2008-07-18 TKONACDP - Laserfiche WebLink

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WATANABE: Thank you. And if any of you are going to provide any additional testimony or comments, would you state your name and address prior to making any comments. So I’m not sure – Mr. Melrose, shall I begin with you? Do you have anything to add? MELROSE: The only thing I’d like to add, I’d like to provide another Steering Committee member, Curtis Tyler, an opportunity. There was a -, both of our prior meetings with you, there have been questions about the membership of the cultural resource group; and since Curtis was the Steering Committee member that lead that Working Group, and was actively involved, I’d like to ask him just to share some thoughts with you. Is that all right? WATANABE: That would be great. MELROSE: I’m going to give him my chair then. WATANABE: Mr. Tyler – I’ve sworn in Mr. Melrose earlier – but do you swear or affirm to tell the truth now before the Planning Commission? TYLER: I do. WATANABE: And of course, name and address. TYLER: Mr. Chairman, Members of the Hawaii County Planning Commission, Director Yuen and members of the staff, good morning. My name is Curtis Tyler. My residence address is 73-1305 Hiolani Street, Kailua-Kona, 96740. Mr. Chairman and Mr. Melrose, thank you for the opportunity to make a brief comment to you regarding the Kona Community Development Plan. I come to you this morning as an individual, as well of course as a member of the Steering Committee, but relative to the cultural resources portion of the Plan, which you have before you. I speak to you as a kamaaina, as I have before this body. And I wanted to say to you that one of the things that I feel is so important about this Plan is the fact that it has at all times and in all places tried to be inclusive. And certainly if you consider the membership of the Steering Committee – and you know those persons as I think all of us now know each other pretty well after almost three years of working together – that’s about as inclusive and diverse a group of individuals as one could imagine. And when you consider that this group of approximately 15 – I think we finally ended up with twelve or 13 at the end – individuals committed themselves to serve not only the County of Hawaii but in particular the citizens of Kona to help put together a proposal and a recommendation for a Kona Community Development Plan, and at the final vote it was unanimous vote. I think it’s a clear indication of the commitment of the individuals to recognize the need to be inclusive and the need to embrace our diversity as a community. And with that in mind, I just want to say that I realize it’s been suggested to you that certain groups be represented in certain kinds of portions of the Plan – some of these subgroups or subcommittees – and I wanted to caution you and to express my feeling that to do so, to have a particular group named as the Plan being required to have a representative from that group would be contrary to this spirit of inclusivity, rather than exclusivity. There are many bona fide EXHIBIT D 2