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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 Abe Apilado Jr., candidate for Kauai County Council. The other candidates for seven positions are Addison Bulosan, Bernard Carvalho Jr., Felicia Cowden, Sherri Cummings, Bill DeCosta, Fern Holland, Ross Kagawa, Arryl Kaneshiro, 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? 

A lot of my opinions on the big issues we face here are addressed in the following questions in this survey. A subject close to my heart I’d like to address is the importance of taking care of our people of Kauai, whether that’s through feeding families by providing fresh fish at no cost, or feeding people spiritually through prayer and sharing the Word.

I’d like to start more mentorship programs for our children, and educational workshops or seminars focusing on life skills with emphasis on farming, fishing and hunting. As well as initiatives aimed at empowering fathers, improving family dynamics and building stronger communities.

I believe this is how we bridge the gap between government and people. By utilizing our positions to help lift our people, not just create policies that rule over them. It’s time we invest in our people.

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

We’re only vulnerable to natural disasters because we rely on ships, planes and barges to bring us our food. The minute the shipment stops we immediately have a crisis. We need to take responsibility in learning how to hunt, fish, farm and gather food. If we did we’d be prepared to provide for ourselves and our families in the event of a disaster.

A healthy strong community that can fend for ourselves is the goal.

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?

Implementing a phased approach based on priority areas. Combining jobs together to try to get a better rate vs individual jobs. Consider using different equipment and technologies that aren’t as expensive as converting.

Also advocating for the most amount of state and federal funding we can get and providing as much help as we can to homeowners to make this transition as easy and as smooth as possible for them.

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

Focusing on ways to adjust the way visitors get around the island vs trying to adjust local traffic. Utilizing more bus, shuttles and taxi services to help visitors get to the most common tourist attractions like Waimea Canyon and Port Allen Boat Harbor, as well as having all hotels provide shuttles to and from the airport. Limiting the amount of rental cars that can be rented out daily.

Another area that can be addressed is consolidating or providing rides for the private contractors that work with the Pacific Missile Range Facility. During operations you can see anywhere from 100 to 200-plus additional cars on our roads. 

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?

To compete with the Kauai housing market as we stand is near impossible for local people. The leasing of the Kokee cabins was a painful but great example that supports this statement. My suggestion is that the state and county need to pivot and create rules that prioritize Kauai residents to get them into homes or provide land to build.

And not just low income apartment buildings. We deserve a chance to live on the land our ancestors have lived. Raising taxes on TVR’s, rezoning land to provide more residential areas, prioritizing generational families with the chance to purchase first. Also making it easier for residences to be rezoned to allow more housing or rebuilds on their existing property. A cap needs to be put on rental units on the island as well. If we allow the current trend to keep going our homeless problem will look like Oahu’s. 

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?

The landfill is a great reminder that we live on an island. I think sometimes we forget that a materialistic life isn’t sustainable here. Of course it starts with personal accountability. Changing our lifestyles. Minimizing single use plastics. Increasing our recycling and composing efforts at home.

I strongly believe overtourism goes hand in hand with this subject. We can’t support this many people. If you ask me, resorts and other big corporate entities should be responsible for minimizing impact to our landfills by reducing the waste they create or by shipping it off the island. 

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?

My recommendation in this situation is figuring out a daily max capacity for our island. Only allowing a certain amount of flights here daily. Maybe making the flights cheaper in months other than the summertime, which could allow a more consistent and manageable amount of visitors throughout the year. Another idea would be to regulate heavily used areas and beaches to be available for a set amount of visitors and for specific times.

Remember how life was like here during Covid? Kee beach was closed and it didn’t take long for it to flourish with fish and sealife. If we can implement rules and regulations to close down areas for our people during the pandemic why can’t we do it for visitors?

We need to prioritize our people and way of life over money. Yes I know tourism is the biggest driver of our economy, but it doesn’t have to be. We can choose to be responsible stewards of our island. 

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

Yes. Farmers, ranchers and fishermen should all receive state and federal subsidies to supply our island with our food. Kauai should be 100% independent. Homegrown food equals a healthy, powerful and most importantly sustainable island. 

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

I believe it starts within. Leaders need to have the courage to be able to call out others when witnessing another doing something that shouldn’t be done. As long as we continue to turn a blind eye to misconduct going on within the four walls of government, there will be no accountability. It will just be a continuing cycle of corruption from term to term.

The way I view honesty and integrity is that you can talk about it or you can be about it. I have no special interest groups, no connections, no ins with anyone. If elected you will see how important it is to me to stand for truth and what is right.

To put it in a visual perspective, when working in the loi and you see muddy water coming down the auwai it signals that work is getting done. In order to get clean, transparent water you first have to work through the mud, and I’m not afraid to get dirty.