Bill calls for 21 A city councilman is proposing an increase in the number of City Council districts to create smaller districts that would be better represented.
Council districts
A 2004 ballot measure would
weigh voter sentiment on
whether districts are too largeBy Crystal Kua
ckua@starbulletin.com"The districts are too big," Councilman Charles Djou said. "You're supposed to have City Council members who know where every single stoplight and every single stop sign is in their district, but here, just on Oahu ... there's no way we can know where every single stop sign and stoplight is and where every little problem in our districts are."
Djou has introduced a resolution calling for an amendment to the City Charter that would increase the number of Council districts and Council members to 21 from nine.
A ballot question would be placed before voters in the 2004 election -- if the resolution is passed by the Council.
Under Djou's proposal the change would take effect in time for the 2012 elections following the 2011 redrawing of the district lines.
The nine Council districts are divided equally by population, but in the process, they create large geographic divisions. For example, District 2, currently represented by Councilman Donovan Dela Cruz, includes an area from Mililani Mauka in Central Oahu to Kahuku and Heeia along the Windward Coast.
Djou said some would argue that increasing the number of Council members would also raise the cost of running the Council, which would be difficult to justify when it is trying to trim the city's $1.1 billion operating budget.
"The way I would like to see it increased is with no change in the legislative budget," Djou said.
He said each Council member now has a budget of approximately $250,000 and a staff of about five.
With the increase in districts, "I think we could reduce that to two or one," he said.
He said he picked 21 because it was a "logical number: It would make it smaller than a state Senate district and slightly larger than a state House district."
The way the Council has compensated for large districts is to have a large staff and things like the neighborhood boards and vision teams process, he said.
"Obviously, this is not a pressing issue in the sense that it's not something that I think needs to be passed this month or next month," he said. "I submitted it to provoke discussion."
City & County of Honolulu
