Issues & Opportunities

On Kauaʻi, we face a number of deep and interwoven problems: home prices are too high, good jobs are too hard to find, carbon emissions are changing our climate and threatening our coast, and traffic is overwhelming both our infrastructure and our patience. Some of these problems have festered so long it may feel as if we’re powerless to change them.

I have no illusions about the difficulty of addressing these challenges, and I don’t claim there are easy solutions. But I do believe that local government can do more. Too often, we see these problems framed in either/or, zero-sum equations: sending the message that we can’t address one problem without making another one worse. The end result is that nothing changes, the status quo triumphs, and ordinary people are left with the feeling that comprehensive solutions simply do not exist.

I’m running for office because I believe there are solutions. Our land and how we use it is at the heart of all these issues. And while the county council may be limited in some aspects of island governance, we do have the power to direct the density, location, and form of development. Through these tools, we can reduce home prices, reduce inequality, reduce carbon emissions, and reduce the time we spend in traffic.  

Housing

Cities, towns, and neighborhoods are not a force of nature; they are a reflection of the decisions made by our leaders. If we want to ensure that local families and our children can continue to live on Kauaʻi, then we need to confront the housing crisis head-on. Housing costs are high because the supply isn’t meeting demand. To bring the cost of housing down, we need to build more homes. But, this doesn’t mean we have to sacrifice Kauaʻi’s character and quality of life. Instead of developing our prime agricultural land, we need to strengthen our neglected town cores and revitalize existing communities.

We can increase the supply of homes while minimizing traffic and preserving the character of our island. This balance can be achieved by ensuring that everyone in a residential area targeted for growth can build ʻohana apartments, tiny houses, and other additional dwelling units for family members or long-term renters. We also need to incentivize the construction of more buildings that contain a mix of commercial and residential space within our town cores. Lastly, we need to ensure that all new housing developments are located near job centers. But, these policies can't be enacted in a vacuum. We also need to continue building government subsidized housing projects and continue with the county's current crackdown on illegal vacation rentals. 

Goals

• Ensure that Kauaʻi families can afford a home on Kauaʻi.

• Increase housing options for low and middle income families - including ʻohana houses, ADUs, duplexes, and apartments.

• Build livable, walkable, and affordable communities by allowing more people to live in our town cores while slowing the pace of development on agricultural land.

• Follow the goals, policies, recommendations outlined in our 2035 Kauaʻi General Plan. 

For more of my thoughts on housing, check out some of these published pieces:

• Five steps to reduce the cost of housing on Kaua'i

• Kaua'i's wicked housing problem

• Between growth and affordable housing: finding the middle road

• Form based code can help preserve character, reduce commute times, and stabilize home prices

• To stop sprawl, we need to use every planning tool available

• To reduce costs, Kaua'i needs to allow alternative forms of housings

• Managing growth is difficult, but there are concrete tools available

• On the divisive nature of development

Economy

Income inequality is exploding across America, and Hawaiʻi is ground zero. Every year, the cost of living goes up and the income gap continues to widen. This growing income inequality comes at a time when all levels of government are being strained by a legacy of under-investment in infrastructure and a surge of aging baby-boom retirees who rely on earned government pensions and entitlements (such as Social Security and Medicare). The rapidly increasing expenditures for retirees and infrastructure is the defining fiscal challenge of our time for every level of government. And there is no easy path forward. 

To thrive in the 21st century, we must recognize the danger of inequality and make it possible for every child born on Kauaʻi to get a great education and find a good job that allows them to buy a home and support their family. Ensuring that every family has access to education and housing is not only a moral necessity, but it also results in a long term increase in the tax base-- which helps ensure the fiscal stability of our county and state governments. 

Kauaʻi is more dependent on tourism than any other island in Hawaiʻi. It is imperative that we expand our economy without expanding the number of visitors. The county council needs to make it easier for farmers and manufacturers to start and grow their businesses. And we must ease onerous restrictions that make it difficult for families to run businesses from their homes.

Goals

• Diversify and grow the economy.

• Reduce inequality. 

• Ensure progressive taxation so that low income families don't bear the greatest burden.

• Ensure that all children have access to high quality education and child-care.

• Prevent economically segregated communities by ensuring that every new development contains a mixture of housing types for all levels of income.

