HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0841.006 2010-2012 Page 1 of 1
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Murashige, Laura Cada. 4i
From: Jan Kama [kama @hawaiiantel.net]
Sent: Monday, September 17, 2012 12:19 PM
To: counciltestimony @co.hawaii.hi.us
Cc: fblas @co.hawaii.hi.us;jyoshimoto @co.hawaii.hi.us; donishi @co.hawaii.hi.us; dikeda @co.hawaii.hi.us;
bsmart@co.hawaii.hi.us; bford @co.hawaii.hi.us; phoffmann @co.hawaii.hi.us; apilago @co.hawaii.hi.us;
dyagong @co.hawaii.hi.us
Subject: Opposition to Bill 360
We are opposed to a "pay as you throw" disposal fee that
would require any person depositing refuse at a County
landfill or transfer station to pay a disposal rate.
Currently, there are only large hauler fees, but this bill would
establish a fee for any person with any amount of refuse. We don't
find a fee schedule attached to this bill.
This bill would expect us to haul our own trash to the transfer
station and then pay a fee to deposit it there? Can you see the
roads of Puna, of the whole Island, if that happens? Can you
picture all the illegal dump sites that will be created if residents are
forced to pay to dispose of their rubbish at the transfer station?
Who will then be responsible for those illegal dump sites and the
vermin and wild animals that will populate the area? Do you want
an illegal dump site on or near your property?
We encourage you to please vote NO on Bill 360.
Mahalo!
Janet L. Kama and A. M. Kama
13-3510 Oneloa Street
Pahoa, HI 96778
Ph: 965-6671
Comm. No /
Ref. To: l
Ref. Date EP 1 9 20 2
9/17/2012
comments on Res. 298-12 re. State monitoring County election readiness
for Hawai'i County Council, 9 AM Thursday, Sept. 6, 2012, Hilo chambers
by Cory Harden, PO Box 10265, Hilo, Occupied Hawai'i 96721 808-968-8965 mh( interpac.net
Please consider adding to this resolution a request that the State and Counties strongly encourage vote-
by-mail,while providing other methods for voters that want them. Vote-by-mail could address many of the
problems we had on primary election day.
From a Federal Election Commission report dated 1995 (old but still worth considering) on vote-by-mail:
"One local jurisdiction after another lists, almost gleefully, the problems that all-mail-ballot elections avoid.
No pollworkers... [meaning] : no recruitment; no notices to be sent; no classes to conduct; no distribution
and retrieval of election day supplies ; no last-minute cancellations from workers...; no paychecks to cut
and mail; no W-2's to send ; no pre-dawn election day hours to line up replacement workers. No polling
places ...[meaning] no... leases, telephones, utilities ; no searching for or preparation of accessible
locations ; no frantic phone calls about locked doors; no preparation, set-up,tear-down, or emergency
repairs of voting machines or devices...The elections office can maintain tight security and accountability
during every step in the process...Most officials report that preplanning enables them to spread out the
work so there is less overtime required,there is less stress, and the staff is not exhausted by election
night .."[All-Mail-Ballot Elections, Federal Election Commission, September 1995]
Vote-by-mail can also
• increase turnout and give voters more time for research, discussion, and reflection. Then you're
more likely to achieve the goal of all your efforts: to elect the people most of the voters want.
• save money for some elections
• deter fraud better than photo identification at polling places, according to Common Cause
Ihttp://Www.commoncause.org/site/pp.asp?c=dkLNK 1 MQIwG&b=3790039]
• eliminate voting machines and questions about their accuracy
• help people with unreliable cars and little spare time, and people with disabilities
• avoid problems from accidental and deliberate disruptions—for instance, September 11 was a
local election day for New York City
• provide more time for get-out-the-vote efforts
The only problem with no practical remedy seems to be vote-changing events happening after you vote.
But for most problems, like dealing with a surge in response just before election day, and people trying to
influence voters, there are solutions. And the benefits of vote-by-mail certainly seem to outweigh the
drawbacks.
Please support increased vote-by-mail. Mahalo.