A thriving agricultural sector is critical for our food security, for our economy and ultimately for our survival. To add on to question 8. I would refer to and continue to support the Kauai Comprehensive Economic Development Plan which provides a variety of strategies including affordable housing, providing better broadband access and the possibility of Kauai Innovation Center. Our county has a affordable rental program that go we a property tax break for second home investors to rent to our local families under an affordable rental agreement. Photo Courtesy: Ross Kagawa. In the event of a hurricane, a war, a prolonged economic downturn, or another catastrophic lockdown, there is minimal impact on the full living units in the TVR category. For the decades after World War II, both the US and Hawaiis population were exploding and along with it, so were our economies. QUESTION #1What is your vision for a thriving agricultural sector on Kauai and how can the County Council support that vision?. But, the industry has more than recovered. To ensure short and long term fiscal health, we need to: 1) Reinvest in our existing towns. In addition, I will work with our county administration, state and federal representatives, to execute a comprehensive plan in a timely manner to establish a new trash storage system. I do not support any tax rate increases or changes at this time as I do not believe increases are necessary to balance the countys budget. Supporting our farmers markets and possibly expanding program. C OUNTY C OUNCIL (7) (12-01-24) 808 -241 4188 Josh Green's appointment to fill an empty House seat that covers the island's east. We need to also continue to reform our zoning codes to reduce the amount that people have to drive. euclid city council election results. 4) We need to build the infrastructure for more townhouses and condos in Lihue. I would like to see us growing the majority of food we consume on the island. Incentivizing Private Developers & Infill Development in Town Cores Working with Council Chair Kaneshiro, Housing Director Roversi and Mayor Kawakami weve brought about critically needed improvements to our Housing Policy incentivizing private developers to build more units especially in our town core areas close to existing infrastructure where weve also created Special Management Areas encouraging higher density housing projects like four-plexes, townhomes and apartments. LIHU'E In a Wednesday meeting, the new Kaua'i County Council tapped member-elect Mel Rapozo to serve as chair for the next two years. Kiewit and Mcubbins (2014) refer to this as the fiscal ice age. Its necessary for our quality of life and for getting us to a place of thriving and not just surviving. I will be following this issue diligently and am interested in public opinion. Jade Wai'ale'ale Battad, Dr. Addison Bulosan, Bernard Carvalho Jr., Mason Chock, Felicia Cowden and Mike. While there is not clear research evidence showing or disproving the concept, I think its reasonable to assume that increased capacity will likely induce demand for traveling to Kauai or vice versa, that limiting capacity would limit arrivals. For the 14 years that I have served on the Kauai County Council, I have always had an open door policy for the business community. voting record of . Point-source reduction is an area where the Chamber of Commerce could be a valuable partner in challenging their membership to reduce waste creation as each business best sees fit. This power granted by the Kauai County Charter led to a last-minute surge in testimony from residents advocating for Fern nuenue Holland, a community organizer and leader against developers plans to build a hotel at the site of the former Coco Palms resort. Housing is easily the biggest issue that we face on Kauai, and I believe that the county has to pursue an all-of-the-above strategy to help solve the crisis. Climate change is here to stay, its going to be a huge problem in future generations and its going to get worse but we are human beings a we a smarter than that. If elected I hope to spend the time as a council member moving the island toward economic sustainability, revitalizing the county parks and the county sponsored sport leagues and work on solutions that will help local people find housing. By reversing that trend through some of the land use policies discussed in question 5, we can reduce carbon emissions while saving residents time and money by giving them an option to live close to where they work. Increase communication and understanding between residents and the visitor industry. Climate change is quite possibly the biggest threat we will be facing for the unforeseeable future. As for steps Id take, I will.. work to ensure that our land use, capital improvements and all our programming considers our statewide and county plans and policies addressing climate change and sea level rise continue supporting Housing & Planning bills that increase housing and livability in our town cores so people can live close to jobs, services & recreation and rely less on driving. 