The upcoming elections will bring big changes in representation for residents in Chinatown, Iwilei and Liliha areas.
Veteran Sen. Karl Rhoads, from Senate District 13 — which includes Dowsett Highlands, Pu‘unui, Nu‘uanu, Pacific Heights, Pauoa, Punchbowl, Pālama, Liliha, Iwilei, Chinatown, and Downtown — is retiring from office this year.
House District 28’s Rep. Daniel Holt — who represented Sand Island, Iwilei, and Chinatown — recently stepped down from his seat to take a job at the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.
A handful of fairly inexperienced political candidates are vying for their seats.
Some of the top needs for those communities include getting more services for the homeless and kupuna, addressing the high cost of living, and improvements in public transportation.
“Like for instance — buses. My Chinatown buses, I have 35 buses. Twenty-two buses on my Hotel Street, and I have 14 buses on King Street,” said Chu Lan Shubert-Kwock, who has advocated for improvements to Chinatown for decades, to HPR. “Do you know how many people ride the buses and how packed they are? And then how are we going to help people now that bus fares are going up?”
Shubert-Kwock, the founder and president of the Chinatown Business and Community Association, is looking for a candidate who has a deep understanding of the neighborhood and its needs. She said she hasn’t seen a standout yet.
“I’ve yet to see a worthy candidate that says, ‘I am already doing these things. I'm already quite involved. I'm familiar with the issues,’” she said.
There’s been a broad effort to revitalize the Chinatown area, with visions to turn it into more of a community hub and a tourist destination.
The City and County of Honolulu has been acquiring underutilized properties in the area to turn them into affordable housing. State-level measures this year have also put a focus there in efforts to improve street safety and infrastructure, and encourage business.
Homelessness has long been an issue in Chinatown and nearby neighborhoods, where there’s access to key services for those who are unhoused.
Efforts to reduce homelessness have helped, but it’s still an issue that’s top-of-mind.
“If you walk through (Chinatown), there aren't nearly as many homeless people as there used to be,” Rhoads said to HPR. “There is legitimate activity there at night, it's not particularly dangerous. It's hard to tell whether that's a permanent victory, but I certainly view it as a victory and as a direct result of all the work that me and others have done on mental illness.”
He said that it’s still brought up, though. Left-behind belongings and vandalism are still common issues for business owners.
“They often leave big piles of broken up boards and just all kinds of stuff … so there's this cleanup part of it that is hard to ignore, especially for the business people down there,” Rhoads said.
For decades those neighborhoods have been a stronghold for Democrats. Rhoads, who’s been described as one of the state’s most liberal lawmakers, has been in office for 20 years.
His Senate District 13 extends into Nuʻuanu — farther mauka than Holt’s House District 28 — and has about 53,000 residents, according to the most recent 5-year population estimate by the American Community Survey.
It’s also made up of 72% Asian residents, which Rhoads said contributes to its left-leaning politics, and why he anticipates that trend to continue.
“I think it's anti-Trump more than it's liberal. … The Trump guys are basically marching under the flag of white nationalism, and this is not a white district. It's not even close — it’s well below the average for the state.”
But he said what’s important to his district’s voters, and Hawaiʻi voters more broadly, are lawmakers who show an interest in helping address the community’s biggest issues.
“I think this is true of Hawaiʻi voters in general. I think they'll, for the most part, tolerate a lot of difference in opinion about various specific issues if they feel like you're trying to help, if they feel like you're trying to solve the problems,” Rhoads said.
The candidates running for Rhoads' Senate District 13 seat are Wallyn Christian, Lei Ahu Isa, James Logue, Tricia Nakamatsu, Jordan Nakamura and Lynn Vasquez.
For House District 28, the candidates are Michael Ratcliffe, Reno Abihai, Nadia Alves, Ernest Caravalho and Anthony Nagatani.
Ratcliffe is actually currently in the District 28 seat. Gov. Josh Green appointed him to fill the vacancy in April after Holt left office.
This year’s primary election ends on Aug. 8.
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