Candidate Q&A: Hawaii County Mayor — Breeani Kobayashi

Editor’s note: For Hawaii’s Aug. 10 Primary 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 Breeani Kobayashi, candidate for Hawaii County mayor. Her opponents are Kimo Alameda, Daniel Cunningham, Kavin Kahikina, Yumi Kawano, Mitch Roth and Seaula Tupai Jr.

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

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

The biggest issue facing Hawaii County is trust in the government. Trust is earned by walking the talk. The talk needs to be thoughtful, clear and defined. The walk requires determined persistence, attention to detail, accountability, competent managers, and an optimistic spirit. Trust is built on collaboration and communication.

With collaborative partners, more resources can effectively tackle the major issues that make a difference in the short term and the long term.

I would strive to earn the trust of the people by setting a strategic plan as an initial blueprint to tackle major issues, identify who I need to collaborate with, find the funding and plan the steps to take.

I would assemble a cabinet team that is focused and action-oriented. I would communicate to the people the progress on this strategic plan and the tweaks necessary to continuously strive for improvement.

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?

Currently I am the general manager of SCP Hilo Hotel. Our priority is regenerative tourism; making sure our visitors leave our home better than they found it.

We have the “Every Stay Does Good Program.” Through this program, we provide one adolescent with well-being tools to build mental health skills. We also remove 2.2 pounds of trash from local beaches in Hawaii through Hawaii Wildlife Fund for each stay. We are the first property in Hawaii to be benchmarked by EarthCheck, identifying our property as a regional leader in the performance categories of energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions and community contributions. 

Hotels on the Big Island and other value groups such as the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau, can partner with the county to create a similar “Every Stay Does Good” program like we currently do with the “Pono Pledge.”

Together, we can work toward being a leader of regenerative tourism.

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

In congested areas, we need to improve both multi-modal transportation choices and the roadway network. For those living closer to work, schools and shopping, we must offer diverse means of getting around beyond driving.

Currently, our limited transportation and land use solutions result in an over-reliance on automobiles, exacerbating congestion.

To address this, creative funding is crucial. I would prioritize exploring unconventional funding sources at federal and state levels to supplement county resources, enabling us to enhance our transportation infrastructure and mobility systems.

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?

The county can help with reliable low-cost public transit that can reduce household transportation costs. We can also explore offering property tax incentives that could incentivize landlords to set rents affordable up to the appropriate area median income.

For long-term changes, I would find ways the county can partner with the educational system to lift the joy of learning, attract businesses with a trainable workforce, find support for families with affordable daycare/preschool and publicly praise employers who care for their employees beyond the legal minimum requirements.

Our county has the foundation and skilled workforce to expand and improve current programs and create others, to offer wider access to these benefits. We have the capabilities to allow more people in our communities to benefit and provide pathways to home ownership to the many residents facing minor obstacles that, without alternative solutions, can transition to long-term impediments — especially with our ever-rising cost of living.

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

I do not support the TMT on Mauna Kea. I support science, I support astronomy and I support education.

I don’t think that science or astronomy should ever trump doing what is right and that begins with looking at the rules/regulations and making good decisions with all stakeholders.

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

I would revisit the county’s existing homeless strategic plan to be sure it provides a workable framework to effectively administer the property tax funding allocated to this problem and optimizes leveraging this resource with other funding sources — federal, state, philanthropic — that may be available.

We need to create a strategic plan with programs that prevent homelessness by taking an upstream approach to this issue. This strategic plan should plug into the database that currently tracks those who are provided assistance to evaluate effectiveness.

We need to be more data-driven and research-oriented to address these issues and understand why someone is homeless in the first place. 

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?

A significant portion of the financial burden should be shared by the general public who will benefit from the improved ground, surface and coastal water quality. Therefore, it is justified to seek general taxpayer funding (federal, state and county) to subsidize the costs of converting from a cesspool to a DOH-approved wastewater system, whether individual septic or collective sewer systems.

We need to be looking at government subsidies that could be available to residents and maximizing our Research and Development Department to seek funding and grants that could apply to different communities. We must be sure that we are connecting our residents to the correct resources and accessible information. 

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

Our county is particularly vulnerable to all types of major disasters, more than the other counties — volcanic, earthquake, tsunami, hurricane, flood, wildfires and drought. We need to make sure our multi-disaster mitigation plan is updated, implemented and readily accessible.

We should have table-top simulation training sessions to be sure everyone is aware of their roles and responsibilities. We should also help each community to create its own Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) that would be trained and coordinated by Civil Defense to empower them to feel prepared and ready.

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

There are fact-finding questions that I need to get answers to before I can take a position. Has Hu Honua met all the regulatory land use and environmental requirements? Are the current air quality standards that were applied to Hu Honua the best available science?

Community benefits should be explored that could mitigate impacts on the community. We also need to consider cost and be fair in dictating the favor of this investment.

If the permit was originally approved, and the company was able to operate, why was the rug pulled out from under them at the 11th hour? I don’t believe that is fair, and we need to act in good faith and have high standards of principles and guidelines from the start so that we are not in a situation where hundreds of millions of dollars can be wasted.

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

The following are some ideas I would employ to make transparency and accessibility a foundation of county government:

Create and follow a strategic plan. Meet with communities and groups around the island to develop a strategic plan outlining a framework to address issues — the what, why, how, when and how much.

Be data driven. A data system would be developed to monitor indicators of concern — such as crime, tourism impacts, environmental conditions and strategic plan performance. The data would be digested and presented in a manner for the public to understand and be easily available.

Be accessible. Hold more town meetings at appropriate times and with well-in-advance notice, to include people in the conversation and create action committees to better become the voice of the local communities. The West Hawaii Civic Center would have comparable services and capacity as the county offices in Hilo.