They also need to extend the bus to go to Costco because as I testified before my neighbors have no access to grocery stores except for 7-11 and Wal-Mart. Even going to Times, is a hassle. It would be handy to get bulk and divide it among neighbors and share. The bus — okay, raise the fuel tax, it is going to be expensive. I have friends that say the registration was so high, I do not know if I can afford to keep riding... I will show you how to ride the bus. The only reason I keep driving is I have a dog and they do not take it on the bus. How can I get a ten pound terrier qualified as a PUBLIC HEARING 7 APRIL 24, 2013 RESOLUTION NO. 2013-47, DRAFT 1 and BILL NO. 2484 service dog? I may try... okay, thank you. The other thing is Council people, would you please speak into your microphones. Thank you. Ms. Yukimura: Thank you for all of your input including the last because we need to know what we need to do in order to communicate to all of you out there. LUKE EVSLIN: I apologize for walking in late, I did catch the bus today and it was late. I should have anticipated that. There are a host of converging factors that necessitate increasing gas taxes and using the revenue for public transportation. Number one, because cars are increasingly more efficient, gas taxes, as a factor of amount paid per mile driven, are at an all time low. That means that if the average person is paying less per mile than ever before. However, because efficiency only correlates to mileage, the wear and tear on the roads per mile driven has stayed the same. Either our roads will continue to degrade, or gas taxes need to go up. Number two, humanity is facing a crisis of a magnitude unparalleled in human history. Greenhouse gas emissions are currently raising the temperature of the planet at a rate that will make it incompatible with human civilization within a century. We are already seeing those effects globally. Since I was born, every month of my life has had a global temperature above the 20th Century average. 28% of the emissions that cause climate change are from the internal combustion engines of cars. Less than 1% of the fuel burned in an average car is actually used to propel its occupant forward. The car is, by far, the most wasteful means of transportation imaginable. If we want a viable future for our children, increasing our public transportation network must be a priority. Number three, every time someone gets on the bus that is one less car on the road. The benefits of eliminating that car from our roads are most strongly felt by those who are still driving. Fewer cars not only mean less traffic, but also less wear on the roads. It does not make sense to support public transportation from any County funds other than a gas tax. Number four, on Kaua`i, we are among the most vulnerable places in the world to fluctuating oil prices. We are nearly entirely dependent on support from 2,000 miles away. If anything impacts that lifeline, whether it is war, natural disaster, or scarcity, our island society will crumble. By increasing our public and alternative transportation network, we are minimizing our dependence on overseas fuel. Not only will that allow us to stretch our supply in times of need, but the general cost savings of public transportation has a proven positive effect on local economies. Number five, our bus system is woefully inadequate. I know, because I ride it nearly every time I travel from my home in Kapa'a to Lihu`e. It is overcrowded, there is rarely enough room for a bike, the once per hour system is inconvenient, and the lack of shelters is embarrassing. We have one main road. Because of that simplicity, we could have a bus system that is the envy of the world. Instead, because it is underfunded, we have a bus system that barely works. If you say that you support the bus, then please fund the bus. The island needs it. I forgot to mention that I am speaking on behalf of Apollo Kauai. PUBLIC HEARING 8 APRIL 24, 2013 RESOLUTION NO. 2013-47, DRAFT 1 and BILL NO. 2484 DEBRA KEKAUALUA: With regard to the bus, I know you all know my platform on "free or cheaper" and you know that I am still really opposed to what is going on here locally with the bus increases and bigger buses and places for people to sit under when it is raining and it just does not match ever with $1 on the Big Island for transportation. Hele On offers also, as I stated in the past, a shared taxi program. They are not using big buses to do paratransit. They use small vehicle — nine passenger vans. Again, as a Kaua`i bus driver for 8 months under Janine Rapozo, it just did not seem like there was much knowledge of how to go about putting a bus into a situation or setting as Kaua`i. To this day, to me, it does not make sense to be spending more money when I believe people could be shown by the Big Island folks how to implement what it is that they have there and put it over here. I spent a lot of time on this particular issue having spent time on the Big Island and I just think the Big Island also, if you Google it, is one of maybe seven places in the world that offers a free transportation thing. I am just wanting you guys to reconsider all of the stuff that you