Big Island Video News will be featuring the presentations made by the many different speakers slated to talk at the Common Ground series. The archive will be available at this location.

LAUPAHOEHOE, Hawaii – The first TMT & Maunakea: Common Ground talk was held Tuesday night in Lauphaoehoe. Three speakers with different perspectives discussed the divisive issue of building the Thirty Meter Telescope on Mauna Kea. The meeting was the first of four organized by the Hilo-Hamakua Community Development Corporation with the hopes of bringing the community together to talk it out.

One speaker who wasn’t on the schedule was Gerald DeMello, who provided a timeline of the decades of astronomy development on Mauna Kea. DeMello is a member of the HHCDC board along with Colleen Aina, Glenn Carvahlo, Richard Ha, Jason Moniz, Eric Weinert, Judi Steinman, and President Donna Johnson.