 Good afternoon and welcome to Condo Insider and my name is Jane Sugimura, I'm your host for this show and today we've got a very exciting topic, we're going to be talking about neighborhood board elections and we have as our guests today, we have Harry Cho and you're the public relations assistant for the neighborhood commission. Yes, thank you for having me here today. How long have you been with the commission? So I've been with the office for about a year and a half now. Okay and what do you do with the commission? So I started as a neighborhood assistant, so as a neighborhood assistant we would attend all the 33 neighborhood board meetings around the island. We would basically serve as the administrative assistant to the board. We would help out the chair and also one of the main duties was to produce the minutes as well. Okay and you're here to talk about the neighborhood board elections, so tell us. I mean there are people out there who probably don't know that they have a neighborhood board in their neighborhood. So the board system has been around for a long time now. It was actually created in 1973 under then Mayor Frank Fosse and it was basically created to give the community an opportunity to speak face to face with their elected officials and government departments. And so how many neighborhood boards are there in Oahu? So there's 33 boards around the island of Oahu. These boards meet usually once a month. They may recess a month or two throughout the year, but these monthly meetings happen within the district that the person lives in, so it's very accessible. So there's a neighborhood board in Hawaii, there's one in Waikiki, there's one in Mo'ilili, there's one in Manoa, Ewa. North Shore. Ewa, Pro Ridge, I mean Pro City, there's Waipahu, they're all of Mililani and the North Shore. They're all over the place, Kaneo'e, Kailua, right? Yes, all over the island. And so who serves on these neighborhood boards? So the boards are comprised of board members which are actually elected people who are volunteers who are non-paid but elected by the people that live within their district. So the people in Hawaii vote for people in Hawaii. And the people in Waikiki vote. And in those areas like Hawaii, there are sub-districts as well. So that the people who live in, like in my area, where I am, I think we've got five sub-districts. And one of them happens to be like Pro Ridge, so that would be right around the area where the Polymomy Hospital is. Right? And the shopping center. Right. And so I think that's one sub-district and then we've got one that's closer to the IAEA shopping center. And so those people who live in that district actually vote for the people who are going to serve from that district. Right? Right. Okay. And what happens at these neighborhoods? I mean why are these neighborhood boards set up? These boards are created so that the community can come face to face with their elected officials. Although they have no power per se, many city governments, city departments rely on the neighborhood boards to make the decisions in government. And so it's basically a sounding board. Right. Right? Because I know we had at our neighborhood board meeting and I was talking to you before the show. We had the Department of Environmental Services come out and talk to us about a pilot project where they're going to do bulky item pickups by appointment. Right. Right? And it was like, wow. And so how is this going to work? And so they basically put on a presentation. And of course I gave them an earful because I said, you know, I think we're going to have a problem with condominiums. And we're talking about, you know, you telling us that we're going to now call for an appointment and, you know, somebody's going to come and pick up the bulky item pickup. Right. And you pay for it. And the issue becomes, then who pays for it? The association? Because we're the ones who have to do the calling. Or is it the homeowners who give their stuff to the association to put on the curb? Right. So these are the types of topics that are discussed at the neighborhood board meetings. And it's very important because the board meetings are publicly recorded. Most of them are publicly recorded. The minutes are public record and they're all online on our website. We also have a video archive with O'lello. So if anyone wants to watch past meetings, they can do that as well. And so the people who, and in our meeting, it was the Environmental Services Department. That's the city department. Right. And so you're talking to city employees. Right. And they came out to give the presentation. So hopefully they took back the feedback, all the questions and the concerns that raised. I mean, the whole purpose of them coming out and talking to us was to get feedback. From the community. And go back to their offices and tell their supervisors and maybe people like the mayor that maybe, you know, things are not, you know, they have to be tweaked. Right, right. Because, you know, people raise some concerns and it's like, well, how do you do this and how do you do that and how come this and how come that. And so it gives a chance for really people who live in the community. To voice their opinion. To voice their opinion. Right. And last