‘Get used to it’: Honolulu mayor responds to backlash over new Hawaii license, ID design

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Change is never easy, and the switch to new Hawaii driver’s licenses and state IDs has not been without backlash.

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During a press conference Tuesday, Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi commented on the criticism over the first update to the cards in 17 years.

The changes include 50 safety features to fend off fraudsters.

“Whatever those people were that didn’t like it, that’s just the way it is. We’re not backing off. This is the card. Get used to it. Fall in love with it. Take it home. Look at it. Stare at it. Learn to like it,” Blangiardi said.

A petition against the changes garnered nearly 6,000 signatures.

HI-93 radio personalities Steezy and Puunui started the petition, and told Hawaii News Now in an interview last week, ”It’s not that we don’t support the new security features. It’s just, you know, working together to come up with something that we’re all going to have in our pockets for quite some time.”

The petition itself mentioned, “Many of us feel that the current design does not reflect our home’s rich beauty, culture, or identity.”

But state and city officials defended the design, explaining that it contains critical protections, including raised texts and anti-counterfeit patterns integrated with micro-texts.

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“Adding another layer of security and making the IDs almost impossible to alter or duplicate,” Kim Hashiro, director of the city Department of Customer Services, said. “The most significant improvements are the security features.”

The new cards are also 100% polycarbonate, which Hashiro said makes them, “as durable as safety glasses.”

At Tuesday’s news conference, Hawaii County Mayor Kimo Alameda attested to the need for sturdier IDs based off of personal experience.

“If you compare it, our license and the new one, mine is already peeling, and it can be copied through a Xerox machine, and that’s really unsettling,” Alameda added.

The new cards are already in circulation, but if you have the old one, it will remain valid until its expiration date.

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