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STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC ON AGENDA ITEMS CHR. SIRACUSA: The next item on our agenda is Statements from the Public on Agenda Items. I want to make a few comments before we launch into that. First is, to avoid any confusion, this is three minutes. At the public hearings we allowed five, but this is three and we don't want anyone to get mixed messages and get confused about that. We have received 77 written testimonies between the last meeting and this meeting. The Commissioners have read all of those testimonies; they are part of the public record. I just want you to rest assured that your comments have been taken into consideration. We have 25 testifiers today, at this point, and this is a lot of testimony and will take up a lot of time. So, what I am going to do is ask your kokua, if you can get your point across in less than three minutes, please try and do so. I am also going to tell you that we went around the island and we heard from every community; and we have a pretty good handle now on what people want and what they don't want. We are going to be working, at this meeting and the next meeting, to try to create a win - win solution on the maps. So, none of these maps are cast in stone. At this point they are all works in progress, so there is no need to get panicked. What would help us more is rather than saying, "Oh, I like this plan, or that plan," is to tell us what particular things you want to see in a plan, or not see in a plan. That would be a lot more helpful because Plan _A and Plan _40 are still being changed, and will continue to be changed, until we do our final plan. And so it won't tell us anything substantive if you just say you like this plan or that plan. So please, I'm not telling you how to testify, I'm just offering some hints to make your testimony more pertinent and more cogent. And with that, I will call up the first testifier, who is Pete Hoffmann. PETE HOFFMANN (At this time Pete Hoffmann came forward to address members of the Commission.) MR. HOFFMANN: Good morning, Madam Chairman and Members of the Commission. It is so nice to be on this side of the table after eleven hours yesterday sitting where you are, it is always nice to be on the other side of the room. Madam Chairman, thank you for those opening comments, because my testimony today is not going to be directed at the pros and cons of any of the two plans that are on the table. I would, however, like to give some general comments, if I could, on where I think we need to be in this particular effort. And I would like your latitude to listen to the members of the community; particularly, of course, our community in Waikoloa, regarding some of those particular aspects and how they will affect any redistricting effort that you happen to have. Members of the Commission; I know, perhaps better than most, how hard and how difficult it is to try to balance the different efforts that you are faced with. And, I am very much aware, as you well know, by having the latitude of the videoconferencing in my office, that I have really participated in many more of these meetings then you may believe. So, I, for one, clearly understand the difficulties you are faced with. Let me leave you with these 2