month there was this other issue about parking areas. I guess it's Bill 70 that the city passed out. Where if you want to sign a petition, you can apply to the city. And basically what it does is it says that you can't park on your streets in your neighborhood and you don't have a permit. Right. Okay. So that's Bill 70. And so, and I think it was Joey Monaghan, council member Monaghan, whose bill it was and it was, and we had council member Carol Fukunaga at our meeting at that time. And so she was able to answer a whole lot of questions because there was some, I mean, there's a community that lives right next to the stadium. And so they were really interested in that because they said that when there's a football game or a concert, there's all these strangers parking in their streets. Right. And it gets so bad that some people can't get out of their driveways. Right. So these are great topics that anyone can bring up at the neighborhood board meetings. Right. And so the city, of course, I kind of felt bad for the council member because, you know, she said that, well, you know, it wasn't quite implemented yet and it has to go through the budget process because money has to be allocated. But there were these people who lived across the street from the stadium and they were just ready to go. They said, where do we sign? You know, where do we sign up? We want to get a petition and we'll get a sign. We'll get it down to the city. Oh, but you can't, you know, do anything yet. You know, we don't have any money appropriated. But, you know, this, I think it's a great, you know, maybe not every meeting is interesting or controversial or, or, but, you know, it's a great way, you know, for, you know, the city to talk to the people. Right. You can come face to face with. A lot of people will grumble. They, they, they go and, and, you know, it's, it's a way to vent and, you know, there are city officials there, right? There's somebody there from the mayor's office and usually the council members or somebody from their staff is there and you have people from the legislature, your senators or House of Representatives or their staff members and even from the governor's office. Yes. And we have all kinds of people on neighborhood. And this happens at every neighborhood board meeting in the 33 districts, right? Right. Right. So this is a terrific opportunity for people who care about what's happening in their neighborhood and they, or they, you know, maybe, you know, they, they're just interested at, on what's happening and they can go online to see what the, what's on the agenda. Right. And who's going to come and speak at their, their meeting. Right. So we also have a mailing list. So a week prior to the date of the meeting are agendas and the past month's minutes are either physically mailed out or sent as to anyone who signed up for that mailing list. Okay. And so, so this way anybody who's interested can see, you know, what's going to be discussed at their, their meeting and they can just be there. Right. They can just be there. Starts, most of the meetings start at 7, 7.30. Yeah. They last for maybe an hour or two and it's an opportunity for them to basically meet their elected officials or their representatives or if they want to grumble, they can grumble. They got somebody to grumble at, including a representative from the mayor and the governor's office. And if they have a question, there's people there who will, you know, write down the question and they'll either get back to you if you give them a phone number or an email address or just show up at the next meeting and they, they have to answer your questions. Right. One thing I noticed is that our elected officials are really good at getting back to their constituents. So it really is a great place for anyone who has a concern to show up at our neighborhood board meetings and make that concern public. Yes. And it's a good way for people to meet their elected officials because sometimes they don't even know who their elected officials are. Right. And so when you go to your neighborhood board meetings, you meet them all. The council members are there for your district and your house representatives and your senators and even, you know, and there are other government officials there. Right. And so it's a good place for, you know, people who want direct contact with their, you know, rather than pick up the phone and talk to some anonymous voice on the other end. Here they can actually talk to a live body and that person cannot run away. Right. And that includes the police department and the fire department. Right. Board of water supply. Right. You name it, there's a bunch of different city departments, different organizations, community groups that all show up at these monthly meetings. Right. They are required to be there or send a representative. Not required, but they do make a concerted effort to show up at every monthly meeting. Right. And so yes, it's a terrific place, you know, for people who want to, you know, figure out what's going on. And I know a lot of times in our, when I go to my meetings and there's a lot of cars, I figured, oh God, I got to look at my agenda to see what's on and why is everybody, why are there all these people