Redistricting

This forum is for any community events, yard sales, meetings, etc.
Post Reply
radiopeg
Posts: 88
Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2010 4:35 pm

Redistricting

Post by radiopeg »

This is some info on the upcoming redistricting meeting. Please take the time to read this and consider making a plan to go to the community meetings. Email address to get the maps is at the bottom of this message

PUNA IS READY FOR TWO COUNCIL MEMBERS & 2 UNIFIED DISTRICTS
Support Revised Redistricting Plan 27!

PUNA REDISTRICTING PUBLIC HEARINGS
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 11TH, 6:00 PM
PAHOA NEIGHBORHOOD FACILITY

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 15TH, 2:00 PM
KEA'AU COMMUNITY CENTER

“Puna deserves two council representatives who will give their full attention to Puna. This means no more than two council districts encompassing all of the towns and communities of Puna. These two districts must include the town of Kea'au, the town of Volcano, the town of Pahoa and the communities between these towns and south of them. Of the six redistricting plans now advancing, none have managed this basic requirement. All advancing plans either send Volcano back to Ka'u or put Kea'au in the South Hilo district.” -- Friends of Puna's Future re: Plan 27


Aloha Puna Neighbors,

Redistricting is now on the front burner. 6 Plans (from among many more submitted) have gotten the nod from the redistricting commission to advance.

None of these plans include what Puna wants and needs!

For this reason, Friends of Puna’s Future will present Revised Plan 27 before the Redistricting Commission during a PUBLIC HEARING at the Pahoa Neighborhood Facility, Tuesday October 11th, 6:00 p.m. If we can demonstrate strong public support, there is an excellent chance Revised Plan 27 – calling for 2 unified Puna Districts and 2 County Council Representatives -- will be added to the list of redistricting contenders. A second PUBLIC HEARING scheduled at the Kea’au Community Center, Saturday October 15th, at 2:00 p.m. will allow Puna to solidify their position in favor of Plan 27.


The upcoming PUBLIC HEARINGS present the best chance Puna has
to meet the essential goals of 2 Council Members & a unified 2-District Puna
If we miss this opportunity now, we have to wait 10 more years for the next one!


This is where we work together ...
Show up at Puna’s TWO Public Hearings 10/11 & 10/15
Send emails to our Redistricting Commissioners … beginning NOW
We need a crowd of Puna’s citizens to testify in favor of Plan 27 at the two upcoming public hearings – AND we need an email blitz from Puna’s public to the redistricting commissioners over the next two weeks. We hope we may join together to realize this important goal for Puna.
Mahalo,
Friends of Puna’s Future
Board of Directors
________________________________________________________
Want More Information? Check Out the Attachments to this Email
. . . and Keep on Reading
Have Questions? Please email questions and concerns to: punasfuture1@gmail.com, Subject: Attention Scott
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

WRITTEN TESTIMONY HOW-TO:
Address written testimony in favor of Plan 27 to our Redistricting Commissioners**
and submit it to the Commission Secretary, Karen Eoff:
By email: keoff@co.hawaii.hi.us
By Fax: 808-329-4786
By US Mail:
Karen Eoff
Secretary, Hawai‘i Redistricting Commission
West Hawaii Civic Center Building A
74-5044 Ane Keohokalole Highway
Kailua-Kona, Hawai‘i 9674
**Joseph Carvalho; Patrick Kahawaiolaa; Craig "Bo" Kahui; Dru Mamo Kanuha; Jeffrey Melrose; John "Mike" Middlesworth; Valerie Poindexter; Rene Siracusa; Linda Ugalde

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

SOME BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON PLAN 27:

As you may already be aware, Friends of Puna's Future (FoPF) previously endorsed the proposal expressed by the redistricting committee that, due to the rapid rate of growth during the last ten years, the district of Puna should be divided in such a way as to create two county districts. FoPF applauds all efforts aimed at helping to realize this goal, and yet we are now dismayed by the plans that have been advanced by the redistricting committee for continued consideration.

In recent history, the issue of representation in Puna has not been one of having too few representatives, rather it is one of having had too many. For the last ten years, Kea'au and Orchidland have been forced to share a representative from South Hilo, residents from Volcano to Kurtistown have been forced to petition the representative from Ka'u, and the balance of Puna enjoyed a representative of its own. Three council persons, two which are serving the majority of their constituencies based outside of Puna, and having distinctly different concerns from Puna, do not make up a viable Puna delegation.

Puna deserves two council representatives who will be giving their full attention to Puna. This means no more than two council districts encompassing all of the towns and communities of Puna. These two districts must include the town of Kea'au, the town of Volcano, the town of Pahoa and the communities between these towns and south of them. Of the six redistricting plans now advancing, none have managed this basic requirement. All advancing plans either send Volcano back to Ka'u or put Kea'au in the South Hilo district.

