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was unprecedented and I hope it never happens again. Anyways, so far Plan_10 looks pretty <br />good to me and I hope you consider it. Thank you so much. <br />CHR. SIRACUSA: Thank you, Greg. Our next testifier is Paul Campbell, representing Friends <br />of Puna's future <br />PAUL CAMPBELL <br />(At this time Paul Campbell came forward to address members of the Commission.) <br />MR. CAMPBELL: Aloha kakou, and mahalo to all of you for serving. I've been on several <br />commissions over the years and I know how demanding it can be and selfless service; so mahalo. <br />I am Paul Campbell, I am the acting Vice - President at this time of Friends of Puna's Future, an <br />advocacy group formed to advocate for Puna and the needs of Puna at the local, state and federal <br />levels. As acting Vice - President, I would like to insert into the public record, which all of you <br />should have a copy of, public testimony from Friends of Puna's Future, henceforth known as <br />FOPF. As you may already be aware, Friends of Puna's Future has previously endorsed the idea <br />expressed by the Commission that due to the rapid growth during the past ten years, Puna should <br />be divided in such a way as to create two Council districts. We applaud all the efforts aimed at <br />helping realize this goal, and that we are now dismayed by the plans that have been advanced by <br />this Commission thus far, for continued consideration. In recent history, the issue of <br />representation in Puna has not been one of having too few representatives; rather it is one of <br />having had too many. <br />For the last ten years, Kea` au and Orchidland have been forced to share representatives from <br />South Hilo. Residents from Volcano to Kurtistown have been forced to petition the representative <br />from Ka`u and the balance of Puna enjoyed a representative of its own. Three councilpersons, <br />with two serving the majority of the constituency based outside of Puna and having distinctly <br />different concerns from Puna, do not make up a viable Puna delegation. Puna deserves two <br />Council representatives who will be giving their full attention to Puna. This means no more than <br />two Council districts encompassing all of the towns and communities of Puna. These two <br />districts must include the town of Kea` au, the town of Volcano, the town of Pahoa, and the <br />communities between these towns and south of them. None of the advancing plans have managed <br />this basic requirement. All of these plans either send Volcano back to Ka' u- or put Kea` au in the <br />South Hilo district. It has been expressed among the members of this Commission whether Puna <br />should be divided mauka /makai rather than east /west. This approach makes it very difficult to <br />maintain the internal roads criteria while avoiding any division of incorporated subdivisions. In <br />fact, all of the plans that seem to be attempting this mauka /makai approach have settled upon a <br />division of Hawaiian Paradise Park. We feel that the basic guideline of not dividing communities <br />is of the utmost importance here. In fact, we feel that it has a greater urgency here in Puna where <br />so much of the district has been subdivided, and where spending for road maintenance is en j oined <br />by the courts, falls to the collective residents of each subdivision rather than to the County. <br />Many of these communities are actually non - profit corporations unto themselves, with a mandate <br />from the courts to require residents to pay a mandatory road maintenance fee. We are currently <br />working with Council Chairperson, Dominic Yagong, State Representative Faye Hanohano, State <br />Senator Gil Kahele, and Mayor Billy Kenoi to alleviate this burden by developing a grant -in -aid <br />0 <br />