2021-09-09 Redistricting Commission minutes (2nd Session)

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STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC ON AGENDA ITEMS (part 2) KOSSOW: Testifiers, please note, you will have three minutes for each item on the agenda to provide your statement. If you are speaking on multiple items, please indicate when you’re transitioning. Please wait to be unmuted and called upon. Testifier cameras should remain off until called upon. If there any issues when you are called, after trying for some time, we may move to a next testifier and then we’ll come back to you. When there’s 30 seconds remaining, staff will indicate this is your time to summarize. Before you speak, please state your name for the record and the item that you are testifying on. Mr. Kauka? BRENDA FORD KAUKA: Thank you, Chair. Our first testifier is Ms. Brenda Ford, followed by Mr. Chuck Flaherty, excuse me. Ms. Ford you can begin. FORD: Thank you. My name is Brenda Ford. I represent myself. I have been involved with watching the Commissions for the past 20 years. I’ve watched—this is my third Commission. One of the things I would like Corporation Counsel to check out, is this pairing and kidnapping which seems to me, would be violating the do not favor, or disfavor, incumbents rule, and that’s all I’ll say on that. In the Puna district, we all know that lava has covered some of the roads and we need to know what roads there are. Mr. Flaherty might have more information on this, but the Commission needs to know which roads have been impacted, and the public who are involved in this should also be made aware of that. That should be a document that we can all get. I have already submitted a couple of plans, Brenda Ford 11, and Brenda Ford 12. I just want to tell ya, I’m not a hundred percent satisfied with these plans, but I wanted to submit them because in one of them, I divided Puna North/South, and in the other one, East/West. I remember in the 2011 redistricting, the Puna representatives were horrified to see Puna divided East/West, so I wanted to show them, and show you, how it can be done. It’s not perfect at this point, but it’s something for you to look at. The shoreline blocks have already been discussed a little bit, but we’ve got blocks over on the Kona side that snake up almost five to ten miles up the shoreline, when the rest of the census blocks are in District A or District B, and we’ve got this snaky looking thing that cannot be divided at this point and time. I’m asking this Commission, I don’t know if the last one actually wrote a letter to the Census Bureau, but I’m begging you to do that and get these things cleaned up before the next census. I also think that we should try to get the census blocks divided so that we can keep parks, National Parks, and forest reserves, in a census block if it’s possible, or a couple of census blocks, and not have those parks split between District A and District B. So, it’s going to be up to you guys to actually do this in your final plan and send a letter, identifying the census blocks that need to be split and exactly where. 31