COMM. 42.32 from FOPF-Testimony Keaau

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PRESIDENT YEN CHIN VICE PRESIDENT PAUL CAMPBELL Public Testimony DIRECTORS: ROB TUCKER DELIA MONTGOMERY PATT I PINTO ROBIN STETSON SCOTT STODDARD Public Hearing of the Hawaii County Redistricting Commission, October 15, 2011 Kea'au Community Center, 16 -186 Pili Mua St., Kea'au, HI We thank the commission for their continued hard work and for giving us this opportunity to provide a revision to the plan we jointly submitted with Margaret Wille on October 11, 2011 in Pahoa. At that meeting, Jeffrey Melrose pointed out correctly that, while our Puna boundaries were viable, the boundaries that were to serve proposed District 6 did not satisfy the internal roads rule, as residents of Glenwood and its environs could not travel to the lower portion of proposed District 6 on roads internal to the district. Given the rugged nature of the terrain in this area and the lack of adequate roadways in all of Puna due to the abdication of responsibility by the county government in the 1960s, satisfying this criteria is a real challenge in Puna. As an example, the proposed District 5 solution to the internal roads rule demands the use of the Pahoa Emergency Access Route which relies on private roadways, and many of the residential locations in Puna makai are also accessible only by private roadways. However, we understand that this commission does not have the authority to waive this criteria. As such, we submit today a revision to Adjusted Plan 40, with Margaret Wille's support, that satisfies the internal roads rule for proposed District 6 by allowing District 6 residents north of Hwy. 11 access to the lower portion of District 6 by roads internal to or bordering the proposed district. COMM. 42.32