are doing. The gas prices are going out of sight — by summer time, I am hearing $6 a gallon. Because we cannot even do a leg for $2 and Big Island is doing $1 and they got that whole island that they cover or service, again, I am really perplex that it continues to... and I see all these paratransit buses going by and unlike what the lady said who is elbow to elbow, I have never seen a paratransit bus with more than one person on it. I look believe me because of my introduction and working as a Kaua`i Bus Driver and being fired and all of the stuff that went on down there, it is all just in the backseat. It needs to be reassessed and I thank you for listening to me. Ms. Yukimura: Thank you very much. Chair Furfaro: I want to share something so that everybody understands here. The County Council has increased the current bus activities to the tune of 2.1 million dollars out of the General Fund. That gave us the weekend coverage, and youth coverage and I know Mr. Bynum was a big proponent of doing something for our youths. That is 2.1 million we added. With this gas tax, it is basically and I want to be realistic, it is going to raise another $848,000 at our early estimates. This with our aging fleet and some of the other things to keep public transportation going at the levels we have now and maybe some growth is where we are at but we are at a disadvantage to the Big Island. That is a very tough comparison because I have two daughters on the Big Island, my grandchildren on the Big Island and they get a huge Federal subsidy that we do not see. They get it from the National Park, they get it for the Pahakuloa Military Training, so I just want to share with you that it is a real difficult comparison. Ms. Kekaualua: Do we not have a Federal Park here on this island— Kokee? Chair Furfaro: We do not have the kind of subsistence that they get on the Big Island and therefore their bus transportation pricing is not a fair comparison. We grew from $3,100,000 dollars since 2008 to $5,300,000 now of which only seventeen cents comes from the fare. The other eight-three is a move that the Council has made over the years from the General Fund. Now we are kind of at a point that is saying "are there other enhancements?" I just want to make sure we do not make the wrong comparison with the Big Island and also the fact that we do not over promise and under deliver. $823,000 is not a lot of expansion, PUBLIC HEARING 9 APRIL 24, 2013 RESOLUTION NO. 2013-47, DRAFT 1 and BILL NO. 2484 it is some expansion but not a lot. That was not a question I just wanted to give some clarity. Mr. Bynum: I hear what you are saying about a different way to do transit and this Bill is about increasing the gas tax and I did not know whether you were in favor or opposed. Ms. Kekaualua: I am not able to answer that because I have done any study or research on it. What is the consensus with you folks? Mr. Bynum: This is about increasing the gas tax and a portion of that increase would go to the bus. Mr. Kagawa: What brought to light for me was that you was a former employee there for the bus and what this gas tax is doing is asking the Council to increase taxes to give the bus more money to better meet the needs out there. Are you saying in your testimony that as a former employee that you feel under your former bus Janine Rapozo that there was some mismanagement where we could have met the need better with the money that we had? Ms. Kekaualua: I do not know if I would make that call but I am just saying on a personal level that the Administration in that Department could have acted much more with compassionate under the questioning of my... wanting to know why we were not made full-time employees and my line of questioning got me booted. Ms. Yukimura: I think that is off the topic of the fuel tax. Mr. Kagawa: The fuel tax relates to increasing revenues for the bus, right? Ms. Yukimura: If you... Ms. Kekaualua: I would be against it, I guess. Chair Furfaro: Excuse me, let me clarify as the Chair. If there is clarification on a proposal that you need, like I just gave, we can do that. This is a public hearing and the public hearing is for us to take public testimony, not to debate items back and forth. Mr. Kagawa: She has answered my question. Ms. Yukimura: Yes, I just want to say that we are all here concerned about efficiency of operations and proper management. Just know that it is one of the things that were scrutinized in terms of the use of those moneys. Ms. Kekaualua: Right. Ms. Yukimura: Thank you. MARY STONE: I support the idea and I am a frequent bus rider and I was so happy when they expanded it to night time because I was able to PUBLIC HEARING 10 APRIL 24, 2013 RESOLUTION NO. 2013-47, DRAFT 1 and BILL NO. 2484 go to meetings whereas before I was never able to participate in meetings. I would like to see the expansion to the half hour because the buses are incredibly crowded. There more children, people like the Apollo Kaua`i people with bikes, and one of the problems is if your bus comes in and you have a bike and there already two there, it is like... what do you want to do? You have to wait another hour or you can bicycle. If it is raining, it is not a