here? Right. And there might be, you know, because every, what is it, every zoning permit, every zoning application or liquor license, right? It's required to be vetted by the neighborhood board. Not that the neighborhood board has got any type of official authority. But these departments actually rely on the neighborhood board's position to, you know, maybe, maybe this isn't good for the community. Maybe this is good. So they do really heavily rely on the neighborhood board. And that's why, you know, so that's why any zoning permit and the zoning permits, I mean, it's usually if somebody wants to put up a care home and because we've had several of these, they want to build a care home and the issue is parking. Right. Right. How many cars are there, is this facility, how many cars is it going to introduce to the community? And because under those, the city ordinances, when you do a zoning type of change or a liquor commission application, you have to send notice of the hearing, of the meeting to people within 50, 100 feet from the facility. Right. So that's why a lot of people, when they get these notices in the mail, they say, aha, I don't want that bar down the street to get their liquor license because they're too noisy. Right. Right. So they show up at the neighborhood board meeting and they vent. Right. And that's what it's there for. Because if you get too many people showing up and venting, then the liquor commission is going to think twice. Before approving it. Before approving it. Before approving it. Or the zoning. Just like it doesn't, we don't have the authority to make any type of decision, but it depends on the amount of, I guess, public interest. Right. Or community feedback. Community feedback. And if you get a lot of people, a lot of people who show up and they say, hell no, you're not going to do this, or we don't want that, or oh, this is a terrific idea. I mean that gets, that message goes back to the agency. Right. And it somehow affects their decision making process. Right. And so that's why, you know, that's why when people get notices of a zoning change or a liquor commission application, or one of these things that require them to show up at a neighborhood board meeting, that's why they have to show up. It's not that we're going to vote on it. It's because people from the city are there to watch. Exactly. The public reaction. Right. What's, you know, what's going to happen in their neighborhood. Fine. The license gets approved. The zoning change gets approved. No conditions and things like that. So that's one of the functions of the neighborhood board. And you know, so people should, you know, understand that, you know, that's why they get these notices. And if they care, or if they, you know, if they, you know, really are upset about it, they need to show up. Anyone can come on down. They happen right in your district. They usually happen in the evenings, anywhere between 6.30 to 7.30. And usually last two to three hours. So anyone who has a concern or is interested in learning more about their community, I really encourage them to come on down. Okay. And so the, so we're going to take a break for about a minute. And when we come back, we're going to talk about this neighborhood board election. That's going to happen momentarily. Right. Okay. We're going to take our break. And when we come back, we'll talk about the election. Hey, Loha. My name is Andrew Lanning. I'm the host of Security Matters Hawaii airing every Wednesday here on Live From The Studios. I'll bring you guests. I'll bring you information about the things in security that matter to keeping you safe, your co-workers safe, your family safe, to keep our community safe. We want to teach you about those things in our industry that, you know, maybe a little outside of your experience. So please join me because Security Matters. Aloha. Aloha and Mabuhay. My name is Amy Ortega Anderson, inviting you to join us every Tuesday here on Pinoy Power Hawaii. With Think Tech Hawaii, we come to your home at 12 noon every Tuesday. We invite you to listen, watch for our mission of empowerment. We aim to enrich, enlighten, educate, entertain, and we hope to empower. Again, Maraming, Salamatpo, Mabuhay, and Aloha. Welcome back to another episode of Count on Insider. My name is Jane Sugimura. I am the host of this show. And my guest today is Harry Cho. And he's with the Neighborhood Commission. And we're talking about neighborhood board elections. And I guess this is a really timely show because the way an election is run, all registered voters in the county, City and County of Honolulu, are going to get letters. Right? And in fact, you said they were in the mail. So they're in the process of getting mailed out right now. So our neighborhood board elections happened every two years on the odd number of years. So the last election was in 2017. This year in 2019, we finished our candidate registration. We had 553 total candidates registered. Wow. And that's the second highest that we've actually had in NCO's recorded history. Oh my God, that's good. The worst state voter turnouts. We were somewhat worried that we wouldn't get enough candidates or we wouldn't get as high of a candidate participation. But we're very proud to announce that