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Other Candidates in the race for Maui County Mayor.

Four other candidates are running for the Maui County Mayor.  They are Alana Kay, Jonah M. Lion, Kimberly Brown and Cullan Bell.  All four were invited to share their positions on the issues in written form up to 750 words. Only Alana Kay met the deadline.

Alana Kay

As we approach the end of the 2022 primary campaigning season, I must say it has been the most interesting campaign I have ever been a part of. There has been a consensus among the entire group of candidates on the most important issues facing Maui island in particular. Although there are slight variations in how to approach the issues, I feel that the campaign rhetoric has established our most important goals – food security, affordable housing, diversification of the economy and managed tourism.

As for myself, I would like to see the government become way more efficient through audits of departments and a reduction of duplication of effort.

Furthermore, I truly believe we need to implement Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM). IWRM would create a data base of our water resources – streams, aquifers, springs, orographic rainfall, watersheds and wetlands. This data base would contain information derived from the Hawaii Streamflow Assessment and other data that establishes healthy stream levels and aquifer health. As system such as this would help to de-politicize the use of water because the use thereof is based on the health of the eco-system and not an entity’s personal need or desire for water. As a public trust, the people are all entitled to a healthy water system but we must never forget that the ecosystem is a living being as well. In the end, nobody will have water unless we to what is needed to protect and preserve our island hydrological system.

We should never again have to live through an event like the lockdowns, shutdowns and mandates that were dictated by a handful of people in spring of 2020. In retrospect, places that did not implement such extreme measures did not fair any worse than those that did. The ones who implemented extreme measures need to learn from this experience and behave differently should something like this occur again.

Lastly, I would really like to see environmental groups, corporate entities, government and the people of Maui County work together toward these goals through a transparent government body that is responsive to the people. We are all in this together and unless we work together, we will not meet our common goals.

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