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Editor’s note: For Hawaii’s Nov. 5 General 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 Ikaika Rodenhurst, candidate for Hawaii County Council District 5, which covers Upper Puna and portions of Keaau. His opponent is Matt Kanealiʻi-Kleinfelder.

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

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

The biggest issue facing Puna is the cost of living. Our Puna families struggle to put a house over our heads, food on the table and get to/from work.

We can reduce our housing costs by reducing bureaucracy in the permitting process. The May 2024 University of Hawaii Economic Research Organizationreport indicated that 58% of new housing costs in Hawaii are driven by regulation. Making changes to our county permitting laws can directly reduce the cost of building.

Supporting our local farmers and educating our keiki and community in agriculture will reduce food costs. This can be achieved by connecting our farmers with grants and programs to expand their capacity to provide. Connecting our keiki to farming mentors and practices will also promote and provide opportunities for our food sustainability in both Puna and Hawaii County.

Finally, transportation impacts Puna tremendously, as we are the bedroom community, living in Puna and working throughout the rest of Hawaii County. We need to hold our government accountable to push alternate access, both mauka and makai, to Puna. We also need to work together to improve the roads of our subdivisions, which impact our ability to access basic needs and services.

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 needs to be refocused and reformatted to benefit our community while we find ways to diversify our economy. Most important is protecting our environment and our home.

Agritourism is a great way to approach tourism that supports and supplements our local community, mitigates some negative environmental impacts and allows for positive benefits to our environment.

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

Traffic congestion is a problem and it’s only getting worse. We need to turn this trend around and provide adequate transportation infrastructure. This requires working together at all levels of community and government to meet the needs of our community.

Puna needs alternate access both mauka and makai. Locking in the road study to identify the best routes, and then prioritizing funds at the county, state and federal levels, then getting these roads built will make this a reality.

Working closely with our community members, state legislative body, state Department of Transportation, U.S. representatives and senators and the Federal Highway Administration and keeping decisions and progress transparent will allow us all to be a part of this solution.

In addition to new routes, we do need to move our hub and spoke mass transportation plans forward. Building out this system will not only increase the efficiency of our current roads, but provide ease of access for our keiki and kupuna who struggle to reach critical services such as education and medical services.

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?

As previously mentioned, reducing the bureaucratic red tape will go a long way to reduce housing costs. We currently have some of the highest costs to build in the nation, and we can see a dramatic cost reduction with a few cuts to the permitting process.

Another area where we can reduce the cost of living is to reduce the cost of putting food on our tables. This can be accomplished by creating food hubs in our communities and creating more opportunities and incentives for meat, dairy and poultry processing within the county.

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

I do not support TMT in its current iteration. The $1 annual rent is unacceptable and does not adequately compensate our community for the use.

I do support astronomy and its continued presence on Mauna Kea. We can and need to find a way forward that honors our Hawaiian culture and benefits our people.

The scientific discoveries have a multitude of benefits, including health, medicine, transportation, energy and environment, information technology and industrial productivity.

The astronomy industry also has multiple fields of job opportunities, ranging from scientific and technical positions to maintenance and education.  

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

Three steps to address homelessness are common to other issues:

Reducing building and permitting costs by reducing bureaucracy will help make it more affordable to house our people.

Providing food hubs will help reduce food costs for our local families.

Third, improving infrastructure by making our mass transit hub and spoke system a reality will provide an ease of access to transportation and get our people to where they need to go (school, medical services, work, etc.).

Finally, increasing district access to medical services, both physical and mental, will help our people in dire need.

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?

We struggle to provide affordable housing for our people, and now we expect our people to pay $35,000 to $75,000 to house our crap. That is unacceptable. Our government needs to share responsibility for this conversion. The county needs to provide assistance in these conversions that are rapidly approaching the 2050 deadline.

Actions, such as loans, will help lessen the impact of these costs. We also need to support the training and creation of more licensed vendors capable of performing these conversions.

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

Proper planning is necessary to be proactive to climate change. This requires us to be considerate when building out infrastructure. It is even more vital when considering improvements to existing infrastructure near our shores and ensuring that we prioritize funding relocation/retreat in these areas.

Reducing our dependence on imported oil is also important. This can be achieved by supporting local agriculture to reduce the overall import of goods to our island. Energy is another area where we can reduce oil use and support energy sources that are more renewable.

Finally, increasing transportation efficiency by building out our mass transit system will improve how we move our people and goods and reduce the use of oil.

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

Hu Honua biomass is a local firm source of power that can be used quickly to improve the energy capacity of our island.

It was only a few months ago we experienced rolling blackouts in Hawaii County. We need to do better to meet the energy needs of our community. Biomass energy could be part of this solution.

It is a renewable energy source and it is firm energy that can be available 24/7 and get us away from imported oil. I do believe that it should be allowed to start operating.

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

Our county administration needs to be transparent and accessible. This can be achieved by publishing key performance indicators on all acceptable avenues of communications. These avenues would be established with help from the community to identify the best possible way to reach the people.

Our administration also needs to develop and provide feedback mechanisms to address services and interactions with the public to ensure services are meeting the needs of the community.

Communication is the process of sending and receiving information to achieve understanding. We need to make sure our communities are being heard and that the information from the administration is reaching our communities.