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and because we have a 9 man council now it does not necessarily
<br /> mean that we should stick with a 9 man council . I don ' t think ,
<br /> by the size of our population, that we should have a 9 man
<br /> council . I think, in the name of government efficiency, we
<br /> should cut down the size of the council. Thereby, we have
<br /> selected seven and I think that ' s a number that the public can
<br /> live with. So I Would just like to reiterate that numbers,
<br /> here, whether five, nine, or eleven, or, whatever, are
<br /> immaterial. It ' s just a matter of selecting the best figure
<br /> that we think the public will buy. However, just in the name
<br /> of government efficiency, we should keep the number as low as
<br /> possible to what we think the public will accept. I would like
<br /> to, again , reiterate our position for a seven man council.
<br /> MR. CADINHA: Mr. Chairman. Mr. Yamada, would
<br /> you answer a question , please?
<br /> MR. YAMADA: Yes.
<br /> MR. CADINHA: In favor of a seven man , if,
<br /> numerically, your concern is numbers, how would your organizations
<br /> look at 4 district, 3 at-large representation?
<br /> MR. YAMADA: Well , it depends on the districting
<br /> now, because it it ' s going to be 4 equal districts, by popula-
<br /> tion? Is that what you mean?
<br /> MR. CADINHA: Yes, the 4 districts that we have
<br /> now.
<br /> MR. YAMADA: In our proposition for 5 council
<br /> people from the present representative districts, we are advo-
<br /> cating 2 from the Hilo area, from this Hilo, 2nd district ,
<br /> because of the number of population. It would be very unfair
<br /> to the voters of Hilo that they will vote for only the one from
<br /> the district because of the population count over here.
<br /> MR. CADINHA: I see, so it ' s not purely the
<br /> numbers, it ' s also the,;_makeup ,of -the seven that you ' re concerned
<br /> with?
<br /> MR. YAMADA: Right, it could be by the district
<br /> and at-large. Two at-large, or, four at-large, to make it seven
<br /> or nine.
<br /> MR. CADINHA: The Ka'u voter, under that plan ,
<br /> the Ka'u voter or the Kona voter, under the 5-2 plan, as you 're
<br /> endorsing right now, has an option to vote for three candidates.
<br /> And the Hilo voter has an option to vote for four candidates
<br /> which would comprise the majority in number of the 7 man council .
<br /> In your eyes, is that fair?
<br /> MR. YAMADA: I 'm proposing the same districts
<br /> as the House, the present House districts. So the question is
<br /> whether or not it would be fair if the Kona people vote for 3
<br /> councilmen and the Hilo people vote for 4 council people. If
<br /> you take by the population, now, the Kona people, or the other
<br /> districts probably have half the number of voters voting for
<br /> three versus Hilo that has , what, roughly, 18,000 voters , are
<br /> voting for four people.
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