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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Wednesday, February 27, 2008

NANAKULI, MA'ILI
Nanakuli-Ma'ili election dates set

By Will Hoover
Advertiser Wai'anae Coast Writer

SPECIAL ELECTION

Eligible Nanakuli and Ma'ili residents can cast ballots in any of three polling stations for newly created Nanakuli-Ma'ili Neighborhood Board No. 36:

  • Kapolei Hale, 1000 Ulu'ohia'a St., 2 to 7 p.m. March 14.

  • Ma'ili Elementary School cafeteria, 87-360 Kula'aupuni St., 7 a.m. to noon March 15.

  • Ka Waihona O Ka Na'auao Public Charter School cafeteria (former Nanaikapono Elementary School), 89-195 Farrington Highway, 1:30 to 6:30 p.m. March 15.

    Eligible voters (those who voted in the 2006 statewide elections, or registered with the Neighborhood Commission Office by Feb. 20 this year) must present a valid ID before casting their vote. Eligible voters can request an absentee ballot by calling 768-3717 before March 5. These must be mailed no later than March 11.

    Candidate profiles and boundary maps for the new board are available on the Neighborhood Commission Office Web site at www.honolulu.gov/nco. Profiles also will be posted at the polling stations.

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    Two dozen certified candidates have applied for the newly created Nanakuli-Ma'ili Neighborhood Board No. 36 — including some who were formerly members of Wai'anae Coast Neighborhood Board No. 24 and opposed the formation of the new board.

    A special election will be held at three locations March 14 and 15 to decide the nine members who will represent the new Nanakuli-Ma'ili board when it holds its first official meeting April 1.

    The Wai'anae Coast Neighborhood Board, Honolulu's second oldest, had represented the entire Wai'anae Coast for more than three decades. That 15-member board was formally split on Jan. 28 after residents from Nanakuli and Ma'ili, saying they were not being adequately represented, successfully petitioned the Neighborhood Commission to create a separate board.

    Some area residents said the breakup would cause a rift in the community. Others, particularly in Nanakuli, hailed it as a better way of serving the entire Wai'anae Coast.

    Former longtime Wai'anae Coast board member Cynthia Rezentes, who lives in Ma'ili and criticized the split, is now running for the new board.

    "You have to make the best of it," Rezentes, a former Wai'anae Coast board chairwoman, said yesterday. "Because if you're going to represent the people, you're going to do it in the best fashion you can. And, if this is the only alternative, you're still going to do that work."

    But candidate Patty Teruya of Nanakuli, who was the Wai'anae Coast Neighborhood Board chairwoman at the time of the split, disagreed.

    "I am glad," Teruya said. "I look upon this as a way to strengthen the coast. Because to me, we all won. I don't see it as a separation.

    "We may disagree on things, but at the end of the night, we all live in the same community."

    Bryan Mick, who handles community relations and elections for the Neighborhood Commission, said the Wai'anae Coast Neighborhood Board has more than a quorum with its seven remaining members and an eighth selected at its last board meeting. That board is required to have nine members under the Neighborhood Board Plan.

    "So they still have one more slot to fill," said Mick, who added the board would have at least 60 days to choose its final member. "And, of course, they can petition the commission if they want to add more seats."

    Until a permanent chair is selected, Mick said Vice Chairman Albert Silva would serve as acting chair of the Wai'anae Coast Neighborhood Board.

    Reach Will Hoover at whoover@honoluluadvertiser.com.


    Correction: The Wai'anae Coast Neighborhood Board was the second to be formed. The first was Mililani/Waipi'o/Melemanu. A previous version of this story contained incorrect information.