Editorial: Return incumbents to Council, support Charter amendment

There are intense times ahead for the Honolulu City Council. The Council and the Caldwell administration — often at each other’s throats — have to find solutions for some intractable problems: the persistent homeless population, the ever-expanding illegal vacation rental business, a lack of affordable housing, rising sea levels. And if that’s not enough, there’s the financially shaky rail transit project, making its way toward the most expensive and controversial construction segment, Middle Street to Ala Moana Center.

Into the breach this election season were four races and 14 candidates for Council. Two candidates — first-timer Heidi Tsuneyoshi (District 2) and incumbent Carol Fukunaga (District 6) — garnered enough votes to win outright in the August primary.

Two other races are still in play:

District 4 (Hawaii Kai to Ala Moana Park) features a rematch between bitter rivals. The incumbent, Trevor Ozawa, got the most votes in the primary, but not enough to avoid a runoff with Tommy Waters, who lost to Ozawa in 2014 by a mere 41 votes.

Waters, a trial attorney, served three terms in the state House between 2002 and 2008. His top priorities for his district include public safety and increasing the number of police officers; homelessness and the need for Housing First; and overdevelopment and the proliferation of monster houses.

They are both qualified for the job, but Ozawa, an outspoken and activist Council member, has the edge. He is responsive to his community’s needs, elevating the fight against monster houses and supporting a full range of initiatives to curb the growing homeless problem in East Oahu.

Ozawa also has been a persistent voice for accountability and transparency in rail transit funding, sometimes to a fault. But given the precarious financial status of a project that seems to lurch from one convoluted crisis to the next, such skepticism serves a public purpose.

As a critic of Mayor Kirk Caldwell, Ozawa can be too aggressive and contrarian at times, requiring him to pull back from ill-advised positions. But he works hard for his constituents and deserves another term.

Unfortunately, charges of campaign dirty tricks have dogged some of the Council races this year; most recently, Waters has cited harassment and vandalism aimed at his campaign volunteers. Such conduct is reprehensible, and any candidate who encounters electioneering intimidation should forcefully condemn such anti-democratic behavior.

Voters in District 8 (Lower Aiea to Waipahu)

have two good candidates to choose from: the incumbent, Brandon Elefante, and Kelly Kitashima, a hospitality industry executive and mother of two. Both candidates have a lot to offer, but Elefante has something more. As the incumbent, he has four years of experience navigating the sometimes exasperating politics of the Council, and has acquitted himself well.

Elefante has developed a solid grasp of the street-level concerns of his district, from rail construction to repaving roads to improving parks and playgrounds — the bread and butter of a councilman’s job.

His calm, non-confrontational approach helps him maintain good working relationships with the Caldwell administration and city agencies that can help his constituents.

Elefante also is a strong supporter of rail transit, and supports initiatives to promote affordable housing through transit-oriented development. We don’t always agree with Elefante on some issues — his consistent refusal to support sit-lie initiatives, for example — but he is a conscientious advocate for his constituents.

Kitashima promotes her experience as a working mother as an asset for the Council. She firmly opposes raising property taxes and fees, as well as using property taxes to pay for rail construction, advocating instead for public-private partnerships to finish the project. She supports a sit-lie ban islandwide, combined with stronger efforts to provide more affordable housing by increasing density in the urban core and streamlining regulatory and zoning regulations.

Yes on charter amendment

Honolulu voters should vote yes for an amendment to the City Charter that would make it easier for the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation (HART) to conduct business.

It’s a common-sense fix to a problem created when the Legislature expanded the 10-member HART board to include four non-voting members, two chosen by the House speaker and two by the Senate president. The additional members were a condition imposed by the Legislature in exchange for a $2.1 billion bailout package for the financially strapped rail project.

Currently, the Charter requires a majority of the full board — at least eight members — to agree on any action, according to HART. Since there are only nine voting members, eight of them must be present and in agreement. Scheduling difficulties have delayed voting on important decisions like change orders, HART says.

Among other things, the amendment would reduce the number required to constitute a quorum or hold a vote, allowing for more efficient decision-making.