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• <br />IRVINE: I'd like to thank you for your comments on the at -large seats, and - <br />HERKES: She's from Hilo. <br />IRVINE: Hey, it's not going to help Kona to have at -large seats. And I thank <br />you for your comments also on the Department of Environmental Services, which I have <br />been very supportive of. The question I have for you, though, in Kona we heard a heck <br />of a lot about how our Planning Commission should just be advisory, or done away <br />with, or this, that, or the other. Now, that is true in Honolulu, I know. And you're saying <br />you think we did the right thing in strengthening this? <br />FRANKEL: Yes, I actually just had a conversation with Mike Christopher to <br />correct him in some of the statements that he made at the Charter Commission <br />meeting. Having an advisory Planning Commission is the absolute wrong thing to do. <br />And there are a number of complicated legal explanations to that. There's a couple of <br />Supreme Court cases that are particularly relevant. I think what you are hearing from <br />folks at your previous meeting was based on a lot of misunderstanding of the role and <br />the authority of the Planning Commission. As you know, the reasons that you have <br />those sentences (e) and (f) are based on idiosyncracies of what happened in the <br />previous Charter Commission thing. It's not going to have the negative effects that : <br />people are fearful of, and I'm willing to help spread the word on that. If you make the <br />Planning Commission advisory, the real ramification is that you've increased the power <br />of the County Council. Which is better, I don't know. But, there are a number of legal <br />• ramifications out there which are kind of hard to explain. I don't know if you want me to <br />go into all of them. And since you guys haven't considered making the Planning <br />Commission advisory at this point, it seems too late to even go down that road. <br />• <br />RAY: John, you had a comment? <br />SANTANGELO: Yes, I don't want to do this with everybody, but I'm really interested <br />in depth of your thoughts in what's going on here, so I want to give you a statement <br />because I'd like you to comment to that. Having served on the Council, I come from <br />this. Now, the reason I'm struggling with this, again to explain, is because I served on <br />the Council. There are times in which you can get so wrapped up in an issue with the <br />facts and how you understand, as a father of your people, how good this is, and yet, <br />sometimes that causes you not to listen to people. Here's something with the at -large <br />that I support, and I want to tell you why. But you know what, I'm not going to make <br />that mistake again. If people really don't support this, I'm going to remove my support <br />for it, but we've had so little dialogue. Okay. Sitting on the Council I watched this, what <br />do you call it, colonialism, this territorial part of it — individuals grabbing for things that <br />weren't beneficial to that district, but it was a trophy to show the people. They were <br />running for office. I, personally, am trying to differentiate and understand that there's a <br />difference between politics and government. Good government is not politics. Good <br />government is public service. It's quality of life. Okay. The first thing our country did <br />14 <br />