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CHR. SIRACUSA: Our next testifier in Hilo is Yen Chin representing Friends of Puna's <br />Future. <br />YEN CHIN <br />(At this time Yen Chin came forward to address members of the Commission <br />MR. CHIN: Good morning Commissioners. Many years ago I studied to become a school <br />teacher. In the course of those studies, I learned much about holding a job that was under <br />paid and over worked. A job about which everybody in the world thought they were better <br />able to perform than me. Consequently, I have a great deal of empathy for the situation <br />you all find yourselves in right now, and have found yourselves in for the past several <br />months. On behalf of Friends of Puna's Future, I say thank you for your hard work, <br />diligence, and integrity. No doubt, when you have completed that work, some people will <br />be dissatisfied. This cannot be helped given the Gordian knot at your feet. It is my job as <br />President of Friends of Puna's future to do my best to ensure that we in Puna are not among <br />the disgruntled. So once again, I appear before you to urge you to make a final product that <br />gives Puna its fair and just due. Puna, for all of its internal differences, diversity really, has <br />more in common interest with itself than it does with Hilo or Ka`u. Our population argues <br />for, indeed it demands, that redistricting creates two Puna districts; neither of which should <br />contain parts of South Hilo. Volcano shares more interest with Puna than it shares with <br />Ka`u, consequently if probably belongs in one of those Puna districts. Hawaiian Paradise <br />Park should not be divided between two districts. I know that you have heard these and <br />other contentions before, so I won't consume your precious time expounding on specifics <br />again. I know today is not a day for voting up or down on any specific plans. This is still a <br />time for works in progress. However, if I had to choose between Plan _40 and Plan A, I <br />would choose Plan—A. But really, all I want to do now is appeal to your sense of justice <br />and to assure you that we in Puna have not yet begun to gather the feathers or heat the tar. <br />CHR. SIRACUSA: Thank you. I have a question Yen. If we could tweak any of these <br />plans to keep Volcano in Puna, including the Puna mauka subdivisions between Stainback <br />Highway and Highway 11, and to have a Puna makai, and a Puna mauka, rather than an <br />east /west division; would you go for that kind of an addition to say Plan 40? <br />MR. CHIN: Yes. In a sense, we have the luxury of advocating for our own interests, and <br />paying less than complete attention to the interests of other communities like Waikoloa. <br />You don't have that luxury. When our folks have worked with plans and tried to create <br />proposals, we have paid some attention to what we believed were the legitimate interests of <br />other communities, but we are really not in a position to know that as thoroughly as people <br />on this Commission. So, we advocate for what we want; we hope for the best, but we also <br />trust. <br />CHR. SIRACUSA: Thank you. Let's go to Waimea. <br />MR. HIRT: Good morning Madam Chair our next testifier is Barbara Funk representing <br />herself to speak in support of Plan_40. <br />24 <br />