{"id":54167,"date":"2015-06-03T00:01:20","date_gmt":"2015-06-03T10:01:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/?p=54167"},"modified":"2015-06-01T09:57:06","modified_gmt":"2015-06-01T19:57:06","slug":"city-council-newbies-east-and-west","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/city-council-newbies-east-and-west\/","title":{"rendered":"City Council Newbies, East and West"},"content":{"rendered":"

Honolulu City Council\u2019s newest members share much in common, starting with youth and its sense that nothing is impossible. Leeward Councilman Brandon Elefante is 29, East Honolulu\u2019s Trevor Ozawa, 32. <\/p>\n

\"City

City Councilman Trevor Ozawa<\/p><\/div>\n

Both attended public elementary and intermediate schools \u2014 Elefante graduating from Aiea High School. Ozawa veered off the public track, climbing Kapalama Heights to Kamehameha. <\/p>\n

Both went to college on the continent, Ozawa at University of Southern California, Elefante at St. Mary\u2019s in the Bay Area. Both majored in economics. <\/p>\n

Here their career paths diverge. Ozawa headed farther east to attend Boston\u2019s Suffolk University Law School. <\/p>\n

Elefante entered the workforce in the midst of the nation\u2019s Great Recession, where he discovered that a bachelor\u2019s degree wouldn\u2019t suffice. \u201cI found myself filing for unemployment insurance,\u201d Elefante remembers. \u201cThat was a gamechanger for me.\u201d <\/p>\n

Elefante returned to Hawaii and, like many of the Great Recession generation, went back to school, in his case for an MBA from Chaminade University. Ozawa\u2019s game-changer came with marriage \u2014 to a hapa-haole Filipina from Guam, a fellow attorney, with the improbable \u2014 and delightful \u2014 first name of Nietzsche. \u201cMy wife and I wanted a house and a family, but we felt we couldn\u2019t do it in Hawaii. It\u2019s hard here for young professionals.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"City

City Councilman Brandon Elefante<\/p><\/div>\n

The Ozawas talked about settling on Guam, where her family had business interests, or in California, where Ozawa had a USC network. They decided instead to brave Hawaii\u2019s high costs and \u201cchange the fabric of society.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to address the housing problem for the gap group, people from their late 20s to their early 40s, to stop the brain drain and make it possible for local people to stay in Hawaii or come home.\u201d <\/p>\n

On their return, Ozawa practiced law. In 2010, he tasted politics during a six-month stint as a staffer in the office of Councilman Stanley Chang. Down the hall, Councilman Breene Harimoto had hired a newly minted MBA named Elefante. <\/p>\n

Elefante spent four years in Harimoto\u2019s employ, watching infrastructure and development issues. In 2014, Harimoto decided to run for the Senate seat vacated by gubernatorial candidate David Ige. <\/p>\n

Elefante promptly announced his candidacy for Harimoto\u2019s council seat, and almost as promptly won it in the primary with more than the required 50 percent plus one vote. <\/p>\n

In East Honolulu, Ozawa would not have it so easy. When 4th district Councilman Chang opted to run for Congress in 2014, Ozawa went after his council seat. He ran strong in the primary, but second to former state Rep. Tommy Waters. In the two-person general, Ozawa snuck by Waters by 41 votes out of more than 32,500 cast. <\/p>\n

The new councilmen\u2019s districts vary. Ozawa\u2019s 4th runs from Hawaii Kai to Waikiki, including stable, more expensive suburbs. Ozawa talks about building \u201ca vision of what we want in 30 years so that jobs will be created and the housing supply increased, enabling people to come back to Hawaii.\u201d He mentions Kaimuki as an example of an older community that needs \u201crevitalization.\u201d <\/p>\n

Elefante\u2019s 8th district includes Aiea, Pearl City and Waipahu \u2014 all part of or on the edge of the chaos of new development taking place on the Leeward plain. That includes the 12,000-home Ho\u2018opili mixed-use development and rail transit, both of which Elefante feels \u201cwill allow more families to get housing and foster growth in the Kapolei, achieving the true fruition of that area.\u201d <\/p>\n