we have gotten the second highest candidate participation in the neighborhood. Well, that's good. There's over 500 people running for these 33 neighborhood boards. Right? Okay, we're going to be showing you a letter. All of you registered voters are going to be getting, a mail. Now, Harry, tell them what this letter's all about. All right, so any, everyone who voted in the past general election or registered as a voter for the neighborhood board elections with our office should be getting this letter in the mail if not have already gotten it. This is basically a pass code to access your online ballot. And every person will have a unique pass code, which will allow them to access their online ballot and just vote online. Okay, so that letter that was on the screen, we blanked out the pass code that was on there, but there is a pass code that is there. And so what did they do? They go on the neighborhood board website. There's actually a specific website. It's different from our office. The website is actually www.honolulu.gov.nbe. And that's on the letter. Yes. All the instructions are on the letter. And if they don't have a computer, they can go to their library. So if you don't, we do know not everyone has a computer, has access to a computer or is familiar with how to function on a computer. So we're trying to make it as inclusive as possible. So what we've done is we've made voting sites available at other locations. So we'll have voting at our office, which is at Kapalama Halle, Kapolei Halle, Pee Project in Kahalu and any public state library. And if anyone wants a physical ballot, they can just contact our office, provide some information, and we will be happy to send out a physical ballot as well. And that ballot would just have the candidates for their district. Right. So that's why they need to be able to. So when they call you, if they don't know what their district is, they just give you a street address. Yeah, they can just ask us and we can provide that for them right away. So all they do is they contact information is on that letter. For our office, yes. So if they want a paper ballot, there's a phone number there where they can contact you. And all they have to do is give them, give you their street address and you can provide them with a ballot of the people who are running in their district. Right, so if you would like a paper ballot, just feel free to call our office at 808-768-3710. All you need to provide is your name, address, and your unique passcode that's on the mail that's on the mail passcode letter that we would send. Okay, and when does this voting start? When can they start to vote? It actually starts tomorrow, April 26th and runs for a three-week period until May 17th. Okay, so that means that tomorrow morning when they wake up, if they get their letter today with their special passcode, what time tomorrow can they start? I believe it's 7.45 in the morning. Okay, 7.45 tomorrow morning they can go on the website that's listed on their letter and they can vote. Exactly. Okay, and if they don't want to, you know, go on or if they don't have a computer, they can go to a library or they can go to the various places that you named or if they want a paper ballot, they can call your office, give you their address and you will mail them a paper ballot. Yes. Okay, well that's and so there's a three-week period when they can do this voting. And after May 17th and it's all over. Voting closes and the results should be announced on the first business day of June. And how do they find that out? It'll be posted on our website at www.honolulu.gov slash nco. Okay, and you'll probably have it printed in the paper as well? No, not this election. Just to save money for our office, we're actually only going to be posting it on our website. Okay, so that means that if you don't have a computer you have to go to a library. Or you could call our office and we could provide that information for you. Okay, you can tell them who won and what and they have to know what area. Right. Okay, and how long will the results stay online? They actually should be online indefinitely. So they should just stay up there for quite a while. Okay, and in some districts and some districts have got uncontested races. Why are they uncontested? So it could be for a variety of reasons. But one thing I did want to point out is anyone who is in an uncontested district will not be receiving their online pass codes just to save paper, save money for our office. Oh, so if you live in an area and you don't get this letter in the next week. Right. Okay, that means that in your district all of the people who are running it and they can go on the internet. They can check on our website as well just to confirm. But if you did not receive a pass code it's because you are living in an uncontested district. Okay, that means that there's nobody, nobody's running for that. I mean if you have four seats there are four candidates. So they automatically win. Right. Right? Exactly. And so in those districts people, the registered voters who live in that area will not be getting the letter. Right. And so they shouldn't be calling your office if they don't get the letter. Right. But they can call anyways just if they want to make