MIN CHARTER 2019-01-25 (2018-2020)

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Hawai`i County Charter Commission -7 January 25, 2019 commissions. Do not confuse these land conservation processes with those that acquire lands for other public purposes like needed infrastructure or even parks which are easily taken from State lands. These lands are from the people's wishes for the people's future. Don't thwart them with destructive proposals. Please follow your hearts, not bad suggestions. As stated in the Charter, the highest and best use of the PONC fund is to leverage funds from other sources. Similarly the Disaster and Emergency Fund needs to be kept full so it can be used as a match for outside funds in addition to direct response. Thus you should prohibit the use of the fund outside of its purpose within the Charter. This needs doing. Do it within the Charter, please. CHR. ADAMS: Sir, please summarize. MR. WARSHAUER: Yeah. I wonder if the Administration's modest request for eruption funds might have been limited by the lack of funds within that emergency fund. When I was young in the early 60's, I used to be able to walk sections of the coast between Spencer Park and `Anaeho`omalu freely and frequently fishing along the coastline. Then by the mid 60's, I got cashed off the first parcel bought by somebody from the mainland and that has continued to be an increasing phenomenon not just in that stretch of coastline, but all over the coastlines of the island and this is really bad. When that happens, we lose a lot. We lose a lot of our sense of space and our sense of right, and our sense of freedom and we need everything we can do to keep these open. To acquire the wahi pana, these very special sites, and to collectively accumulate enough public land in large open spaces so we too can watch our descendants walk along the coastline and feel like I did when I was a child. CHR. ADAMS: Thank you. If I could please have Wendy Scott -Vance come to the table and James Weatherford, oh, when? Okay, great. Go ahead ma'am. ANN BOSTED: Proposal No. CA -7 and CA -13 in opposition and Proposal No. CA -9 in support. MS. BOSTED: Chairman Adams, honorable members of the Charter Commission, my name is Ann Bosted. I oppose CA -7, CA -13, and I support CA - 9. I oppose CA -7 which reduces the two percent fund to inadequate point seven percent of the property taxes. I am opposed to this as that would not give the County enough resources to purchase land which should be publicly owned. I understand that there are about a hundred and sixty sites on PONC's wish list which should be purchased when the opportunity is right. Opportunity is the key. If a golden opportunity presents itself and the County has insufficient funds to take advantage of that opportunity, then that opportunity is lost. In order to save lands for the enjoyment for future generations, we must seize each and every opportunity we can to buy and preserve key parcels of land. If we rniss the opportunity and the land is bought and developed in a way that the public cannot Page 27