For more of my thoughts on the economy, check out some of these published pieces:

• Say no to increased excise taxes

• Can we grow our economy, not our population? 

• Tourism is stopping us from diversifying our economy

• We need to invest in local manufacturing

• Our fiscal challenge: Why local governments can't afford to maintain services and basic infrastructure

Climate Change

As an island in the Pacific, Kauaʻi has long contended with the costs and risks of relying on oil to power our community. In recent years, Kauaʻi has become a global leader in reducing our dependence on expensive imported oil. KIUC has proven that it is possible to affordably power our community with a mix of renewable energy sources. However, we can and must do more.

Climate change and rising sea levels are an existential threat to our island. We need to get to zero carbon emissions by the second half of this century and we need to begin rapidly reducing emissions now. The good news is that we can achieve many of our climate goals by taking measures that improve the quality of life for Kauaʻi residents. 

Research shows the four areas local governments can influence the most are moving the grid towards 100% renewables, increasing the livable density of our towns to reduce our reliance on cars, making buildings more efficient, and producing less solid waste.

For hundreds of years, Kauaʻi was home to one of the most stable and self-sustaining civilizations that has ever existed. Smart planning and modern technology can allow us to resume that tradition.

Goals

• 100% renewable electricity by 2045 (in alignment with current State policy).

• 100% vehicle electrification by 2045 (in alignment with current Kauaʻi County policy).

• 80% reduction in islandwide emissions by 2050 (in alignment with the Kauaʻi General Plan).

• Recycle or compost 70% of our waste by 2023 (in alignment with current Kauaʻi County policy) by ensuring adequate funding for a Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) at the new landfill. 

For more of my thoughts on climate change, check out some of these published pieces:

• Let's cap and trade carbon dioxide emissions

• To solve the climate crisis, we need to solve the housing crisis

• Climate change requires local action

• To cut emissions, we need better planning 

• We need renewable energy, but we can't pass the cost on to those who can least afford it

• Going off the grid

• The long and winding road to renewable energy

• What will 100% renewable energy look like for Kaua'i?

Traffic

Traffic is more than a daily source of frustration for Kauaʻi residents, it comes with huge costs: including time away from family, missed job opportunities due to long commutes, lost business revenue because people avoid driving to town, and the high cost of carbon emissions. But simply building new roads is not the solution. The State of Hawaiʻi has only a small fraction of the funds necessary for road projects just to keep up with current demand. And countless studies have shown that new roads only end up encouraging more drivers who leave things just as congested as before.

While we may not be able to solve our island's traffic problem, we can ensure that nobody should have to spend an hour driving to work because they can't afford to live in Lihuʻe. The best way to reduce the amount of time we spend driving is to increase housing options so that people can choose to live in a place where they don't have to spend their lives in traffic. But, housing isn't the entire answer. Reducing traffic depends on pedestrian transportation options; yet we can't walk, ride our bikes, or even take the bus without connectivity in our land-use patterns; and that connectivity depends on higher-density and mixed-use developments. The county council has a powerful role to play in creating livable, walkable communities that allow more people to go about their day without having to sit in traffic. 
 

Goals

• Rebuild and maintain roadway infrastructure to the highest standard, with a goal of zero annual traffic fatalities.

• Reduce the amount of time people spend in traffic.

• Provide convenient, safe multi-modal transport options including walking, cycling, and public transit.

• Prepare for a future of shared ownership of driverless cars. 

For more of my thoughts on traffic, check out some of these published pieces:

• We need to repair roads rather than build new ones

• Road funding needs to come from the gas tax, not the excise tax

• Building to a pedestrian scale can reduce our reliance on cars

• There is no single solution to traffic, only a comprehensive approach will work

More To Come

This is by no means a comprehensive list of issues or opportunities that Kauaʻi faces. From the epidemic of crystal meth to the continued disenfranchisement of native Hawaiians to the explosion in homelessness-- we face deep and systemic challenges that we need to solve as a community. I believe that the issues outlined in detail above are some of the root causes of our various island crises and they are issues which the Kauaʻi County Council has control over. But, the list above is incomplete-- and that's why I want to hear from you. I'd be honored if you could take the time to share with me the problems that you are facing and any ideas that you have for solving them. Thank you,