5) We need to continue raising property taxes on vacant second homes and vacation rentals, which make up one in five homes on Kauai. The sites in dryer areas are ideal, but the Koloa location is too close to Waita Reservoir. I will be creating a 90 day 180 day plan to suggest we implement immediately. For this years budget, we have funded most of our long overdue deferred maintenance, we are making significant investments in capital improvement projects and we are replenishing our reserves which was absolutely critical during the worst parts of the COVID-19 pandemic. If elected, as the legislative body for our county, our impact on infrastructure projects is to make sure they are funded to be able to accomplish the job. I was the recipient of the congress Bundestag scholarship and lived in Germany for a year. Shipping food in, rather than producing it here, is also a major factor in how we, in Hawaii, impact the climate. The candidates for the Kaua'i County Council include, at top from left, the Rev. FILE - Ross Kagawa to return to Kauai County Council after Gov. She had 1,176 votes less than Kagawa. I believe curbside recycling needs to be implemented immediately. This is one idea that could create more jobs and solve one of our biggest problems here on Kauai. Supporting the maintenance of the old plantation irrigation systems. If we continue on this trajectory, we will end up consuming our agricultural land for home construction while exacerbating traffic and the cost of government services (its a lot more expensive to maintain roads, provide trash pickup, police/fire protection, etc when its spread out thinly). Increases to the affordable housing inventory are desperately needed. The 2022-2026 CEDS is designed to sustain and grow the progress from the previous CEDS; continue the ongoing efforts to mitigate the effects of COVID 19; and, create and achieve new goals that support the economic vision set forth in our Kauai General Plan. Expanding our local products and supporting their local consumption, as well as export markets, is key to growth for the agricultural sector. Increasing taxes on vacant homes and TVRs can both discourage that practice (and get more homes on the market) and help ensure that we have a revenue base to get through the fiscal ice age. I am impressed by the action plan and agree with the objectives. Recruiting and retaining qualified staffing is a continuous challenge. Making sure out County keeps us with proper maintenance of our four wastewater treatment plants which were built before 1980 and that we fund the necessary upgrades to our current systems; even if that means increasing sewer fees. We know that a lot of younger women and a lot of younger people in general dont vote Theyre not voting because they dont see themselves reflected in the system, nonprofit director Nikki Cristobal, who is also Bulosans partner, testified. We must continue to assist local businesses and community organizations as they pivot away from importing raw materials to sourcing local materials. The work of going after grant funding falls mostly on County Department heads and they do a great job along those lines. I will work with the Department of Public Works, and other departments, to understand the ways that the council can ensure funding and needs are met for planned infrastructure projects to move them forward in a timely manner. My preferred solution is to support our Mayor and Administration however I can with 1) the permitting of a new landfill across the highway at Kekaha Mauka, 2) seeking State approval for a vertical expansion of the existing landfill that would extend operations through November 2030, 3) doing extensive outreach and education to get our citizens to play a decisive role in helping us avoid a garbage crisis by changing more habits and diverting more waste; composting, recycling, reusing materials and source reduction, 4) excavating waste from the oldest part of the landfill, separating out recyclables and reburying the waste on top of the landfills newest section; and, 5) creating a construction and demolition reclamation center to dispose of construction and demolition garbage, which makes up the largest portion of the current landfills waste stream. In the summer of 2010, Hooser resigned his Senate seat to run for the office of Lieutenant Governor of Hawaii. Councils job is to approve their efforts and help to fine-tune project strategies through listening to constituents and asking relevant questions. I believe that my life experience, education and passion will benefit Kauai and I will be a strong voice for our community. Its not a coincidence that KIUCs electricity rates are the lowest in the State AND that we have by far the most renewable energy on the grid. Not everyone gets a second chance. The consolidation of the ticket-lobby and baggage claim areas seems prudent. Once we have identified the actual number of legal accommodation units, we need to reassess their impacts to our communities and tax them accordingly. He worked as an accountant before spending nearly 20 years as a teacher. My 10 years of involvement locally in State and County politics