Kawika Crowley's war on potholes, lethargy

KANEOHE, OAHU (HawaiiNewsNow) - Kawika Crowley is known as many things: homeless handyman, 2012 Republican Congressional Nominee, and now vigilante volunteer.

"We as citizens have become too damn frickin lazy.  We sit back, 'uhhh, bitch and moan about this...nobody gonna fix this, City and County that'".

Crowley is fired up as he stands on Kahuhipa Street in Kaneohe.  What has him in this state is a chronic pothole on Kahuhipa that he ran over on Monday, damaging his van, which is also his home.

"Direct hit, screwed up my front end" is how he described it.  Crowley decided to take action.  He went into City Mill and tried to buy two bags of black top repair.  City Mill wouldn't let him---they donated the bags themselves.

From there, he went down the street, took two cones from atop his van, and set them up as he filled in the pothole himself.

Traffic stopped, obligingly.  Crowley waved them on like a seasoned professional.

"The City and County workers, they are overworked as it is.  So you know what, sometimes it's good for us citizens to step up to the plate, shut the hell up, stop bitching and moaning and fix something yourself" he said confidently.

The City and County approves his message, just not his method.

"We prefer people to call our pothole hotline at 768-7777" said Ross Sasamura, Director of Facility Maintenance.  It is protocol for the City and County to fill a pothole 48 hours after it's reported.

Sasamura also pointed out there are other ways for citizens to get involved, without illegally stopping traffic to do road repairs.

"There's safer ways to deal with lethargic citizenry.  We do have a Malama o ka Aina program where we enlist the help of volunteers to help us in safer areas to do their part to keep the community clean".

Additionally, engaging in roadwork without proper permitting and training is a citable offense, not that it stopped Crowley.

"It'd be a citation I would be proud of, hows that?" he said afterwards.

Crowley had an active day Monday.  In addition to the pothole escapade, he filed papers for another congressional run.

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