When I posted a picture of us on social media in front of the Tommy Waters campaign sign on our fence, I wanted to be thorough and explain why we support him over the incumbent Trevor Ozawa.  It was such a long write-up that I realized it’s worth sharing here…

When our city council election came down to a 22 vote margin, we decided to not take down our campaign sign until it was officially called. Glad it’s still up because the state supreme court invalidated the election and forced a re-vote on April 13th.

Our first political sign

I normally avoid politics but this is one time I want to get the word out to any friends who live in District 4 (Waikiki to Hawaii Kai). In fact, the November election was the first time we’ve ever put up a political sign supporting a candidate. Many people don’t consider how much impact the city council has on our daily lives.

In the past four years we’ve seen how negative and bullying the incumbent Trevor Ozawa has been, most recently having been found to have intimidated a staff member from Ikaika Anderson’s office. He has actively fought against Complete Streets and Livable Cities concepts, for example introducing a bill to require council approval before adding any bike lane or one to force the city to destroy shade pavilions in Waikiki. Every election Hawaii Bicycling League works with community groups to develop a questionnaire for candidates; Ozawa didn’t even bother to answer it.

We need new representation for our district, someone who can work alongside forward-thinking council members like Brandon Elefante. We need Tommy Waters.