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Editor’s note: For Hawaii’s Aug. 10 Primary Election, Civil Beat asked candidates to answer some questions about where they stand on various issues and what their priorities will be if elected.

The following came from Jennifer Kagiwada, candidate for Hawaii County Council District 2, which covers Hilo and parts of South Hilo. Her opponents are Blaine Kenji Bautista, Grace Manipol and Gary Napoleon Jr.

Go to Civil Beat’s Election Guide for general information, and check out other candidates on the Primary Election Ballot.

1. What is the biggest issue facing your district, and what would you do about it?

The concern I hear the most often is one about the cost of living. The Hawaii County Council and the mayor passed our 2024-2025 budget that included lowering property tax rates for homeowners and our Affordable Rental Program. We should continue to help our residents whenever possible through appropriate real property taxation.

I plan to propose that we increase the homeowner exemption amount next year. In addition, we can find ways to make food more affordable and help feed those who are experiencing food scarcity and hunger. Incentivizing home gardens, supporting community organizations who are providing food (Food Basket, Vibrant HI, etc.), directing our Research and Development Department to support our farmers and develop new farmers will all be a part of the solution.

The county should encourage the state to eliminate General Excise Taxes on food for residents.

Finally, I will continue to work with the state to access federal funding to refund the emergency rental assistance program. This was a huge success in helping people pay their rent if they fell behind due to unforeseen circumstances. The emergency rental assistance program helps keep our people housed and prevents local landlords from losing income.

2. Overtourism can degrade the environment, threaten biodiversity, contribute to wear and tear on infrastructure, generate traffic and disrupt neighborhoods. What do you think about the amount of tourism on the Big Island and how it’s managed?

Tourism is an important part of our economy but it shouldn’t be our main economic driver and it must be well-managed. We can better manage our tourism in Hawaii County and keep our resident experience a positive one in several ways:

By restricting and regulating short-term vacation rentals, keeping them out of agriculture and residential areas and making sure existing rentals follow the rules or pay a heavy price.

Instituting green fees for tourists and using the money to help fund our infrastructure and environmental needs is another way to ensure tourism dollars are benefitting our community.

Educating tourists on what is pono and what is not would not only benefit Hawaii but develop awareness for other parts of the world impacted by tourism. Supporting local businesses in developing ecotourism destinations and events which encourage visitors to give back to the land while they are visiting.

Limiting the amount of new hotels being built but encouraging and supporting teardowns, renovations and rebuilding for already established hotel and resort areas.

And finally, supporting new industries and jobs to increase our economic development so we don’t rely on the tourism industry.

3. What needs to happen to relieve traffic congestion in and around Kailua-Kona and along the Puna-Keaau-Hilo corridor?

We need to look at multi-modal transportation as a key solution to our traffic problems on Hawaii island. Making sure high traffic corridors have adequate bike lanes and mass transit services is key.

Hawaii County received a federal grant that allows free ridership on our bus system at this time but we can do more to increase and diversify ridership of our buses and provide additional desired routes. For areas not serviced by mass transit, we should encourage ride-share programs and provide park-n-ride lots.

Finally, encouraging flexible work and school schedules would help alleviate traffic at some of the most challenging times of day.

4. The cost of living on Hawaii island is rising rapidly. How are working and middle-class people expected to buy a house or pay the rent as well as take care of other expenses? And how can the county government help?

Since I talked about cost of living in Question No. 1, I will focus on how we will expand our housing stock and make housing more affordable here. We need more housing for our people. We have a lot of vacant commercial space. Our commercial areas need revitalizing. We should structure our tax policy to encourage commercial properties to utilize a portion of their buildings for housing when appropriate. This would be a major step toward live-work-play in our urban areas.

We should amend our county code to require developers to build infrastructure and affordable housing components before building the more lucrative housing in their projects. We should also amend the County Code to increase housing stock overall, including making it easier to build Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) and cleaning up unnecessary and superfluous rules in the building permitting system to reduce time and costs for both the public and the county.

We should reduce taxes on long-term rentals and increase taxes on vacant properties, vacation homes and short-term rentals.

