Pedestrian Safety & Traffic
Over the past two decades, traffic has worsened and pedestrians have felt less safe. Parking is hard to come by and is a great source of stress. Much of Kalihi lacks sidewalks, leaving children and elders alike to walk in the streets. My plan is to utilize the full range of County, State, and private tools to fix this problem.
Identify off-street parking areas to relieve scarce on-street parking
Use quick-build projects to slow traffic down and put roads onto “diets.” When possible, build bike lanes, parklets, and managed parking areas.
Leverage private monies to beautify key areas, such as bus stops and graffiti-ridden walls.
A Playground for Multibillionaires?
Each year, Hawaii loses residents due to the high cost of living. Yet a new wave of multi-billionaires are moving here, buying up thousands of acres (sometimes without paying taxes), and treating Hawaii as a personal paradise. We need fairer tax structures which provide the incentives for appropriate economic development and curtail the excesses of the ultrarich.
A fairer approach to housing (including lessons we can learn from Austria)
Housing is a basic right. We need policies that ensure that all people have access to safe, secure and affordable housing.
Ease the burden on senior citizens on fixed incomes. Limit increases in property tax assessments commensurate with increases in social security.
Limit rent increases on public-interest affordable units to keep pace with social security.
Encourage cooperatives, private and non-profit corporations and government agencies to develop and manage affordable units.
Facilitate smarter growth by moving towards mixed-use, pedestrian-centric zoning in existing urban areas.
Provide for incentives and mechanisms to densify existing urban communities.
Hawaii has looked to Singapore as an example of great public housing. I suggest that we also look to Vienna, Austria — there, all public housing is nice, so all wealth classes seek to live in public housing. Here’s some good resources.
– Mrs. Damiana Vierra, resident of a recently-privatized affordable senior residence in Kakaako.
In January 2018, the 75 residents were notified that their rents would be nearly doubled by the private firm which purchased the building. I helped to organize a community effort which successfully won a 3-year rent subsidy from the State.
Houselessness
The houseless epidemic is tightly connected with the need for mental health services. Over the last two decades the State has aggressively de-funded mental health services. These programs need to be restored and expanded immediately.
Houselessness is connected with domestic violence, in which individuals flee dangerous domestic situations, often with their children, and are left unhoused and vulnerable on the streets. We need to increase public funding to critical agencies like Domestic Violence Action Center (note: I’m on the board). And we need DV housing programs. (My dream policy: free housing for women.)
Parks
Our parks should be vibrant gathering centers for citizens of all ages.
Expand programs for children, including child care
Create connections between neighborhood boards and other community groups with parks, to increase citizen involvement with programming
Restore services for senior citizens
Provide EV charging in parks
We can lead in education
In the 19th century, Hawaii focused on a massive public education effort. The result of this was a world-leading achievement of 100% literacy. In 2023, our literacy rate was only 84.1%. We need to set new, higher expectations for what our education system can achieve. Part of this is policy. But a lot of it is expectations.
I come from a family of educators, and I served as the Education Committee Clerk for the State Representative Ken Ito. I believe it’s possible for us to achieve better, with tighter coordination and sharing of best practices between private, public, charter, and parochial schools.