has led me to understanding that this is a way to make a difference for the betterment of Kauai and our people. I am committed to having discussions in the open so that the public is aware of what is happening. We need more charging stations. We are clearly over capacity for tourism and our General Plan contains bold language on the need to keep visitor arrivals at reasonable levels. If we could agree that the long-term goal is sustainability then we would need to work backwards to see how we can begin making moves in the short term to move us in that direction. Spending money allocated to Kauai otherwise other islands will take our portion and Kauai will lose out. I was unable to access the Airport Development Plan Chapter of the Lihue Airport Master Plan and the Implementation Plan Chapter, both I feel I need to better understand areas I may oppose. The compound annual growth rate of the passengers incoming between 2018-2023 is 3.2% at a time where I do not think we can cope with increased visitors and many feel we are at capacity. Expanding our local products and supporting their local consumption, as well as export markets, is key to growth for the agricultural sector. We accomplish these objectives through the small businesses and nonprofits Im a part of. Reduce, reuse, recycle is a key component. Training our existing residents and youth to also remote work has value such that they may also experience a healthy middle-income. My goal is to be proactive with our administration and work with each department to understand how we can create more efficiency in our systems. Kauai County Council. . We are wise to remember that these classes of properties have subsidized Kauais working resident-homeowners for decades. The mayors administration is responsible for applying for these typically competitive Federal grants. I am committed to doing everything I can to fight for local families. The focus will be on efficiency and accountability, so that any new system that is created doesnt cost our community more than it should. Please check out my website at www.lukeevslin.com to see a full list of policies that Ive worked on and a list of proposed policies for the future. Legislative authority is vested in the seven-member County Council. I feel the following actions are very important and I would move to implement them right away: A.2, A.6, B.4, C.5, all action items outlined in Action D Community, E.1, E.4, F.1, G.2, G.4, H.1 and I.1. QUESTION #9What would you do as an elected council member to ensure that Kauai receives significant funding from the federal bipartisan infrastructure bill? If elected, my first priority is to help our council be part of the solution. These problems are going to escalate with the unchecked growth of the vegetation and greater concentrations of rainfall. Ensure the authentic Hawaiian culture is perpetuated and accurately presented in experiences for residents and visitors, materials and marketing efforts. Continue to work on our checks and balances system of government is working and not rubber stamping budget requests by the administration. We can do this by continuing to support our government institutions, schools, hospitals, catering companies, and hotels to use more local ingredients. We need to take a look at what other countries are doing around the world and bring a new system back here. For many, the barrier to converting to an EV is access to charging stations. Some owners may return to live in them full-time. If Im not mistaken, I believe this position of parity on real property taxes has been one supported by the Hawai`i Lodging & Tourism Association (HLTA) and Im thinking of the Kaua`i Chamber also. One house on Kauapea Road pays roughly the same or more taxes as all the houses along the perpendicular village street of Kilauea Road on which I live. We have thousands of ADC ranch and farm lands out on the Westside that needs to be revived. Flush with money and drunk on the possibilities of the automobile, we spent large sums of money on sprawling infrastructure. If Oahu can do it so can we. We have gone through numerous discussions on the siting of a new landfill namely the Maalo site in Hanamaulu. Sports tourism is a huge market that we should explore. Regenerative tourism focuses on the supply-side, host communities and ecosystems, rather than just the visitors needs and wants of the market-demand approach. Having good common sense in our decision-making process that not all council members have. I humbly ask for your vote, as an opportunity to give back to what has been given to me. Reducing our waste generation and then diverting whatever we can from the landfill will be critical in establishing responsible waste management for our small island. I will work with our administration to practice waste diversion in all departments and lead by example by starting with the county council. There should be a pick up like we have for garbage for correctly separated and cleaned items. Should a measure I am working on relate to the business community, or a specific industry, I will reach out to the chamber, business