Oahu residents who participated in the Hawaii Poll indicated that the most important issues facing the island this year are rail, traffic and homelessness — but education, notably, is no longer one of the key concerns.
"That’s a huge surprise," said Becki Ward, president of Ward Research Inc., which conducted the Honolulu Star-Advertiser/Hawaii News Now poll of 403 residents between Jan. 13 and 23.
Education/public schools, which has perennially been one of the primary concerns, has fallen to a distant fifth place behind the economy.
Only 4 percent of the poll’s respondents cited education/public schools as "the most important issue" facing Oahu this year.
Since Ward Research took over the Hawaii Poll in 1997, Becki Ward said issues such as crime, the economy, the environment and overdevelopment have come and gone as top concerns for Oahu residents. But until this year, she said, education had almost always been among the top three.
In the poll, residents were not given a list of topics to rank. Instead, they suggested topics on their own.
This year, rail (19 percent), traffic (17 percent), homelessness (15 percent) and the economy (14 percent) worry residents the most.
Martha Randolph, 52, of Pauoa, said Honolulu’s rail plan "will be a disaster with long-term consequences for Honolulu."
"It’s not just the cost overruns," she said. "How many times have we seen in Hawaii where things are built and then not properly maintained? They have to be honest. Before you push for something, tell the people straight up what they’re in for."
Randolph also said she believes that lawmakers are not doing enough to address homelessness.
"It’s not only unattractive, it’s going to inhibit our economic status as a tourist destination," she said. "When our economy relies on tourism, no one wants to see homeless people on the street."
But for Beverly Wong, 64, of Waianae, traffic is her main concern because it can take her up to two hours to get to work in Moanalua. Without congestion, she can make the drive in about a half-hour.
Wong faces a daily ordeal.
"I love my job, I love my job," she said. "But when I get home, I’m beat and it’s just because of driving in all this traffic. I just hate it."
Concerns over traffic varied widely depending on age.
Twenty-five percent of people under age 35 listed traffic as their primary concern, compared to just 8 percent of people 55 and older. The reason could be that fewer older people face a daily commute to work.
Otherwise, traffic remained a concern across economic, gender, ethnic and political party lines — although only 12 percent of "independent" voters indicated traffic was the most important issue compared to 23 percent of Republicans.
While rail overall was considered to be Honolulu’s most important issue this year, concerns over Hawaii’s largest public-works project were mixed when broken down by demographic groups.
Democrats (21 percent) cited rail as a concern more than Independents (19 percent) or Republicans (14 percent).
People 55 and older (26 percent) were more focused on rail than those 35 and younger (17 percent). And people living in households earning less than $50,000 (16 percent) were less concerned about rail than those in households that make $100,000 or more (24 percent).
Those who cited homelessness as Honolulu’s most important issue also varied widely.
Among relative newcomers to Oahu — those who have lived here fewer than 10 years — 8 percent cited homelessness as their most important issue. But 15 percent of people born and raised on Oahu said it was their most important issue.
Filipinos (27 percent) said homelessness was their main concern, compared to Caucasians (16 percent), Japanese (13 percent) and Hawaiians (10 percent).
Opinions on homelessness did not vary widely by income.
Some 17 percent of Honolulu residents living in households that earn less than $50,000 expressed about the same concern about homelessness as those in households earning $100,000 or more (14 percent).
The poll has a margin of error of 4.9 percentage points.