5. Do you support the construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope on Mauna Kea?

I absolutely believe that respect for the culture of Hawaii, care for the environment and astronomy can co-exist on Mauna Kea. Over the years, mis-steps and mistakes have been made and it will take years to build trust when it comes to the mountain. The community as a whole must come together to build mutually acceptable solutions. It will take time and effort, but it is worth it.

My spouse is an astronomer and I support astronomy in Hilo and in Hawaii. I support the efforts the astronomy community and the TMT organization are making to build relationships and invest in the community.

I think it is unlikely that the TMT will get built and that is a missed opportunity for the community. Astronomy is a clean, green industry with high-paying jobs and the potential to inspire future generations and the world.

6. Homelessness remains a problem statewide, including on Hawaii island. What would you do to come to grips with this persistent problem?

In 2022, the Hawaii County Council created the Homelessness and Housing Fund via Ordinance 26-22 which appropriates $9 million-$10 million annually through 2027 for homeless support services and housing. This year’s Homeless Point in Time Count showed a 28% drop in our unsheltered population on Hawaii Island.

To continue the positive trend of reducing the number of unhoused people on our island and especially in the urban core areas, we must continue providing support services in coordination with our efforts to expand housing. Mental health care, substance abuse treatment, job training and access to health care are indispensable components of a holistic approach to ending homelessness.

Addressing homelessness requires a coordinated, many-pronged approach. Expanding our housing stock to include adequate and attainable housing remains the most important strategy for consistently keeping our residents housed.

Providing short-term shelter to get people off the streets and connect them with our service providers is also key. This can include programs like the imminent overnight cot shelter at the Salvation Army, the proposed Kau Hale and a possible safe camping area in Hilo.

7. Half of Hawaii’s cesspools are on the Big Island, some 49,300. Seepage from cesspools can make people sick, harm coral reefs and lead to a variety of ecological damage. By law, cesspools must be upgraded to septic systems by 2050. What can be done to help people who may not be able to afford the conversion?

The Department of Environmental Management should charge a monthly fee to those properties currently using cesspools. The money should be held in an interest-bearing account so that it builds and is then made available to the property owner when it is time to connect to county sewer or transition to septic or newer technology, thus reducing the need for large out-of-pocket expenses for our residents.

There is a federally supported fund at the state Department of Health that could be accessed by Hawaii County for “forgivable loans” to residents to convert their cesspools to cleaner, safer options. This fund is currently small in comparison to the daunting size of our island’s cesspool problem, but it could grow to meet the need.

8. What is the first thing Hawaii County should do to get in front of climate change rather than just reacting to it?

Hawaii County should become the first municipality to move away from carbon-emitting transportation, including cars, buses, trucks and eventually aircraft and other vehicles. The first step would be providing working, accessible infrastructure to electric vehicles around the island.

Additional steps would depend on the innovation in the industry and supply of vehicles but could include: requiring all government vehicles to be zero-carbon emitting; requiring all rental cars to be electric or zero-carbon emitting; encouraging airlines that fly to Hawaii Island, especially for interisland flights, to use sustainable aviation fuel and zero-emissions aircraft.

9. Should the Hu Honua biomass energy plant be allowed to start operating? Why or why not?

No. Burning trees is not a sustainable or healthy model for our community. In addition, the price of the energy produced by Hu Honua would be too much for Hawaii County residents to bear.

Instead, I support re-purposing the Hu Honua energy plant to be used for a healthy, sustainable endeavor and to retrain and rehire the local people who were promised jobs at Hu Honua.

10. How would you make the county administration more transparent and accessible to the public?

The county administration could publish a weekly e-newsletter highlighting important projects and events so the public is aware of upcoming issues. Public information meetings should be held regularly so that residents feel kept in the loop. The departments should update their websites so that they are user-friendly and timely.

Although as a council member I am not part of the administration, my District 2 Office has instituted several changes to make my work more transparent and accessible to the public.

I publish a free weekly e-newsletter sharing important policy and issue updates as well as highlighting community events. I regularly hold public meetings as open talk stories or policy-based forums so people can hear directly from me and ask questions on issues that are important to them.

In addition, I make sure our District 2 Office is staffed onsite and open daily to assist constituents with their concerns and available to those who email, call or drop by.