Honolulu, Hawaii municipal elections, 2014
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The city of Honolulu, Hawaii, held nonpartisan elections for city council on November 4, 2014. A primary election took place on August 9, 2014. The filing deadline for candidates wishing to run in this election was June 3, 2014.
Four of the city's nine council seats were up for election. In Districts 2 and 6, incumbents ran for re-election. These were Ernie Martin and Carol Fukunaga, respectively. Districts 4 and 8, on the other hand, were open seats.
Homelessness, affordability and traffic were some of the key issues that shaped Honolulu's 2014 election cycle.
City council
Candidate list
District 2
- August 9 Primary election candidates:
- Dave Burlew
- Dan Hara
- Ernie Martin
- Incumbent Martin was first elected to the council in 2010.
District 4
Note: Incumbent Stanley Chang did not run for re-election.
- August 9 Primary election candidates:
November 4 General election candidates:
District 6
- August 9 Primary election candidates:
- Sam Aiona
- Carol Fukunaga - Incumbent Fukunaga was first elected to the council in 2012.
- Steve Miller
- Joli Tokusato
- Sam Aiona
November 4 General election candidates:
District 8
Note: Incumbent Breene Harimoto did not run for re-election.
- August 9 Primary election candidates:
Election results
General
| Honolulu City Council, District 4, 2014 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Trevor Ozawa |
44.1% | 16,371 | |
| Tommy Waters | 43.9% | 16,324 | |
| Blank or Over Votes | 12% | 4,467 | |
| Total Votes | 37,162 | ||
| Source: Hawaii Secretary of State - 2014 General Election Results | |||
| Honolulu City Council, District 6, 2014 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Carol Fukunaga Incumbent |
54.7% | 17,373 | |
| Sam Aiona | 36.3% | 11,541 | |
| Blank or Over Votes | 9% | 2,856 | |
| Total Votes | 31,770 | ||
| Source: Hawaii Secretary of State - 2014 General Election Results | |||
Primary
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Ernie Martin Incumbent |
63.5% | 10,831 | ||
| Dave Burlew | 5.3% | 903 | ||
| Dan Hara | 14.4% | 2,456 | ||
| Blank or Over Votes | 16.8% | 2,868 | ||
| Total Votes | 17,058 | |||
| Source: Hawaii Secretary of State - 2014 Primary Results |
||||
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Tommy Waters |
32.8% | 10,110 | ||
| Trevor Ozawa |
26% | 8,012 | ||
| Natalie J. Iwasa | 22.5% | 6,937 | ||
| Carl Strouble | 1.6% | 501 | ||
| Blank or Over Votes | 17.2% | 5,300 | ||
| Total Votes | 30,860 | |||
| Source: Hawaii Secretary of State - 2014 Primary Results |
||||
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Carol Fukunaga Incumbent |
42.5% | 11,412 | ||
| Sam Aiona |
22.7% | 6,106 | ||
| Steve Miller | 4.2% | 1,131 | ||
| Joli Tokusato | 17.8% | 4,776 | ||
| Blank or Over Votes | 12.8% | 3,453 | ||
| Total Votes | 26,878 | |||
| Source: Hawaii Secretary of State - 2014 Primary Results |
||||
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Brandon Elefante* |
47.7% | 11,520 | ||
| Baybee Hufana-Ablan | 13.6% | 3,275 | ||
| Russ Grunch | 5.8% | 1,411 | ||
| Brysen Poulton | 7.1% | 1,724 | ||
| Blank or Over Votes | 25.8% | 6,235 | ||
| Total Votes | 24,165 | |||
| Source: Hawaii Secretary of State - 2014 Primary Results |
||||
*Note: Because Brandon Elefante received more votes than the combined votes of his opponents, he was declared the winner outright.
Issues
Homelessness
A perennial question in Honolulu politics is what to do about the city's homeless population. Estimates from 2013 put this population at over 7,000.[1] In addition to being a humanitarian and public safety issue, homelessness has also become an economic issue because of its impact on tourism. In 2014, tourism industry officials pushed for stronger laws to prevent homeless people from sitting or laying down on sidewalks in popular tourist destinations such as the city's Waikiki area. The Honolulu City Council approved a measure to that effect in September 2014.[2] Nonetheless, the problem of homelessness continued to be a major topic of discussion in Honolulu and entered in to larger discussions of affordability and urban housing. For many 2014 city council candidates, it was a top priority.[3]
Affordability
Closely connected to Honolulu's homelessness problem is affordability. According to the financial site Nerdwallet.com, as of October 2014, Honolulu's median household income was hovering around $56,939, while the median price for a three bedroom home in the city averaged $784,071 (a two bedroom apartment is around $2,987 per month).[4] This made Honolulu one of the most expensive cities - at least in terms of home ownership - in the United States in 2014.[5]
City council candidates proposed various plans to address this issue such as reforming city housing and land-use policies to encourage developers to build low-income housing and supporting the city's "Housing First" initiative, a city-funded program which focuses on providing housing for homeless or low-income residents.[6]
Another side of the affordability issue was a property tax increase on non-occupant houses valued at $1 million or more that the Honolulu City Council approved in 2014. Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell, who supported the increase, stated that the measure was necessary to raise new city revenues, saying in July 2013, "We're going to have to look for ways to cut costs and look to enhance revenue, whether that's raising real property taxes or other types of fees. There's no other way. There is some give and take here, but as the price of government goes up, we have to meet the demands and expenses."[7] The issue became a frequent topic of debate in city council candidate forums.[3]
Traffic
Traffic congestion was another major issue. In 2013, the international traffic research group, INRIX, ranked Honolulu second on its top ten list of cities with the worst traffic problems in the United States. INRIX found that the average Honolulu driver spent roughly 60 hours in traffic in 2013 - an uptick of about 10 hours from 2012. To help alleviate this problem, in 2014 the city announced plans for a $5.7 billion elevated rail line that will crisscross roughly 20 miles throughout the city. Many city council candidates, however, argued that the new rail line, which won't open until 2017, will not fully relieve traffic congestion. Instead, several candidates pushed for other, more immediate solutions such as an expanded bus system, new bike lanes and car-sharing services in addition to the forthcoming rail line.[3]
Recent news
This section links to a Google news search for the term "Honolulu + Hawaii + election"
See also
External links
- United States Conference of Mayors - Elections in 2014
- Hawaii Secretary of State - Official candidate list
- Honolulu Civil Beat - "Honolulu City Council: Two Districts Will Have Run-offs in November"
- Hawaii Secretary of State - 2014 General Election Results
- Hawaii Secretary of State - 2014 Primary Results
Footnotes
- ↑ Business Insider, "THE OTHER SIDE OF PARADISE: Inside Hawaii's Giant Homeless Community," August 2, 2013
- ↑ Huffington Post, "Honolulu Approves Plan To Move Homeless Away From Tourists On 'Dream' Vacations," September 11, 2014
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Civil Beat, "East Honolulu City Council Candidates Stake Out their Differences," October 2, 2014
- ↑ Nerd-Wallet, "Honolulu," accessed October 6, 2014
- ↑ Honolulu Magazine, "Honolulu Tops List of Least Affordable Metro Cities," May 15, 2014
- ↑ Civil Beat, "Housing Honolulu’s Homeless Won’t Come Cheap Under New Plan," May 10, 2013
- ↑ Hawaii News Now, "Caldwell talks property tax changes in 'Ask The Mayor'" July 8, 2013
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