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oJNtYfos N, <br /> COUNTY OF HAWAII •f. �-' '%=t . STATE OF HAWAII <br /> RESOLUTION NO. 205 1 <br /> A RESOLUTION ACKNOWLEDGING THAT HAWAII COUNTY AND THE HAWAII <br /> DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION HAVE HISTORICALLY DISCRIMINATED <br /> AGAINST LOW INCOME AND NATIVE HAWAIIAN COMMUNITIES OF THE PUNA <br /> AND KA`U DISTRICTS, AS ESTABLISHED BY THE OFFICE OF CIVIL RIGHTS' <br /> SEPTEMBER 28, 2000, RULING, AND PLEDGING THE COUNCIL'S COMMITMENT <br /> TO ADDRESSING DISPARITY AND PREVENTING DISCRIMINATION AGAINST <br /> DISADVANTAGED POPULATIONS. <br /> WHEREAS, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination on the <br /> basis of race, color, and national origin in programs and activities receiving federal financial <br /> assistance, and Executive Order 12898, Federal Actions to Address Environmental Justice in <br /> Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations, Section 1-101, directs federal agencies to <br /> identify and address the disproportionately high and adverse human health or environmental <br /> effects of its programs, policies, and activities on minority and low-income populations; and <br /> WHEREAS, on September 28, 2000, the Director of the Office of Civil Rights of the <br /> Federal Highways Administration ruled in favor of the Sustainability Committee in response to <br /> its complaint of discrimination against the Hawai`i Department of Transportation (HDOT) and <br /> Hawaii County as indicated in the attached Exhibit A; and <br /> WHEREAS, complainants (the Sustainability Committee) alleged that State and County <br /> officials deliberately undercount residents to favor large landowners/developers, and that State <br /> and County officials knowingly zone residential land as agricultural land, based upon erroneous <br /> projected population figures that could not be supported by State or Hawai`i County officials; . <br /> and <br /> WHEREAS, complainants alleged that the substandard subdivisions of Hawai`i Island <br /> (in Puna and Ka`u ) have been, by design, denied access to basic infrastructure and services for <br /> forty years while continuously providing taxes that subsidize additional services to existing, <br /> already served, higher income communities; and <br /> WHEREAS, complainants also alleged that"the primary financial beneficiary of the tax <br /> subsidy provided by these substandard subdivisions is the town of Hilo, which has had a <br /> substantial per capita subsidy in taxes paid and services received for every year since 1955"; and <br /> WHEREAS, the Federal Highways Administration concluded that evidence supported <br /> the allegations raised in the complaint of discrimination, and that HDOT and Hawai`i County <br /> were not in compliance with the requirements of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as <br /> outlined by the procedures and requirements at 23 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), Part 200 <br /> and 49 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), Part 21 as well as Executive Order 12898, Section <br /> 3-3; and <br />