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Brysen Poulton
From Ballotpedia
Brysen Poulton was a 2014 candidate for District 8 of the Honolulu, Hawaii City Council.
Biography
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Poulton obtained a B.A. in communications and cultural studies from Brigham Young University's Hawaii Campus. His professional experience includes working for the Hawaii State Senate and House of Representatives, the Hawaii Departments of Commerce and Consumer Affairs and Human Services, the Honolulu City Council and at his own communications firm, Kukulu Mana’o.[1]
Campaign themes
2014
Poulton addresses the following issues on his campaign website:[1]
Infrastructure
- Excerpt: "Investing in infrastructure is essential for healthy and vibrant communities. It is also critical for long-term economic growth, employment, and household income. The reverse is also true – without prioritizing our city’s infrastructure needs, deteriorating conditions can become a drag on the economy, something we have seen with sewage spills in recent years. Shrinking resources aren’t keeping pace with our growing population either which is why, now more than ever, we must refocus our time and money on renewing and restoring these basic services. If elected, I will work to ensure that transportation services, sewer services, and other public works are in good condition before we start new projects. I recognize that infrastructure is vital to our daily routines, and State and federal funds can have a tremendous impact on the way we choose to maintain and improve our city. I will look at ways that we can better leverage these assets so that concerns over our infrastructure quickly become a thing of the past."
Public Safety
- Excerpt: "Meeting the safety needs of a large city like Honolulu can be a challenge. I deeply admire the commitment and dedication of our firefighters, police officers, paramedics and lifeguards as they work day in and day out to meet the critical needs of all our citizens. I will work tirelessly as your councilman, to ensure that our first-responders and safety personnel have what they need to keep us safe. That means investing in new technology, looking at best practices, and using common sense. Public safety also means maintaining and expanding programs to support our aging population, like senior centers and health and wellness activities. I believe that we need to support and expand partnerships between city and county agencies and the community to find cost savings and be more aggressive in creating opportunities to partner with private industry, the state, and federal programs to expand the reach of our safety net."
Housing and Homelessness
- Excerpt: "I stand for healthy communities that provide affordable, safe and comfortable housing. I believe in a community that is well maintained, energy efficient, diverse and community-centric. I believe that homelessness occurs on a spectrum, with the extremely destitute and chronically mentally ill on one end and those who just need an opportunity to get a leg up on the other. I fully support the current “compassionate disruption” strategy that combines enforcing laws that force the homeless off the street while developing shelters and housing for them. I believe that this problem can be dealt with by giving the chronically homeless housing first coupled with access to social services. For those on the other end of the spectrum, temporary housing ought to be offered with training and other social services until these individuals can improve their circumstances. These things can be best accomplished by government partnering with private and nonprofit groups. I also believe that these types of partnerships can go a long way to creating affordable housing developments. I feel that zoning laws must be reviewed along with developer tax incentives so that all city and county regulations encourage and foster the opportunities to make housing for local people a priority."
Transportation and Rail
- Excerpt: "If we are to have a truly sound transportation system we must repair, care for and keep up the transportation infrastructure we have while integrating these resources with rail. Building rail provides us with a new and unique opportunity to assess all of our transportation systems so that as we build rail we can secure better transportation for future generations. The test of great transportation infrastructure is one that residents enjoy, provides durable and inexpensive mobility and addresses an integrated approach to transportation needs. With smart growth as a guiding principle, we can place emphasis on putting homes near shops, jobs and public transportation, by making zoning choices that promote density and not sprawl. In order to accomplish this, we need to create a network of lanes and streets dedicated exclusively to bikes and lightweight motorized vehicles in these urban areas. Transit Oriented Development will be key to making this a reality. I definitely support TOD and believe it will enhance our collective transportation experience while going a long way to helping us overcome our housing crises."
Elections
2014
Honolulu, Hawaii held city council elections on November 4, 2014. A primary election took place on August 9, 2014. Because one candidate received a majority of the votes in the District 8 primary, its general election was called off. Brandon Elefante defeated Baybee Hufana-Ablan, Russ Grunch and Brysen Poulton.[2][3]
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Brandon Elefante* |
47.7% | 11,520 | ||
| Baybee Hufana-Ablan | 13.6% | 3,275 | ||
| Russ Grunch | 5.8% | 1,411 | ||
| Brysen Poulton | 7.1% | 1,724 | ||
| Blank or Over Votes | 25.8% | 6,235 | ||
| Total Votes | 24,165 | |||
| Source: Hawaii Secretary of State - 2014 Primary Results |
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*Note: Because Brandon Elefante received more votes than the combined votes of his opponents, he was declared the winner outright.
Recent news
This section links to a Google news search for the term "Brysen + Poulton + Honolulu"
See also
- Honolulu, Hawaii
- Honolulu, Hawaii city council elections, 2014
- United States municipal elections, 2014
External links
Footnotes
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