2021-10-14 Redistricting Commission minutes (5th Session)

Home

HUSTACE: Mr. Kauka, I'll pass it back to you. KAUKA: Mr. Vice Chair, our next testifier is Ms. Brenda Ford. Ms. Ford, thank you. You may unmute and begin. BRENDA FORD FORD: Thank you. I have submitted this testimony at last meeting and this meeting. I'm only going to read portions of A through H. The rest of it is a very explicit explanation of how I designed the different Council Districts and why. My total deviation is about 3.5. And in all cases, I followed the Hawaii County Code, Chapter 36, and the Hawaii County Charter Section 3-17. Currently, the Commission does not know if the non- resident military personnel and their dependents, non-resident students, and foreign nationals are included in the population numbers or in what districts these people reside. I must assume that these were extracted as they were in the last Redistricting, however that needs to be verified. Additionally, the prisoner population is a mess and it's unknown if this is going to be rectified or even if the State Reapportionment Commission is going to be willing to rectify it. There are trails and roads that cannot be seen without enlarging the ESRI maps out as maximum type enlargement. I have kept the census blocks in the districts where roads and or trails are located. Sometimes the travel will start someplace very far away, and you have to follow that trail all the way to its termination and that's why the districts inside the interior of the island look the way they are. This is especially true in District 2. I have not considered any incumbent Council Member where they live or whether or not they are an incumbent. And that is per HCC Chapter 36-4, 6, and 7. And the County Charter 3-17(f)(1). I've kept communities of interested together as practicable per the County Code 36-4 number 8. I have kept the Council Districts as compact as possible per Chapter 36-4(9). And while some districts have expanded in geographic size, it was due to trying to keep parks, roads, and trails together for the purpose of equalizing residents. Many of the census blocks on the interior of the island have no residents so I relied on roads and trails for my decision per Chapter 36-4(11). I believe that it's important for this Commission to identify every census block that needs to be split. Coastlines, large populations, census blocks encircled by other census blocks, etc. And make a list of those right now because once you submit your final plan, your job is done. And I don't believe that I could be wrong,but I suspect that previous Commissions have not submitted anything to the Federal Census Bureau Board. Do the work on splitting or correcting the census blocks before you submit your final plan. If there's any questions about my map, I'll be glad to answer any questions about it. It's Brenda Ford 20 is the map number. And I believe there's somebody that had a question about Kalapana and good luck with getting that into District 4 unless you want to split Hawaiian Paradise Park, which I think there would be quite an uprising. There's about 14,000 people in that Subdivision. So, thank you for your term of service and if you have any questions, give me a contact. Thank you. HUSTACE: Thank you, Ms. Ford for your testimony. Fellow Commissioners, any questions for Ms. Ford at this time? (Pause.) Commissioner Lui, was that you? 4