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First off, sorry about the notice on the blog about the Pahoa Main Street Association that was not held as scheduled last night as I found out when I got there. It was obviously canceled but without any notice. The office staff at the Pahoa Community Center where it was supposed to take place didn't know why no one showed up. I guessed it was because of the state DOT/STIP meeting being held at the same time in Keaau.

I figured earlier that I would have to choose between the two meetings and from past experience I knew the chance that anything real, worthwhile or productive happening was much better at the Main Street meeting. So I drove from my office in Hilo through Keaau to Pahoa, where I discovered no meeting, then back to Keaau, using up precious fuel, time, and space on the highway in the process.

After getting to the DOT meeting late, I quickly discovered my instincts were correct. The DOT is very good at sending seasoned bureaucrats to these meetings who soak up criticism and deflect good input effectively while doing something other than gathering valuable information about how they should proceed with traffic improvements in the community. They have already determined that, and these meetings seem only the bothersome procedural requirements they must be follow according to state and federal guidelines.

They just don't listen to what people are saying. It's almost always a frustrating and fruitless exercise for impassioned  people who earnestly want meaningful dialogue about the expensive tax-paid projects being planned for their communities. But DOT planning is a top-down, almost paternalistic process in which experts in Honolulu and their consultants do the studies and determine what we need no matter what the local folks think or say.

I was not wrong about Wednesday's meeting, which was more an animated discussion of this empty process than any real exchange of ideas and information about traffic planning. More than 40 people -- more than the DOT expected, apparently, because they ran out of handouts -- clamored for roundabouts, for improvements at dangerous intersections, for reconsideration of plans to widen Route 130, and for alternative routes. But all they got was the equivalent of pats on the head and suggestions that they jot down their ideas and turn them in.

Oh, we'll get a $7 million project that will make the  shoulder lanes permanent between the Keaau bypass and Shower Drive, a signal light at Kahakai Boulvard and a few other intersection improvements, and eventually we'll get a $60 million project widening Route 130 to four lanes between Keaau and Pahoa, whether anybody wants them or not. An alternate route? The moderator just chuckled and said  that's unlikely to happen any time soon.

Sorry to be sound so jaded and cynical, but the frustration felt in the Keaau Community Center over the reaction of state officials to community ideas and input was palpable. The bureaucrats were certainly trying to be accommodating. They took notes and wrote things down and said "maybe" to a lot of times but it only made me think they've simply learned to close their doors softly instead of slamming them shut.

John Burnett wrote a good piece reflecting some of the frustration in today's Hawaii Tribune-Herald. You can explore the DOT's plans at the agency's Web site here.

So now I'm off to the Puna Community Development Plan Steering Committee meeting 6:30 at the Keaau Community Center. I just hope they haven't canceled it.