2021-12-16 Redistricting Commission Public Hearing minutes (Final 2 of 2)

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happened. I got so out of it, I have emails, voicemails, talk story with Dennis, who's supposed to be running this Redistricting Commission for Jon, who is his boss, County Clerk. I just got this information two days ago. So, where are the other five potential? That I believe that people should have had the chance to see. The voting constituents. The tax paying constituents. Why didn't we get a chance to see these? Where are they? Number 2. Rene did such a great job with her redistricting commission. We still miss her deeply, and now we're cutting into her hard work as well. How did you change 4 to 5? I've been in 5 for ten years. Now I'm going to be moved to 4. I agree with what young Ms. Matson said. She's had some real good kuleana about the Kona side. But breaking up water areas? That's major. And I also concur with Mr. Kalani Asam. This is our kingdom lands. You have no jurisdiction here. We want our country back, and we're going to get our country back. It's just a matter of time. God bless Hawaii. KOSSOW: Mahalo. We'll go over to Relley on Zoom. ARACELEY: Thank you, Chair. Your next testifier via Zoom is Ms. Arlene Kimata. Arlene, if you could please unmute your mic and provide your testimony, you'll have three minutes starting now. (No response.) Arlene, I just sent you a message to unmute your mic. You could either click that, or if you're on a phone, hit star(*) 6. And you'll have three minutes to provide your testimony. (No response.) Chair, it seems like Ms. Kimata might be having some difficulty. We can come back to her. KOSSOW: No problem. Thank you, Relley. ARACELEY: Thank you. Your next testifier via Zoom is Patti Pinto. Patti, if you could please unmute your mic and provide your testimony, you'll have three minutes starting now. PINTO: Aloha. My name's Patti Pinto. I live in Fern Acres in upper Puna. Want to thank all of you for all the tremendous hard work you've been doing. I know it's very difficult. I am very concerned with the harm that will be the result of the proposed District 6. And I'm concerned more with the quality of the representation that will be afforded than keeping communities together or splitting subdivisions. When you keep like-communities together, or split them apart, or divide a subdivision, they still have adequate representation. But what will be created in District 6 is an area of more than 1,600 square miles, that takes two hours to drive across. And it has so many diverse and different communities. It is not possible to represent these populations equitably and to any standard of excellence at all. Imagine if the representative for Hilo lived in Pahala or Ocean View or Haw!? What if the representative for Kailua-Kona lived in Honoka`a or Discovery Harbor? What District 6 proposes to do is even more extreme than those distances. We've basically disenfranchised the people of upper Puna. Or in the event that we elect a representative from upper Puna for the next term, it would disenfranchise the people in South Kona. These communities are too far apart to be served by one representative. The upper Puna subdivisions are the lowest income people on this island. Mountain View Elementary School is more than ninety percent subsidized lunches. The subdivisions have substandard infrastructure. Very few County facilities. Low to no 6