WAIANAE, Hawaii (KHON2) — Hundreds turned out to a town hall in West Oahu on Tuesday, Aug. 12.
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Several topics, including crime and traffic issues, were discussed with elected officials and State department heads, taking questions straight from the public.
The purpose of the first Waianae Town Hall was to give residents a chance to voice their concerns about what matters to them most. One of the first topics was crime and Waianae Sen. Samantha DeCorte introduced everyone to Mike Lambert, Department of Law Enforcement director.
“The guys who run the game houses is scared of this guy. The guys who are dealing dopes to your kids is scared of this guy right here because he pulls no punches,” Sen. DeCorte said.
Audience members could either stand up and ask questions directly to the officials or submit their inquiries online. One submitted question brought up homelessness concerns across the entire Waianae Coast, something Lambert calls a frustrating issue.
“So for example, trespassing depending on the situation is either a petty misdemeanor or a misdemeanor. If it’s a petty misdemeanor, you can only put somebody in jail for 30 days. And because of the way our justice system works here they typically go much less than that,” Lambert said. “Something that I’m going to try to look for, or introduce this year is a habitual habitation law. Which basically means that if you’re constantly caught up in these things that unfortunately — and we’re not trying to be mean to anyone — but we definitely want to retake areas that are meant for the public.
One other issue that was raised during the town hall had to do with traffic concerns. There were varying opinions on the speed humps that have or have not been installed across the state — especially on the west side.
“I live St. John’s Road, right down the road from Maili Elementary School. I’ve been trying to get speed humps or speed bumps on that road for a long time but nobody listens. We get people who fly down that road like they’re driving down the freeway,” said one audience member.
Hawaii Department of Transportation director Ed Sniffen understood that there is no complete agreement on the speed humps and even asked the audience for their feedback.
“How many people like them,” Sniffen asked for folks to raise their hands. “And how many people don’t like them? I really don’t care,” Sniffen said. “Overall, I’ll tell you, there is no other way to slow people down so people don’t die. That’s it. So to your question. Speed humps, we need the jurisdiction. St. John’s Road is a City road. The best way to do it is work with your legislators to make a request to the City and copy me.”
This is the first meeting of its kind and is being called the First Annual Waianae Town Hall.
Click here to get in touch with Sen. Samantha DeCorte.
Click here to get in touch with Sen. Brenton Awa.
Click here to get in touch with Sen. Tim Richards III.