Dr. Addison Bulosan
• Age: 35
• Occupation: Chiropractor
• Town of residence: Lihu‘e
• Prior experience in government/leadership: President of Rice Street Business Association, Advisory Board member for Hawai‘i Foodbank Kaua‘i, board member of Leadership Kaua‘i, board member of Lihu‘e Business Association, assistant director for Kamawaelualani
Q: The coronavirus pandemic decimated the tourism industry on Kaua‘i that the state is so reliant upon. Should Kaua‘i County make economic diversity a priority, and if so, how?
Yes, we need to diversify our economy by prioritizing a local circular economy. We can not keep exporting our local dollars and rely on extractive businesses that don’t reinvest into our local community. Our biggest opportunity for a local circular economy is focusing on local food sourcing and reversing the food inequities. We need to be 80% food sourced on the island rather than the status quo.
Kaua‘i must prioritize a regenerative and circular local economy. We must continue to assist local businesses and community organizations as they pivot away from importing raw materials to sourcing local materials. We must assist local businesses and community organizations that pivot away from hiring outside professionals to hiring local professionals. We must continue to support our local agriculture, local service providers and local producers in order to establish a more-resilient and sustainable community.
The coronavirus pandemic forced changes that we needed to make years ago. With the rising cost of living and inflation, we must enable our community to be more self-sustainable.
Q: Kaua‘i continues to look for a new landfill site years after its search began. The clock is ticking: The Kekaha Landfill is currently projected to reach capacity in January 2027. What is your preferred solution?
Our solid-waste crisis is on a timeline and we need to act now. What accelerates this challenge is that we continue to increase our trash output by not practicing more waste-diversion systems and at the same time we’re not enabling our community to be part of the solution.
If elected, my first priority is to help our council be part of the solution. I will work with our administration to help our county to practice waste-diversion systems in all departments and lead by example by starting with the County Council.
I have personally seen the effects of doing this. For example, the organization I lead, Rice Street Business Association, works directly with Zero Waste Kaua‘i, and every event that happens in downtown Lihu‘e diverts waste and appropriately allocates materials towards composting and recycling. We have successfully reduced all our major events from delivering hundreds of pounds of waste to our landfill. If all community events adopted a Zero Waste effort, we can reduce our trash significantly.
In order to empower our community to practice waste-diversion practices we must establish a recycling program and a materials recovery facility. If elected, I’ll work with community organizations and our county administration to get this process started.
In addition, I will work with our county administration, state and federal representatives, to execute a comprehensive plan in a timely manner to establish a new trash-storage system. The focus will be on efficiency and accountability, so that any new system that is created doesn’t cost our community more than it should.
Q: The median price of a single-family home on Kauaʻi is over $1 million, and the County’s 2018 General Plan reported 44% of all households are cost-burdened. How will you address the affordable housing crisis in Kauaʻi County?
Supporting our local people now is essential. My first focus would be to help local working families by creating incentives and reducing the financial barriers for additional dwelling units (ADU) and additional rental units (ARU). This will enable local families to better provide for their extended families and create resilience for the ongoing economic challenges.
ADUs and ARUs can help families to stay together and to care for their kupuna, their children returning home, and their extended families who need help.
Another focus is to create infrastructure incentives for workforce housing and affordable housing in town core centers such as Hanapepe, Koloa, Lihu‘e, Kapa‘a, and Kilauea. This will enable new workforce housing in areas closer to work, reduce environmental and cultural impacts of urban sprawl, and reduce cost of production with pre-existing infrastructure. In addition, we must look at our housing policies and modify those that are prohibiting workforce housing. Another focus is on prioritizing workforce housing and affordable housing in county permitting processes so that these projects don’t increase exorbitant costs because of timing.
Last but not least, we must create equity within our property tax system that protects our local families. We can do this by appropriately taxing unused and non-resident owned property and directing that additional tax revenue towards workforce and affordable housing for local people.
Q: The County Council sets real property tax rates as part of the County budget process. What changes, if any, would you make to the way that property is taxed on-island?
With rising cost of living and the increase in property values due to the housing crisis, local people are having a hard time keeping their homes. Coupling these challenges with inflation and increased out-of-state homebuyers, local people are getting pushed out of their homes at an alarming rate.
My focus is around protecting our local people and their families. I’ll continue to support our tax relief programs designed to support local people. I support the current proposed changes to the tier system for residential investors.
I’m open to working with our community and county administration in implementing a fair tax structure that discourages out-of-state homebuyers and protects local home owners.
Q: What is driving you to seek election or re-election, and why should voters give you their vote?
In 2020 at the height of the pandemic, I saw the writing on the wall. The financial crisis was exacerbated by the pandemic and our local people were being left behind. I ran in 2020 to help save local small businesses and address housing inequalities. I’m running again because we didn’t do enough in these last two years and the problem is worse than ever.
With my background as a healthcare practitioner, small business owner, community organizer, and Kauaʻi born and raised man looking to raise his ‘ohana here on Kaua’i, I believe I have the necessary skills, work ethic, and love to accomplish the changes we need to be able to get past surviving and onto thriving on Kauaʻi. I humbly ask for one of your Kauaʻi County Council votes this election so we can do the work together.
