Nearly three-fourths of Oahu voters surveyed for聽The Civil Beat Poll聽say the should be given greater authority聽to suspend or dismiss聽the chief聽of police and to investigate police misconduct.

Only 11 percent disagreed, while another 9 percent had no opinion.

Respondents were asked five questions related to some of the proposed聽Honolulu 聽on the Nov. 8 ballot.

The聽questions reflected the substance of the amendments but not necessarily聽their exact wording.

People’s responses reflect what Oahu residents think about the issues at stake but do not necessarily reflect how they will vote 鈥� or if they will vote at all 鈥� on the actual ballot questions.

Still, the new poll suggests that support for on Police Commission powers is strong.

“It cuts across age, race, income, the mayor’s race, ideology mostly 鈥� conservatives are a little less enthusiastic,”聽said Matt Fitch, executive director of , which conducted the poll for Civil Beat. “The numbers are similar for all demographics, although men are slightly more supportive than women. But there is consensus.”

Misconduct among Honolulu Police Department officers is an ongoing聽concern, and the commission聽has been criticized for lax oversight in light of a federal investigation of Chief Louis Kealoha.

Longer Term Limits Opposed

There is less support, however, for allowing the mayor and City Council members to serve three consecutive terms instead of two.

聽explains that the mayor and nine Council members currently are allowed to serve two consecutive four-year terms, while the prosecutor has no limit. The amendment聽would set limits of three consecutive terms for all three offices.

Just 34 percent of respondents support the idea of adjusting the聽term limits, while 50 percent oppose it, 10 percent have no opinion and 7 percent were unsure.

Fitch described the poll results for term limits as “a hodgepodge.”

“Some oppose it because they do not believe in term limits and others really believe in them and do not want to extend them,” he said. “But it’s a mix of people, and it’s unpredictable how they might vote.”

HART Burn

On a third matter regarding proposed charter amendments, a clear majority (53 percent) emerged in favor of eventually transferring operations and maintenance of the rail system聽from the 聽to the city’s .听

The goal of is to have the same agency that oversees TheBus and聽TheHandi-Van oversee the rail line as well, establishing “a unified multi-modal transportation system.”

“It’s just one more example of how voters don’t like HART,” said Fitch. “It has such a visceral reputation 鈥� it just leaves a bad taste聽in people’s mouths 鈥� that people like things being taken away from them.”

HART has come under repeated fire for its management of聽the over-budget, behind-schedule聽$8.6 billion rail project.

Earlier this year its board chair聽and its executive director聽resigned under pressure.

Zoo Tax, Office Of Climate Change

The Civil Beat Poll also measured voters’ views on聽the substance of two other ballot issues: creating a Honolulu聽Office of Climate Change, Sustainability, and Resiliency, and dedicating a portion聽of the city and county’s property tax revenue to help the Honolulu Zoo regain national accreditation.

On the climate change office (), just 31 percent like the idea of creating it but 44 percent oppose it and 19 percent did not have an opinion.

On the zoo funding (), 45 percent do not want to tap property taxes, 38 percent like the idea and 13 percent declined to share their preference.

Civil Beat conducted a random survey on Oahu from Oct. 10 to Oct. 13.听The margin of error for the full sample is 3.4 percentage points.

Voters reached by cellphone comprised 32 percent of those surveyed, while voters with landlines totaled 68 percent.

Coming Monday:聽What is the solution to stopping feral cats from endangering Hawaii’s ecosystem?

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