very pleasant alternative. The buses are very crowded right now, so I definitely support that. I find that all members of the community use it but those who are concerned about the infrastructure, all of the issues that the representative brought from Apollo Kaua`i, all of those issues in terms of infrastructure and supporting the bus is really important. The night time thing is wonderful. I would love to have the weekends go later but I think in order to take care of the needs of the community, increasing to the half hour schedule would make a much better impact. Thank you. JODI ASQUENA: This is the first time I am here and I am very nervous. I apologize for having no notes today but I wanted to speak from my heart and I will be quick. I am for the bus, I am for the gas tax increase, and I am for any kind of increase that will keep the bus as it is. I do have a car and I only occasionally use the bus. I am from England and I have a lot of visitors from England. Those visitors often do not stay at fancy hotels, they stay at my house. They need to find a way to get places and the first thing they ask me is, "do you have a bus schedule?" Where I am from, they offer free bus service and in general moving around in Europe you would be reliant upon public transportation. I was for the first 30 years of my life, I was dependant on catching the bus and so I am used to doing that. As my daughter went to Kaua`i High School an got to an age when she needed to go to the mall, first thing I said was, "You want to go to the mall, you get on the bus." That is how we do it. She and her friends all caught the bus to Kukui Grove Mall and all have their first experiences traveling on this bus. I applaud any bus extension of the bus services. I am concerned not only on a personal level but on a global level too. It makes no sense to cling to that myth of p g g Yt every trip from point (a) to point (b) needing to involve a car journey usually I have found with one person in the car. I am a student currently at Kaua`i Community College (KCC) and for the past four years have requested that a bus go from my house in Koloa to Puhi — to KCC. At the moment, that is not possible so yes I do use my car and I am hoping that if we extend the bus service, that I will be able to use it to go to school. I want to mention that my husband is the doorman at the Hyatt and employees there use this service extensively to get to and from work. They come from the Westside and pick up the shuttle and come down to the Hyatt to the employee entrance. I just want to end by saying that when I go to O`ahu the first thing that I do is go to an ABC Store and get my several week long bus pass. Aloha. Ms. Yukimura: I want to say that one of our hopes to do to a shuttle in the Koloa-Po`ipu-Kalaheo area that could link to the main line. That is one of the plans but we need money to do that. Thank you. MARSHA KIEST: I am a bus rider for the last twenty years and I appreciate all the expansion that has happened so far. I think the bus is pretty great right now. It is getting crowded and that is a good sign but there are times where people have to stand but that is okay... For Earth Day over there at KCC one of the activities they had was this movie called "Do the Math." It said that we are in serious trouble in about fifteen years if we keep using as much fossil fuel PUBLIC HEARING 11 APRIL 24, 2013 RESOLUTION NO. 2013-47, DRAFT 1 and BILL NO. 2484 as we are in the past and as we do on a daily basis. I support the new tax because I feel that maybe as gas gets more expensive, more people will be trying to ride the bus. I think that is a good thing. We have to reduce our dependency on fossil fuel. I realize the bus uses fossil fuel too but I think if we can get more people riding the bus and less people in individual cars, the Planet really needs it. It sounds like we are in serious trouble with the Planet. Ms. Yukimura: I just want to say that our Multi-Modal Land Transportation Plan which this Council recently approved does include looking at renewable fuels for the bus. Thank you. Any other speakers who may not have signed up? Alice, I do not think you used all your six minutes, please come up. Ms. Parker: We need expanded bike racks. I have neighbors and friends who use bicycles and the racks would be full and we have to wait an hour. One guy was stuck up in Kilauea that he finally hid his bicycle in the bush there and I hope it was there when he went bike because there are not enough bike racks. Mr. Kagawa: Are the buses equipped with bike racks in the front and the back? Ms. Parker: Just the front as I understand it, two bikes in the front and that is it. Mr. Kagawa: That is all it will hold? Ms. Parker: That is all I see. Ms. Yukimura: Yes. Mr. Kagawa: So if two are on and there is another person waiting with a bike, he has to wait? Ms. Parker: Next bus, an hour and you hope there are not two bikes sitting there when it pulls in again. Mr. Kagawa: If the bus is quite empty, do they let them take the bike in? Ms. Parker: Not that I know of, no, I think it is liability issues. Ms. Yukimura: Thank you, Alice. NICOLAS NACION: I support everything that we are considering right now. My