HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOMM. 35.4 from Scott Stoddard Friends of Pun's FutureAugust 24, 2011
Please accept this draft of the testimony I plan to offer on behalf of Friend's of Puna's
Future, at today's redistricting meeting:
Good afternoon. My name is Scott Stoddard and on behalf of Friends of Puna's Future, I'd
like to thank the committee for the hard work they are doing and offer the following
comments:
Many of the public plans submitted thus far divide Puna into two distinct districts, with
Highway 130 as the dividing line. While we are in favor of this approach, the dividing
line thus drawn divides Hawaiian Paradise Park, which is a distinct community. Altering
the existing proposals to include the mauka portion of Hawaiian Paradise Park in the
mauai Highway 130 district, however it is numbered, would not be difficult and we urge
the committee to adopt this change when reviewing the final plans.
Secondly, we have noticed that several of the submitted plans have 20% deviations
instead of the required maximum 10 %. We suspect that this is due to a misunderstanding
among members of the public as to what a 10% deviation is. To allow a maximum of 5%
over or 5% under the idealized population is, as I am sure you all understand, a 10% total
deviation. We suggest that the public instructions be updated to make this more clear.
Finally, we have noticed that many of the plans that attempt to create two districts for
Puna exclude either Volcano village or Kea'au, both of which are unquestionably a part
of the community of Puna. We have recently submitted a plan that includes Volcano and
Kea'au in the same district, respects the boundary of Hawaiian Paradise Park and the
Maku'u Hawaiian Homelands, includes all of the Hilo Hawaiian Homelands in distict
four, keeps Hilo's north boundary at the Wailoa River and creates a single district seven for
the greater part of Kailua Kona. We did not notice this plan among the publicly available
plans as of this morning, but would urge the committee to consider this plan.
Best,
Scott Stoddard
Director, Friend's of Puna's Future
COMM. 35.4