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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Monday, January 21, 2002

Many issues face District 5

By James Gonser
Advertiser Urban Honolulu Writer

City Council District 5 is both high-rise and stately homes. It's young families and retirees. It's shopping centers and our center of higher education. And whoever is elected to fill the vacant council seat next weekend will have to deal with a wide range of issues and constituent concerns.

Why there's a special election
 •  July 3: City Councilman Andy Mirikitani convicted of six counts of theft, bribery, extortion, wire fraud and witness tampering. Sharron Bynum, Mirikitani's co-defendant and soon-to-be wife, is convicted of assisting him in the theft and extortion case.
 •  Dec. 1: Mirikitani resigns.
 •  Jan. 17: Mirikitani turns himself in at the Nellis federal prison in North Las Vegas to begin serving a 4 1/2-year sentence. His wife turns herself in at the Carswell women's prison in Fort Worth, Texas.
 •  Saturday: Special Election. The candidate who receives the most votes will take office for a term which expires Jan. 2, 2003.
The district's 91,000 residents in Manoa, Mo'ili'ili, McCully, Tantalus, Makiki, Pawa'a, Ala Moana and Kewalo have been without representation since Andy Mirikitani resigned Dec. 1 following his conviction on federal corruption charges.

The district is set up similar to a Hawaiian ahupua'a land division, extending from the Koola'u Range at Round Top to the ocean at Ala Moana Beach Park.

The 44,868 people registered to vote in the special election Jan. 26 will choose from a crowded field of 14 candidates.

Voter turnout is projected to be not good, with the election on a Saturday and sometimes-harsh winter weather, but a large absentee vote may boost the totals, according to the city clerk's office.

"Of all the political offices, I think the City Council has the greatest direct impact on our lives," said Barbara Lowe, president of the community group Malama O Manoa. "Residents want to elect a politician that is very open about what is really going on."

From the popular hiking trails at Manoa Falls to the congestion of Ala Moana Center; from the sex shows along Sheridan Street to the old wood homes of Mo'ili'ili, residents' concerns in District 5 are as varied as its neighborhoods.

Andy Mirikitani resigned from his District 5 seat Dec. 1.

Advertiser library photo • Dec. 6, 2001

The Manoa, upper Makiki and Tantalus areas of District 5 contain established, pricey single-family residential areas. Concerns include the environment, development and property taxes.

"We want to be aware of any type of progress going on," Lowe said. "We are very aware of the environment and the greenness and spaciousness of the valley. But also we feel progress is necessary at the same time."

Down the road in Mo'ili'ili, issues tilt toward providing emergency services for the large senior citizen population and park space for young families.

E. Rebecca Ryan, executive director of the Mo'ili'ili Community Center, said the next council member should make sure elderly residents can safely cross public streets by putting in more traffic lights or crosswalks, and improve beautification of the older neighborhood.

"We need more lights at stadium park," Ryan said. "A lot of young families use the park at night. Mo'ili'ili is very congested and parks are important to residents."

The candidates for City Council District 5
 •  Sam Aiona
 •  John Anderson
 •  Danny Auyong
 •  Albert Furuto
 •  Nasir Gazdar
 •  Richard Gee
 •  Kekoa Kaapu
 •  Joe Kinoshita
 •  Ann Kobayashi
 •  Richard Lee
 •  Ron Lockwood
 •  Harris Murabayashi
 •  Richard Soo
 •  John Steelquist
Allan Alforo, store manager for Cheapo Music in Puck's Alley on University Avenue, said businesses in the area have been suffering and are dependent on students. The company, which sells new and used books and records, is worried about losing their location and customer base if the University of Hawai'i takes over more property in the area for student housing.

"That's our biggest concern," Alforo said. "They are slowly pushing businesses out. UH could put housing in valley where they own land. We need these businesses here."

McCully residents have major concerns about the city's $1 billion Bus Rapid Transit plans that would help move passengers on electric buses from Middle Street to downtown to the UH, but would require years of construction and eliminate already tight parking. The system would take up one or two lanes of traffic along Dillingham and Kapi'olani boulevards.

Mirikitani voted against the project in December 2000 after hearing from community leaders that planners did not give enough consideration to how the proposal would affect the close-in communities by taking away road space and parking.

The transit program, which was awarded a $12 million federal appropriation last month, is expected to be completed in about nine years.

Residents in the area between Pensacola and Ke'eaumoku streets have more immediate concerns — their highly publicized fight against the proliferation of sex shops and strip bars.

Roy Nakamura was born and raised in the neighborhood and has seen it change from a safe family area to one in which people live in fear of crime.

"We have lots of burglaries, car thefts and robberies from the druggies that frequent the bars on Kona, Makaloa, Ke'eaumoku and of course Sheridan streets," Nakamura said. "When my dad bought this home in the early '30s, there was no crime. Now we hear police sirens every night."

Nakamura has collected thousands of signatures to present to the city Liquor Commission trying to prevent new sex shops from opening, but also wants a council member that will help get the existing ones moved out.

One of the most densely populated area on O'ahu is lower Makiki with its maze of tightly-packed condominium and apartment buildings. Parking and crime are overriding issues for those residents who are often transient or first-time homeowners.

Susan Lai Young, a member of the Makiki/Lower Punchbowl/Tantalus Neighborhood Board said the entire district shares one major concern: the economy.

"The common element is when the economy got hit so bad it hurt people who were in jobs for 20 years as well as for five," Young said. "When people have no jobs, that creates security problems and crime, so public safety then becomes more of an issue."

Young echoed Lowe's sentiment about the importance of this election, but said when your elected representative is jailed on corruption charges, it doesn't help build people's confidence in the government.

"Given the situation the community has gone through, they will expect (the new council member) to be upright and pay attention to them," Young said. "The person that wins this seat has to be honest and agile enough to relate to all different types of constituents in the area."

Reach James Gonser at jgonser@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2431.