Friends of Puna’s Future believes that the fundamental premise of not dividing communities is of the utmost importance. We also believe that certain other redistricting guidelines have been given undue weight, such as the notion that a voter from Volcano cannot be required to drive out of their district to get to Pahoa to vote. Certainly there will be multiple voting places in each district to prevent this kind if thing from being a problem.

It has been expressed within the redistricting committee that Puna should be divided mauka-makai rather than east-west. All of the proposed plans that appear to be attempting this division have divided Hawaiian Paradise Park, in direct violation of the previously mentioned essential guideline of not dividing communities, if at all possible.

We feel that not dividing communities has greater urgency in Puna, where so much of the district has been subdivided and where infrastructure maintenance and spending, as enjoined by the courts, falls to the collective residents of each subdivision rather than to the county. FoPF is working with the current council and the Mayor to change this inequity with a grant in aid program.. However, if a subdivision were to be split into two council districts and seeks, for example, county assistance for road maintenance -- they would have to present two separate grant proposals to two different council members to improve a single roadway. This would be an unfair burden. Hawaiian Paradise Park, as well as the other Puna subdivisions, deserve better.

It has come to FoPF’s attention that a plan recently submitted as public testimony -- after the posted deadline -- was accepted at the last redistricting meeting, was subsequently worked on by the redistricting committee, and advanced by this same committee as Plan 40. Plan 40, however, excludes much of Volcano, and it divides Hawaiian Paradise Park into two districts.

Friends of Puna's Future was also invited to work on Margaret Wille's template for District 9, and the result of that effort was the timely submission of Plan 27, which was rejected by the redistricting committee despite the fact that it presented the only map thus far with two Puna districts divided mauka-makai that included Kea'au, Volcano, Pahoa, and all the other communities of Puna without dividing Hawaiian Paradise Park.

Given that our Plan 27 might have been rejected for its West Hawaii boundaries, FoPF now submits on behalf of all of our members, a revised version of Plan 27 which adopts most of the West Hawaii boundaries found in Plan 40 while also presenting a solution for Puna that meets all of the stated conditions set forth by the redistricting committee. We urge you to review this revision (refer to attachment “Best Plan for Puna”), consider the mauka-makai division of Puna presented therein, and lend your personal support to that of your community for revised Plan 27.

If you will email punasfuture1@gmail.com, they will send you a pdf of revised Plan 27. They also have a pdf of the 6 other maps that have already been approved to move forward, none of which appear suitable for Puna.
radiopeg
Posts: 88
Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2010 4:35 pm

Re: Redistricting Update

Post by radiopeg »

Subject: Redistricting Commission: Meeting Agenda and Related Documents: 11/30/2011 Hilo Council Chambers

Aloha Friends,

Here is information on the next Redistricting Commission meeting. Attached is the agenda and communications to be discussed at the upcoming meeting.

Aloha All,

Attached please find the Agenda and Related Documents for the next Redistricting Commission Meeting

November 30, 2011
10:00 a.m.
Hilo Council Chambers

Videoconferencing will be available from Kona, Waimea and Pāhoa Council Offices.

Please feel free to give me a call if you have any questions.

Karen Eoff
Secretary,
Redistricting Commission
323-4264
keoff@co.hawaii.hi.us

Mahalo,
Office of Hawai'i County Councilmember Smart
District 6 - Upper Puna, Ka'u, South Kona
25 Aupuni Street
Hilo, HI 96720
(808) 961-8536
hccdistrict6@gmail.com
Please consider the environment before printing this email.
radiopeg
Posts: 88
Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2010 4:35 pm

Re: Redistricting

Post by radiopeg »

Here's the latest in redistricting meetings.
----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Councilmember Brittany Smart <hccdistrict6@gmail.com>
To: Brittany Smart <hccdistrict6@gmail.com>
Sent: Monday, December 19, 2011 2:33 PM
Subject: Next REDISTRICTING Meeting: 12/22 10:00am Hilo

Aloha Friends,

Here's the agenda for the next redistricting meeting this Thursday (12/22) in Hilo. For more information, please see the message below:

Aloha,

The Redistricting Commission will be holding their next meeting on:

Thursday, December 22, 2011
10:00 a.m.
Hilo Council Chambers

Videoconference will be available in the Kona, Pāhoa, and Waimea Council offices.

The Agenda is attached.

If you have any questions, please give me a call.

Karen
Karen Eoff
Redistricting Commission Secretary
323-4264
keoff@co.hawaii.hi.us

Mahalo,

Office of Hawai'i County Councilmember Brittany Smart
District 6 - Upper Puna, Ka'u, South Kona
25 Aupuni Street
Hilo, HI 96720
(808) 961-8536
hccdistrict6@gmail.com
Please consider the environment before printing this email.
*To unsubscribe from the District 6 email list please reply with "unsubscribe" in the subject line. Mahalo.
Post Reply