associations and those stakeholders to discuss the issue at the beginning of the drafting process. Advocating for watershed protection for continued flow of water in wet seasons and dry. Similarly, the Biden White House released a housing plan that Reward jurisdictions that have reformed zoning and land-use policies with higher scores in certain federal grant processes. Along these lines, its our job to help make these reforms in our zoning code to help set up our various Departments to maximize the chances of receiving grant money. at a rate consistent with other resort uses. The top two objectives that I work on daily are the focus on creating positive contributions to the quality of life for Kauai residents and supporting the maintenance, enhancement, and protection of Kauais natural resources. When the Council on Wednesday chose Kagawa to replace former member Luke Evslin who is now a member of the Hawaii House of Representatives Kagawas placement in the election was a major reason. Regardless of what happens with the Master Plan, its vital for us to work to reduce the number of visitor accommodations on Kauai as that is still the Countys best tool for managing the industry. I support improving the terminals, public parking, and cargo area. why did giacomo baessato leave hailey dean mysteries. The various departments have done a rather impressive job at successfully procuring Federal monies. Waste diversion is also key in reducing the amount of waste going to the landfill. Currently Councilmember Evslin & I are working with you and other stakeholders on a bill to support EV-ready charging stations in parking lots. NACo is While I know the Administration already works with a lobbyist in Washington, DC who is tracking all opportunities for federal funding for our County, I will continue to bring back and share valuable information on federal resources available for our County from NACo conferences and other virtual meetings and workshops. In the short term I would start with adjusting the county pay scale as the core and work outward. I would agree with the DMAP in education for tourist coming to the island they should learn all the rules and laws of the island and they should respect the local people and their lifestyle. For example, the nonprofit I lead, Rice Street Business Association, works directly with Zero Waste Kauai and every event that happens in Downtown Lhue diverts waste and appropriately allocates materials towards composting and recycling. The statewide funding of $600B for DHHL housing development for our Hawaiian Beneficiaries and $60M for Ohana Zone developments to assist our houseless population are more solution potential in the pipeline that I will support wherever needed. We need to find county solutions to reduce the cost of housing. It has become clear in recent decades that our agriculture practices and system can either hurt our climate, or help save it. YouTube Advising nonprofits, campaigns, and mission-driven businesses on strategic communications, digital advocacy, cause marketing, and partnership development. My varied background includes being a small business owner of Hanalei Surf Company for 18 years, been on numerous boards, have had experience in the fields of education and engineering, as well. A policy I wish to develop is the ability of a tax class to change in the middle of a budget year. I support economic diversification and access to locally produced food by increasing the productivity and profitability of all forms of agriculture. I will work with our community organizations such as Kumano I Ke Ala, Waip Foundation, Mlama Hulia, Kauai Farm Bureau, Kekaha Agricultural Association, Kauai Cattlemens Association, Mlama Kauai and all other organizations to work on legislation that enables our farmers to meet the demand for local ingredients. That we are talking to our Senators and House Representatives and making them accountable that we receive a piece of the pie that is equitable. I have a plan; I am currently working on it and the result are soon to take fruition. Gary L. Hooser (born January 19, 1954) is an American politician who served as a member of the Hawaii State Senate representing Kauai and Niihau from 2002 to 2010. Offering a more permanent 2% revenue stream into the Housing Revolving Fund to the voters through a ballot initiative is an imperfect measure that I will support. As we saw in the wake of Hurricane Iniki, even COVID, these living units can quickly transform into needed housing. Providing land and sharing the cost of infrastructure is one way to lower costs. And lastly, I dont take any donations from anyone, so I can assure all of my voters, no one business, special interest group and or individuals control my decisions, Billy DeCosta, works for the people and all you need to donate to his campaign is your VOTE ! Tourism remains a valued economic sector, as other sectors have emerged to offer greater stability and opportunity for the island. My life long community and environmental advocacy has motivated me to run for public office. 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