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SAMMIE STANBRO <br />(At this time Sammie Stanbro, came forward to address members of the Charter Commission.) <br />MS. STANBRO: Good afternoon, Charter Commissioners. This is the first time I've <br />spoken in front of you. I should be at the High School right now; I jumped in my car and <br />fled here, so I am going to be speaking and then leave. But I did want to point out to you <br />some of the basic things about the history of the 2% and why we are here, and how we <br />got here. There were actually three things that happened. When we first started with <br />this, an $11,000 poll was done on this island before the Trust for Public Land would get <br />involved in helping us work on this. That poll showed - -and it was like three inches thick, <br />it was done off island from California - -75% of the people of this island wanted, not a 1 %, <br />but a 2% amount of our tax dollars to go to land protection. It blew us away, we were <br />really excited about that because the public was saying, no, we just don't want to go with <br />what Oahu, Kauai and Maui had done; we need more, because we are a bigger island. <br />The second step we did was to get signatures. It took a long time, it was hard work; it <br />was painfully hard work. You may have heard the jokes and stories about it. If one letter <br />or one number was not right in a person's signature, they threw it out. So, we had to keep <br />going back and getting more and more signatures. But, it proved fruitful. There were <br />high school kids that actually registered to vote because there was something that they <br />could connect with that was on the ballot that referred to their future. I was really pretty <br />exciting to see; so they could have a say so in the future of their island. <br />The third thing was the actual voting. The turnout for the people who voted for the 2% <br />was really, really amazing. This was only a grass -root effort; there was no money in it. <br />We hand made our signs and yet the public said, this was a most important thing to us. <br />All of the polls that are done with the tourists - -if you are talking about economics - -every <br />single poll when the tourists are polled about this island, open space is the most important <br />thing. So, protecting our prime open space is really obvious for the economics of this <br />island. I just wanted to point out the history of this to you; why we are where we are and <br />how we have worked so hard. It's really amazing to me how something can go to a vote, <br />and then can get changed by a handful of people to balance a budget or that kind of thing. <br />But, anyway, it was important for me to speak to you today. I would like for you to <br />support the Save or Land Citizen Committee; their suggestions. I think they are really <br />important. I am a coffee farmer, I've put land aside. I have land that is committed to <br />conservation, so I put my money where my mouth is, as well. <br />CHR. HAITSUKA: Thank you. Next we have Mr. Replogle. Good morning, sir. <br />JOHN REPLOGLE <br />(At this time John Replogle came forward to address members of the Charter Commission.) <br />MR. REPLOGLE: Good morning, Mr. Chairman and Commissioners. Thank you <br />forgiving your time to this. I am hereto speak on CA -15. I would like to seethe <br />2% remain as part of this Charter amendment, not 0.5 %. As Ms. Stanbro just <br />pointed out, a lot of work and effort went into this. It's not to complain about the <br />R <br />