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council district boundaries in a manner that cannot be done in Hawaiian Paradise Park. The creation of Hawaiian Paradise Park, like other private subdivisions, was done with the approval of the Hawai` i County government. The subdivisions were created and we came; and we continue to come. With build -out proceeding, comes the reality of development of our island and subdivision creation. Rather than ignore reality, this Commission must get on with what is required to ensure that sound representation is part of that reality. The entirety of Hawaiian Paradise Park must be kept together. I thank all of you for your service to our community, and especially genuine openness and receptivity of public input, which is very evident all along. Thank you very much. CHR. SIRACUSA: Thank you, James. MR. MELROSE: James, can you come to the mic again? I just have a question for you. You are well aware of the limitations of the numbers that we are dealing with. One of the requirements that we have as a condition is that we need to find a way to anticipate growth. I think Puna grew by 44% over the last ten years. Conceptually, we would be trying to keep the number of people in the two Puna districts - -which obviously there will be - -at a minimum; that number variation on the low side, so you can grow into that growth. Yes, under - populate them. I understand the implications of that including larger areas in that population. Can you just give me a quick thought on that issue of under - populating regions in Puna, and the relative importance of that to keeping exact community boundaries? MR. WEATHERFORD: The equity issue regards under - population. I think there is another issue of keeping together cohesive representation. In this particular case, on the margins, on the edges, I think keeping together communities and creating that certain cohesive representation so Puna has two full council districts is really where the priorities are. I do not think we will be depriving people of any serious representation otherwise. CHR. SIRACUSA: Thank you. Our next testifier is Judy Sumter, representing Hawaiian Paradise Park. JUDY SUMTER (At this time Judy Sumpter came forward to address members of the Commission.) MS. SUMTER: I would like to thank you for your time and for letting us speak to you. Again, I am Judy Sumpter, and I'm on the board at HPP. I did bring a letter from one of the residents gave. It is very short, and I would like to read it; it is representative of the feelings of that community. "As homeowners living in Hawaiian Paradise Park, we would like to voice our complete disapproval of splitting our subdivision into different Council Districts. We understand that the Hawaii County Redistricting Commission is in the final stages of mapping the new County Council Districts. Several of these maps split HPP to varying degrees. One of them, Plan _40, splits our community right down the middle. The mere thought of which would have a profound effect on the cohesiveness of the residents of HPP and on our political representation. This is our home, our community, and we do not want HPP to become a political dividing line that dilutes our community. Please do not allow the Commission to split us up simply for the 12