Land Use Commissions summary

My name is Naomi and i have lived in Wai'anae my entire life. Being part of Ka Makani Kaiaulu 'O Wai'anae gave me, along with nine other youth the opportunity to testify for the Wai'anae community in the Land Use Commission meeting that took place on the 1st. The day started off early, one hour earlier than what i would usually wake up to get ready for this group. We then all loaded up into the vans and were off to the Land Use Commission office in town. We had a some-what difficult time finding the room, especially because there were NO SIGNS ON ANY OF THE ROOMS! Luckily, we had veterans who knew where the room was :) The room... the room was small with chairs up against the wall and hardly any foot space, it was warm and stuffy and was very uncomfortable :(. After sitting through a heated argument on if the Land Use Commissioners would let construction take place on the Big Island, it was finally our turn. The head of commissioners said they needed a five minute break, which turned into a 2 1/2 hour break. So, we all went to eat lunch and then took a mini field trip to the 'Iolani Palace's nice, shady, green lawn where we all enjoyed our lunch. Lunch was so ono, and i could resist a short nap under the gigantic Monkey Pod tree. Dosing in and out of consciousness, i dreamt of winning todays meeting, allowing the Concerned Elders of Wai'anae to be able to speak during future meetings that involved the PVT being placed in Lualualei. My 20 minute nap was over and we were back on our feet to the meeting. We nearly filled the whole conference room up, all 14 of us. It was our time to testify so Haku spoke in Hawaiian and then testified with a letter written by us. After our testimony we all took our seats and held our mini signs that said, "why us?" or "respect our Kupuna!" Aunty Walterbea took the stand and testified for the Elders and then our own Kimie testified by herself and spoke about our amazing Kupuna. In the end, the Concerned Elders passed with flying colors :) Not one commissioner disagreed to let the Elders intervene! The only mad people that were there were one of the Tropic Lands owner and his really mean lawyer. The first of July was a win for Wai'anae. I think that we did an excellent job and showed 'em whos boss ;)