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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 Arryl Kaneshiro, candidate for Kauai County Council. The top 14 primary vote-getters advance to the general election. The other primary candidates are Abe Apilado Jr.,ÌýAddison Bulosan, Bernard Carvalho Jr.,ÌýFelicia Cowden, Sherri Cummings,ÌýBill DeCosta, Fern Holland, Ross Kagawa, W. Butch Keahiolalo, KipuKai Kualii, Jacquelyn Nelson, Mel Rapozo and Bart Thomas.

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 Kauai County, and what would you do about it?

The biggest issue facing Kauai County is our high cost of living and housing is the main culprit, whether you are purchasing a house or renting. We need to encourage and support housing for local working-class residents. In addition, we need to be more business friendly and help develop good-paying jobs.

We need to enable businesses to concentrate on their operations without gross government intervention. Allowing business to survive and prosper, even grow, will create greater economic opportunity/diversity. Allowing businesses to survive in perpetuity provides employees with a stable job, steady income and means to put a roof over their families’ head.

2. Kauai has proven vulnerable to natural disasters especially on the island’s north shore. What would you do to improve disaster preparedness?

In order to improve disaster preparedness and build resiliency on-island we need to start at home by having basic disaster supplies on hand such as food, water, flashlights, etc. This helps ensure that families can sustain themselves until further assistance is available.

I am confident in our county and its emergency response team. It gained valuable experience with the past disasters and knows how to operate a fully functioning emergency operating center. It should continue to simulate natural disaster scenarios and constantly look to improve procedures, protocols and preventative measures. 

As much as I would like to think our county can do everything, we do need to expand and foster our partnerships with other agencies and non-governmental organizations to assist during times of emergency. 

During my term as the Budget and Finance chair I am proud that we established a reserve fund target and will continue to support its funding. This reserve has ensured that we have the means to immediately address and withstand natural disasters like the ones we have seen in the past.  

3. There are nearly 14,000 cesspools on Kauai that must be removed by 2050. With an average cost of $15,000 to $30,000 to convert to septic, many homeowners say making the transition is not affordable. How can the county help to jump-start cesspool replacements?

The county should continue to work with the state on implementing its Cesspool Pilot Grant Conversion Program, which offers up to $20,000 in reimbursements for cesspool conversion or connection cost. In 2021, the County Council passed a bill to help implement the program through our county Housing Agency.

As a county, the largest impact we can have on reducing the number of cesspools is to expand the service area of our existing wastewater facilities and explore the possibility of creating new wastewater facilities.

4. Traffic is getting worse on Kauai, and different regions face different challenges. What would be your approach to improve Kauai’s transportation problems?

We will never be able to build ourselves out of traffic issues, but my approach is to identify the problem areas, determine the party responsible (state, county or shared) and support solutions. Granted, having the solution materialize takes a long time even for government agencies because they are subject like everyone else to regulatory process, environmental mitigation, public input and procurement.  

My second approach to reduce traffic is to promote infill-development within our town cores. Creating more housing opportunities within our existing towns provides residents opportunities to live near their work places, lessens their commute times, and reduces the amount of vehicles on the road. Simply put, it eliminates the need for residents to drive from one town to another.

5. The median price for a single-family home on Kauai has topped $1 million. What would you do to help address the shortage of low-income, affordable and middle-class housing?

I will continue to work closely with our housing department and provide them with the resources they need to promote affordable housing and also to weed out any unreasonable barriers holding back housing. The housing crisis is an infrastructure crisis and there is a need to ramp up wastewater and water infrastructure through federal grants as well.

There is no silver bullet to solving the housing problem. During my terms on council we supported numerous affordable housing projects, updated the county’s affordable housing policy, acquired land in Waimea and Kilauea, increased density in town core areas, and created legislation to allow for additional rental units. The county alone cannot build ourselves out of this situation. It will take private development to help alleviate the housing shortage. 

The island has and will see an exponential growth in low-income housing, but our challenge now will be the creation of middle-class housing. This is housing for working-class families that make too much money to qualify for affordable housing, but not enough money to afford a $1 million house. 

6. Kauai’s landfill in Kekaha will soon run out of capacity and there’s still no timely plan in place to build a new one. What can the county council do to address what could become a garbage crisis for the island?

Waste is expensive to manage. The general fund subsidizes the county’s solid waste operation in the amount of approximately $19 million. In order to address our garbage crisis the County Council will need to be open to any and all environmentally friendly and cost-effective ways to manage or reduce our solid waste and also be willing to fund it.

Continuing to bury trash is not the long term solution. Ideally, I would love to see a cost-effective method to mine our existing landfill, turn the old waste into energy and then reuse the mined area. 

7. Overtourism can degrade the environment, threaten biodiversity, contribute to wear and tear on infrastructure, generate traffic and disrupt neighborhoods. What more can be done to better manage the island’s tourism sector?

Keeping visitor accommodations within the visitor destination area is important. The county Planning Department has been proactive and vigilant in cracking down on illegal transient vacation rentals, which add to our tourist count and inundates our local neighborhoods.

In addition, we need to begin modeling the way our facilities that are shared by both locals and tourists can be adequately balanced. The program put in place to manage Kee Beach to have tourist reservations, a shuttle system to ensure rental cars do not consume the Haena neighborhood and simultaneous provisions to provide for local families to access this treasured area serves as a model that could be implemented at other shared beach and recreational facilities.  

8. Should more be done to encourage agriculture and food sustainability on Kauai? What would you suggest?

Yes, definitely. My family has been in agriculture on Kauai for four generations. 

We hear a lot about people wanting to protect and preserve agriculture. You hear the terms grow what we buy local, eat local, support your local farmer, but make no mistake, there are some people saying they want to protect and preserve agriculture, while also fighting water for agricultural use, opposing new agricultural ventures and vilifying farmers, ranchers and landowners that are trying to preserve agriculture.

There needs to be a lot more tolerance toward agriculture from the general public. Agriculture needs to succeed in order to perpetuate our ranching and paniolo lifestyle, to provide fresh local produce to our residents, and prevent urban sprawl from encompassing our open space and agricultural lands.   

We need to make the conscious effort to purchase from local farmers and ranchers, work to incorporate local produce into school lunches, and continue to support food banks and organizations that provide local food boxes for distribution to elderly and residents in need.  

9. What would you do to ensure transparency and accountability in county government?

I feel the county is transparent as council members are bound by the Sunshine Law, meetings are televised and we are fortunate to live on a small island where local officials are visible, approachable and held accountable by the general public.