concern is that I work at the resort and my hours used to be eight to four and I remember housekeeping, there is hundred something people... and then there are probably fifty or sixty cars and that is only one resort. Imagine where I work — the Hyatt and all the other resorts if you expand this and we can all go on the bus, I am not sure how many of us but if all of us go on that system, it will help out everybody. That is basically why I am here. Thank you. PUBLIC HEARING 12 APRIL 24, 2013 RESOLUTION NO. 2013-47, DRAFT 1 and BILL NO. 2484 Chair Furfaro: Nick it is good to see you. I think you bring up a very good point as we have heard about certain needs for expanding the cycle. I think if we are going to service workforce then maybe there are areas where the increment that we add is during work hours and evening hours for entertainment on weekends. Just adding half an hour schedules is difficulty when there is not the demand factor on the other side. I would encourage here to send some testimony in to the Transportation Agency about routes that get high occupancy so that the Transportation people can understand where incrementally... housekeepers get off at 4:00, kitchen staff get off at 4:30, those kinds of things we need to know. We need to find the peak demands. Testimony to the Transportation Department would be appreciated. Ms. Yukimura: I want to say that Nick, earlier this week was recognized at the Malama Awards as one of the Outstanding Visitor g V sitor Industry Workers so congratulations. And what the Chair says about giving input to the Transportation Agency is very well taken. The thing is, they can take the input but if they do not have the money to expand the routes, they cannot do anything with the input. Mr. Kagawa: Can I add to that? You not only need more money but you need management. If there are empty buses on certain routes then they should be redirected to meet community needs. Thank you. Chair Furfaro: Good point. Ms. Yukimura: Thank you. I think Luke, you wanted to speak? Mr. Evslin: Just to expand on the bike issue because I experience it every time I ride. There is only room for two bikes in the front and for example, coming from Lihu`e back to Kapa`a, a lot of people will go to Kukui Grove to try and catch it before it actually makes all the stops... you know, get the first stop in Lihu`e, so you can get it on. For me leaving here, I am going to ride to Kukui Grove to make sure that I get my bike on and same thing in Kapa`a. I am lucky because I catch it by the ballpark, so I normally get it on. Some time I do not, I have definitely thrown my bike in the bushes. It really puts a damper on your day especially because now we have great bike infrastructure in Lihu`e, you cannot access it. I also ride the bus on O`ahu very often and they also have room for two bikes but the bus comes very fifteen minutes so it is not too bad. Thank you. RITA (inaudible): I am a visitor here and I have been delighted to use the bus. I have been provided with a bike by my house but I have not felt comfortable on the roads because it is quite dangerous for riding. I walk a lot but when I found out about the buses, I have been going down from Koloa to Po`ipu Beach on a regular basis to join a yoga class. As a visitor, I would not mind paying more money. I am a senior citizen, so I was able to have the reduced rate but I would have loved to have a more frequent bus service to use it more often. Thank you. Ms. Kekaualua: Hi again, I did not mean to talk down on the bus because I think it has gotten extremely better over the last eight months. I also wanted to make a comment about the Multi-Modal Plan and my concern or fear PUBLIC HEARING 13 APRIL 24, 2013 RESOLUTION NO. 2013-47, DRAFT 1 and BILL NO. 2484 that the Multi-Modal Plan is being processed more on O`ahu. I am questioning how will it pan out here on this island because we are so very different in transportation needs and that kind of thing... I just wanted to... I am really opposed to Multi- Modal plans but I really question everything so my concern is that it might be overkill. Ms. Yukimura: I encourage you to go and look at the Plan itself. It is on the website - movekauai.org and it was made with many meetings on Kaua`i. Ms. Kekaulua: Yes, I went to a lot of those meetings and they were very well put together and again my concern is that it always seems like it is something that comes out of O`ahu and it is way overboard for whatever happens here or should happen here. Ms. Yukimura: Thank you. It did not come from O`ahu but I hear you. Thank you. This will close the hearing on the Resolution and the Bill regarding the fuel tax increase and I want to thank all of you for very valuable input. The matter will come up in Committee next week. Chair Furfaro: May 1, 2013. Ms. Yukimura: For discussion and possible action. That will be May 1, 2013. The meeting starts at 9:00 a.m., but when that item comes up is not known but you be able to speak in the beginning part of the meeting if you wish to. There being no further testimony on this matter, the public hearing adjourned at 2:30 p.m. Respe f,y sue, i ed, r77/Ar; le Admini; rative Ass'. y /t to the -.�y Clerk :dmc