Ah, youth. Ah, optimism.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Honolulu City Council\u2019s newest members share much in common, starting with youth and its sense that nothing is impossible. Leeward..<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mostly-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nCity Council Newbies, East and West - MidWeek<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/city-council-newbies-east-and-west\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"City Council Newbies, East and West - MidWeek\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Honolulu City Council\u2019s newest members share much in common, starting with youth and its sense that nothing is impossible. Leeward..\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/city-council-newbies-east-and-west\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"MidWeek\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-06-03T10:01:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2015\/06\/MW-Boylan-06031Councilman-Ozawa-Headshot.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"adamsparks\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"adamsparks\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\\\/midweekpro\\\/city-council-newbies-east-and-west\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\\\/midweekpro\\\/city-council-newbies-east-and-west\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"adamsparks\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\\\/midweekpro\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/40047dafbe82c067f54dbc287b688b2f\"},\"headline\":\"City Council Newbies, East and West\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-06-03T10:01:20+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\\\/midweekpro\\\/city-council-newbies-east-and-west\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":598,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\\\/midweekpro\\\/city-council-newbies-east-and-west\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\\\/midweekpro\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/12\\\/2015\\\/06\\\/MW-Boylan-06031Councilman-Ozawa-Headshot.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Mostly Politics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\\\/midweekpro\\\/city-council-newbies-east-and-west\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\\\/midweekpro\\\/city-council-newbies-east-and-west\\\/\",\"name\":\"City Council Newbies, East and West - MidWeek\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\\\/midweekpro\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\\\/midweekpro\\\/city-council-newbies-east-and-west\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\\\/midweekpro\\\/city-council-newbies-east-and-west\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\\\/midweekpro\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/12\\\/2015\\\/06\\\/MW-Boylan-06031Councilman-Ozawa-Headshot.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-06-03T10:01:20+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\\\/midweekpro\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/40047dafbe82c067f54dbc287b688b2f\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\\\/midweekpro\\\/city-council-newbies-east-and-west\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\\\/midweekpro\\\/city-council-newbies-east-and-west\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\\\/midweekpro\\\/city-council-newbies-east-and-west\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\\\/midweekpro\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/12\\\/2015\\\/06\\\/MW-Boylan-06031Councilman-Ozawa-Headshot.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\\\/midweekpro\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/12\\\/2015\\\/06\\\/MW-Boylan-06031Councilman-Ozawa-Headshot.jpg\",\"width\":200,\"height\":300,\"caption\":\"City Councilman Trevor Ozawa\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\\\/midweekpro\\\/city-council-newbies-east-and-west\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\\\/midweekpro\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"City Council Newbies, East and West\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\\\/midweekpro\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\\\/midweekpro\\\/\",\"name\":\"MidWeek\",\"description\":\"Hawaii's Favorite Newspaper\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\\\/midweekpro\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\\\/midweekpro\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/40047dafbe82c067f54dbc287b688b2f\",\"name\":\"adamsparks\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d8b6a44994d1aa5fb350ebbfb3c586a55ae64f8c8235770324ef62d29f8fbb20?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d8b6a44994d1aa5fb350ebbfb3c586a55ae64f8c8235770324ef62d29f8fbb20?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d8b6a44994d1aa5fb350ebbfb3c586a55ae64f8c8235770324ef62d29f8fbb20?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"adamsparks\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\\\/midweekpro\\\/author\\\/adamsparks\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"City Council Newbies, East and West - MidWeek","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/city-council-newbies-east-and-west\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"City Council Newbies, East and West - MidWeek","og_description":"Honolulu City Council\u2019s newest members share much in common, starting with youth and its sense that nothing is impossible. Leeward..","og_url":"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/city-council-newbies-east-and-west\/","og_site_name":"MidWeek","article_published_time":"2015-06-03T10:01:20+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2015\/06\/MW-Boylan-06031Councilman-Ozawa-Headshot.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"adamsparks","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"adamsparks","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/city-council-newbies-east-and-west\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/city-council-newbies-east-and-west\/"},"author":{"name":"adamsparks","@id":"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/#\/schema\/person\/40047dafbe82c067f54dbc287b688b2f"},"headline":"City Council Newbies, East and West","datePublished":"2015-06-03T10:01:20+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/city-council-newbies-east-and-west\/"},"wordCount":598,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/city-council-newbies-east-and-west\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2015\/06\/MW-Boylan-06031Councilman-Ozawa-Headshot.jpg","articleSection":["Mostly Politics"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/city-council-newbies-east-and-west\/","url":"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/city-council-newbies-east-and-west\/","name":"City Council Newbies, East and West - MidWeek","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/city-council-newbies-east-and-west\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/city-council-newbies-east-and-west\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2015\/06\/MW-Boylan-06031Councilman-Ozawa-Headshot.jpg","datePublished":"2015-06-03T10:01:20+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/#\/schema\/person\/40047dafbe82c067f54dbc287b688b2f"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/city-council-newbies-east-and-west\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/city-council-newbies-east-and-west\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/city-council-newbies-east-and-west\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2015\/06\/MW-Boylan-06031Councilman-Ozawa-Headshot.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2015\/06\/MW-Boylan-06031Councilman-Ozawa-Headshot.jpg","width":200,"height":300,"caption":"City Councilman Trevor Ozawa"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/city-council-newbies-east-and-west\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"City Council Newbies, East and West"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/#website","url":"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/","name":"MidWeek","description":"Hawaii's Favorite Newspaper","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/#\/schema\/person\/40047dafbe82c067f54dbc287b688b2f","name":"adamsparks","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d8b6a44994d1aa5fb350ebbfb3c586a55ae64f8c8235770324ef62d29f8fbb20?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d8b6a44994d1aa5fb350ebbfb3c586a55ae64f8c8235770324ef62d29f8fbb20?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d8b6a44994d1aa5fb350ebbfb3c586a55ae64f8c8235770324ef62d29f8fbb20?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"adamsparks"},"url":"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/author\/adamsparks\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54167"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54167\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}