sure. Okay. And so if it's uncontested that means that those people are just automatically elected. Exactly. Okay and so if they want to find out who those people are because they didn't get a ballot they can call your office or they can go online. They can go online and we actually have a list of all the candidate profiles on our website. Okay. And if somebody can't if they want to know who won but they're not really sure about the district that they're in. I mean how would you be able to help them? Just feel free to call our office at any time. You can send us an email as well. We'd be happy to help you through that. Okay. And with this why is the the election done online? So prior to 2009 it was actually all done through mail. So starting in 2009 we did it as a just a cost saving measure and just to be more environmentally friendly it's a lot of paper so what actually happened is in 2009 when the voting went predominantly online there was actually a steep decrease in voter participation. Before that there was I think as high as up to 40,000, 50,000 voter participation but in 2009 when it first went online it went to as low as 7,000 I believe but through the years we have seen a steady increase every election as the voter participation increases again so in the last 2017 election we had just over 20,000 but we are on the right path and I believe it's just a matter of time before voting participation is through the roof again. Okay. And if anybody has a question about you know this election and you know one of them might be I didn't get my ballot and your answer to that as well that's because in your district there are no contested races. If you haven't received your ballot by May 3 then I suggest calling our office but if you do live in a contested district and are a registered voter you should be receiving your online passcode prior to May 3 Okay. And if they haven't registered by now it's too late, right? Yeah so that the voting registration actually closed with candidate registration back in February. Okay so that if they have not registered to vote and this is this would be to vote for anything right? And you have a special registration just for the neighborhood board elections that ended in February. Right. So really if the person the resident in any of these districts is not registered to vote it's too late for them to register. Sorry to say but yes. Yeah. Okay so that have to do it for the next time. Yep in 2021. All right. And how long do these people who get elected now serve? So it is a fairly long commitment. Board members are sworn in for a two year term. We do have board members come and go here and there so there are vacancies. So another thing I wanted to point out is for those of you who are interested in being a board member but miss say the candidate registration there's still there's still could be a vacancy in whatever district they live in I would suggest keeping track of the agenda and making sure that they know when these vacancies occur. And they can always call your office to find out where the vacancies are and I think talking before the show you said that there were at least 15 vacancies in the 33 district areas. Well there's vacancies all around in every neighborhood board. Most boards have maybe one or two vacancies here and there but there are filled fairly quickly because there are always people and the way they can do that is they can just contact the neighborhood commission which is your office and your number is on that letter or they can just contact their local neighborhood board the chair or maybe even a committee member because they can notify the chair and say oh my neighbor Joe Blow he wants to be on the board. The formal process would be for the person to come down to the neighborhood board meeting that person and the board would then vote on whether to allow the person on the board or not. Right. And you know and being you know all this board I mean you know sometimes it can be very very interesting very challenging and but this is basically the grassroots politics. Absolutely. Right. This is the very ground you know this is this is grassroots at its purist because you're talking to people who live in the neighborhood talking about issues that you know really concern them right and here they're you know they can talk face to face with the government officials that are the decision makers and in many instances they are able to be very persuasive you know to these people these decision makers so it's up to it is really to in everybody's best interest to become involved and to elect people who are going through the process and make it transparent and make it meaningful you know to their community so I thank you very much for assisting in the process and I wish you good luck in this election and hopefully we get a lot of people voting. And also hopefully I hope we can come back to after the election period and discuss what the results were. Oh yeah that'll be the next show that you guys will be on. Okay and thank you very much for joining on CIDR which is the show regarding people who live in condos and work in condos and please join us next week for another interesting program and Richard Emory will be the host for that again thank you and mahalo thank you