Puna becoming the City Of Puna...

[Wao nahele kane]

I believe article 1 section 1 clearly defines who has the authority to create the subdivision of the county.
Section 1. All political power of this State is inherent in the people and the responsibility for the exercise thereof rests with the people. All government is founded on this authority. [Am Const Con 1978 and election Nov 7, 1978]

If we hold a vote in this district with the correct instruments, the States hands will be bound and if they ignore the vote results... the courts can be used to rectify the situation.



E ho'a'o no i pau kuhihewa.

[Rob Tucker]

Well, I guess I am flattered but must say I am not in favor of making two, five or nine counties out of our island.

The fact that there are diverse communities and interests on the island is not a negative to me. What needs to be achieved, and can be achieved, is better representation and equity in delivery of services.

After the last census and redistricting in 2001 Puna was shortchanged by having one full council seat and two thumbnail council seats. Puna has sufficient population (soon to be confirmed by the 2010 census) to have two full council seats. This is a kind of quiet sleeper issue. We all need to do at least three things:

1) Pay attention and be informed on the issues facing our county and district.
2) Become more organized and vocal in expressing our needs and expectations.
3) Voting in larger numbers for the districts interests.

All three of these are very doable and very accessible to every one of us. It is not sufficient to simply complain on the sidelines. Puna now has a population equal to Hilo and we need to act like it. I was once told by a state official that the way they deal with Puna is to get everybody arguing and walk away. We can change that.

[Wao nahele kane]

Rob,
The land mass is the issue here, the County is far too big. Most issues never even go forward because folks won't bother.
We might as well be assuming the whole of the U.S. can be handled by one county. There's not enough time in session to address the issues properly in this county as a single county. Just traveling from Kona to Hilo to sit in a council session is impossible for most people. Government is to be attended to and it is not possible for everyone in the county of Hawaii to be attentive to it.

This is presicely why the bad representation occures. 2 potential seats to deal with issues that are best left to a whole county to deal with. It makes no sense to keep CoH single, not a lick of sense.
How much can one county handle? Let's get real here, think of how many miles of roadway alone are on this island.


E ho'a'o no i pau kuhihewa.

[Rob Tucker]

Wao nahele kane,

I disagree. While there is a large land mass the whole population is rather small. Approx. 130,000 at the present (we will know more clearly after the census). 130,000 people is equal to a smallish city. The large bulk of our land mass is barely occupied. Thousands of acres of mountain and jungle and a huge national park. Acres don't vote (or aren't supposed to), people vote or don't all to often.

If land mass was the measure then Alaska would have the most representatives in Washington and everyone would complain about it. Of course, people complain anyway.

[Wao nahele kane]

How many counties exist in this country the size of CoH and comparatively what's the populace and how much of that populace is spread out like it is in the CoH?
We've a system in this country and it goes something like this... Federal, State, County, City/Township. This is to ensure that there is "REPRESENTATION" - I see we have taxation in this county but we've no true serious "representation". 2 possible potential seats to handle a whole counties worth of issues... is that suppose to be a funny?

E ho'a'o no i pau kuhihewa.

[Wao nahele kane]

Back in the late 1800's we founded the city of Gold Bar with less than 1,000 people in Snohomish county. A City in a county with many other cities. A county 1/10th the size of this county.

E ho'a'o no i pau kuhihewa.

[Rob Tucker]

Wao nahele kane,

You are certainly entitled to pursue this idea. I just am not in favor of it and believe there are other ways to achieve equitable representation without reinventing the wheel.

You asked if people were for or against. I am against.

[Wao nahele kane]

There's no reinventing the wheel neccesary, simply turning it one or two rotations and joining the 21st or even the 20th century would be nice. Being stuck behind the 19th century is just wee bit of a lag.

E ho'a'o no i pau kuhihewa.

[JWFITZ]

I think Rob's dead right on this score. The first order of business in such a proposal would be to determine whether or not "incorporation" of whatever city or county entity is being proposed would be a net economic gain or loss for the "region" as defined. I'd solidly bet that while the entity could claim its own revenues, the services that it would have to then personally adopt stewardship of and the staff it would have to hire would place the project firmly in the economic hole. No use being in authority if the authority one has basically involves managing a financial lost cause.

Tangentially, of course, this issue is why counties have lost power to states, and states to the federal level. Only the federal government at this point is really in a position to manage(ahem) the debt that saturates our country and hamstrings public planning and infrastructure.

http://sensiblesimplicity.lefora.com/

[Rob Tucker]

Wao nahele kane,

You will need to do more than convince the residents of Puna. It can only take place on the state level. So you have to convince Oahu and they have 800,000 people and the neighbor islands have 400,000 collectively. The City and County of Honolulu, if they allowed legislation to separate Hawaii county, would be faced with Pearl City, etc. wanting to incorporate. One precedent opens the door for a general dismembering of the state. While that may or may not be desirable it is not at all likely to happen in this century. Not while Honolulu holds the vast majority of votes.

Meanwhile I see your proposal as having more negative attributes than positive attributes.