NEWS ABOUT MICHAEL KIONI DUDLEY

Kioni Dudley led a fight against the Hoopili development
By Erika Engle
KIoni Dudley, a retired professor and high school teacher, led the battle against D.R. Horton-Schuler Hawaii in its bid to urbanize 1,500 acres of prime agricultural land in Ewa to build 12,000 homes in a community it calls Hoopili.


FL MORRIS / FLMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
Kioni Dudley stands outside his home in Makakilo, which overlooks the rejected Hoopili project seen in the distance between the homes in the foreground and Pearl Harbor.
His Friends of Makakilo group, with backing from the state Office of Planning and the heads of the state Transportation and Agriculture departments, won a state Land Use Commission ruling rejecting the developer's plan.
Dudley does not claim a single-handed victory.
"We certainly have a good, large number of people ... working with us," he said. "They were not only members of Friends of Makakilo, but also concerned citizens from Ewa, Ewa Beach, Kapolei and the Waianae Coast.
"They were the people who went door to door and waved signs. They were the people who helped me in getting together town hall meetings and so forth," he said, naming Glenn Oamilda as well as his own wife, Doris Dudley -- "the super-organizer."
But the August decision ended just one battle.
The ruling was based on D.R. Horton-Schuler's failure to submit a plan detailing the timing, phasing and location of developing the community. Such detailed plans are required if a project will take more than 10 years to complete, and the Mililani- or Hawaii Kai-sized Hoopili development would take some 20 years.
"Obviously, we're disappointed in the decision," Horton President Mike Jones told the Star-Bulletin at the time. The developer vowed to push forward "to plan for the future of Hawaii, for future job growth and local housing."
There are currently 29,000 houses on the Ewa plain. Zoning has been approved for 33,000 more.
The additional 12,000 homes at Hoopili, on what is now prime farmland mauka of H-1, would require hauling away the rich topsoil and "filling up our farmland with coral so they can build their houses," Dudley said. "So it just plainly does not make sense."
The traffic problem is already huge, "and we're going to double the population out here and try to put them on H-1," he said. "Let's consider that for a minute."
Federal law will also require construction of "10-foot, solid concrete cement-block walls along the freeway in order to prevent the sound of the freeway from going in to Hoopili," Dudley said. "It's an urbanization of the country that is just unpalatable."
For Leeward-bound drivers, seeing the open space past Waipahu is good for the soul, Dudley said.
"If we allow Hoopili, it's going to cause solid houses from Hawaii Kai to Ko Olina, unbroken city," he said. "The Second City was supposed to be separate from the First City."

MAY 9 - WALKING TOUR OF HISTORIC NORTH HOLLYWOOD

"HIDDEN IN PLAIN SITES" TOUR - THE MUSEUM OF THE SAN FERNANDO VALLEY
"If you would understand anything, observe its beginning and its development."
Aristotle - founder of the first museum in the western world.

THE "HIDDEN IN PLAIN SITES" TOUR with JERRY FECHT and RICHARD HILTON

On Saturday May 9, 2009, at 10:00 a.m. the Museum of the San Fernando Valley is conducting a special North Hollywood Historic Walking Tour. (See details below)

The first 20 people to sign up for the May 9th tour, will receive a complimentary pass to the 5th Annual Old Fashioned Pancake Breakfast being held that morning at Fire Station #86 down the street at
4305 Vineland, just north of the 101 Freeway.
So, have a great breakfast and walk it off in North Hollywood!


The Museum of the San Fernando Valley is dedicated to revealing the historic and artistic riches we travel past everyday and may never realize are there. To paraphrase Aristotle: “Knowing where we came from and how we got where we are, serves to inform us in creating a better future.”

Join us in discovering this rich neighborhood!

DATE: Saturday, May 9, 2009
TIME: 10:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
MEET: North Hollywood Park
(Tujunga Ave. at Magnolia Blvd. - Amelia Earhart Statue)
PRICE: $10.00
LENGTH: 2.5 hours
PARKING: On-street (Tujunga Ave. or Magnolia Blvd.)

If you planning on joining us, please email us at: NoHoTours@aol.com.
Tell us you are coming and how many in your party. Walk-ups accepted.

For further information, call: (818) 909-4729
Thank you to the Universal City/North Hollywood Chamber of Commerce for your support.

BING CROSBY

Sheet Music for Bing Crosby "San Fernando Valley My Home" Gift to the Museum of the San Fernando Valley from Gary Fredburg 2009 (click on image to enlarge)
Hi, I was just posting this image on The Museum's blog and thought I'd share it with my NDHS friends.
The Museum just received a 1953 Arches yearbook.

Jerry Fecht

LOSS OF JIM CONWAY

I'm sorry to inform you of the passing of our classmate, Jim Conway. Jim died this past weekend of a heart attack while on assignment in Africa.
He is being brought back to the US for burial. His funeral will be held at St. Paul the Apostle Church in Westwood on Monday, Feb. 16 at 11 am.

The address of St. Paul's is 10750 Ohio Avenue. Phone no. is (310) 474-1527.