Baptiste says he’s doing the job; former County Councilman Fukushima knows he’s qualified to be mayor

If a “For Hire” sign were to be hung on the door of the mayor’s office in this election year, Mayor Bryan Baptiste would send this message to four mayoral candidates: They need not apply.

Why?

Because, by his reckoning and that of supporters, Baptiste is doing the job and more.

During his first four-year term, Baptiste said he has worked with residents, government agencies and federal and state government leaders to address Kaua‘i’s gravest problems — the lack of affordable housing, drug use, loss of public access and traffic congestion.

But detractors will say talk and bluster aren’t enough and they want concrete results.

Baptiste would tell them the problems can’t be resolved overnight, and that he works late into the night trying to find answers.

“Kauai is at a critical juncture where we are in danger of losing the very things that make our island home so special,” Baptiste said. “Infrastructure is inadequate to maintain the quality of life we want and deserve, access to our natural resources is disappearing at an alarming rate, people can’t find adequate housing and employers can’t find enough skilled workers.”

Baptiste said he is proud of his work, but is seeking a second and final four-year term because there is “much more to do.” By county charter, a mayor cannot serve more than two, four-year terms.

Baptiste will square off against four other candidates in this year’s non-partisan mayoral race. The other candidates are Jesse Fukushima, a former Kaua‘i County Council member, John Hoff, Bruce Pleas and Janee Marie Taylor.

If one of the candidates receives 50 percent of the votes cast during the Sept. 23 primary election and one other vote, that person would immediately become mayor.

In the event no one candidate wins in such fashion, the top two vote-getters will square off during the Nov. 7 General Election.

If re-elected, Baptiste said his top priorities will be resolving traffic congestion, building more affordable housing for residents, continuing the war on drugs and ensuring developments are “of benefit to the people of Kaua‘i, first and foremost.” On traffic congestion, “We are faced with making up for decades of deferred maintenance and upgrade of our infrastructure … and doing it now,” he said.

The state Department of Transportation doesn’t have sufficient funds right now to widen or build more roads all at once in South and East Kaua‘i, where traffic stacking is most severe, he said.

During the interim, his administration has worked with the state to create an interim traffic relief plan for Wailua, pulling into the planning process two East Kaua‘i resort developers, state and county agencies and residents, Baptiste said.

“That plan was funded by the Legislature this year and is in motion,” Baptiste said. “Within two years, there will be four lanes servicing traffic from Coconut Marketplace to the Lihu‘e side of the Wailua River.”

To facilitate traffic relief between the Wailua River and Kapa‘a town, the county has set aside $500,000 to design a connecting road from Pouli Road to the Kapa‘a Bypass Road, he said.

Innovative traffic control measures and extending contraflow hours on Kuhio Highway with approval by the DOT has already helped ease traffic congestion between Wailua and Hanama‘ulu, Baptiste said.

Traffic relief from Lihu‘e to South Kaua‘i is also imminent, he said.

A $31.5 million project to widen and improve Kaumualî‘i Highway between Rice Street and Kauai Community College will get underway soon, he said.

The county has no jurisdiction in deciding what improvements are made on state highways. However, Baptiste has approached Gov. Linda Lingle, government agencies and the state Legislature to obtain funding for the highway improvements that are envisioned.

Locally, the county has enhanced its transportation system by putting bike racks on county buses, adding buses to the Kaua‘i Bus system, adding a bus stop at the Lihu‘e Airport and creating feeder routes, Baptiste said. Affordable housing. For many Kaua‘i residents, finding affordable housing has been elusive, because the price of housing is still high even though the real estate market has cooled.

“That is why we created an internal task force that is fast-tracking 10 affordable housing projects right now,” Baptiste said. “More than 2,000 units are now in the pipeline, including several from the (state) Department of Hawaiian Home Lands.”

He said in the next three years, projects will be coming up on DHHL land in Anahola and in Kapa‘a, Hanama‘ulu, Puhi, Koloa, Po‘ipu and Kekaha.

Most of the affordable homes will be built by self-help housing groups or by developers complying with zoning requirements.

Baptiste also is working with Lingle to build affordable housing on state parcels located throughout the island. Building on those parcels won’t be feasible at this time because of the scarcity of water, but government leaders are looking for alternative water sites to serve those state parcels, county officials have said.

To help local families prepare for the day they can move into affordable housing units, the county Housing Agency has required them to go through home ownership classes, Baptiste said. Illegal drugs. Baptiste’s administration has worked with Hawai‘i’s congressional delegation to bring millions to fund anti-drug programs. His administration also helped develop a five-year “Kauai Community Drug Response Plan” to fight drug and alcohol abuse on the island.

The island’s first residential drug-treatment facility for youths will break ground in Hanapepe this month, Baptiste said. It will be the first of its kind on Kaua’i and will enable island youths to be close to their families while they go through rehabilitation. Development. The county should scrutinize developments that are moving forward at this time. “To the extent that we legally can, we have to scrutinize projects that have been on the books for decades and are popping up now,” Baptiste said. “I believe that a development must, above all else, benefit the 64,000 people who live on this island today.”

He said his administration has given top priority to projects that will benefit Kaua‘i’s working people and provides such benefits as affordable housing.

Baptiste has, for instance, supported the development of a resort by Kauai Lagoons and KD Golf Ownership on lands by the Marriott Resort & Beach Club.

As part of the approval of the project by the council, the developer has agreed to build 106 affordable housing units in Wailua and Lihu‘e.

Baptiste said his administration has learned from development mistakes made in the past, and has sought higher impact fees or donations from developers. The Kaua‘i County Council has marched to the same tune.

Today, Baptiste’s administration has initiated legislation that would ban gated communities and would require developers to provide lateral access along beach areas.

Baptiste listed these as some of his biggest achievements: Ka Leo O Kauai program, through which the county reaches out to 12 island communities to work on priority projects and build cohesive communities. The development of the county’s Web site, www.kauai.gov. It allows for on-line sewer and real property tax payments and on-line permit tracking. Programs to help island youth prepare for high-tech and health careers. Developing the island’s first transitional shelter for the homeless in Lihu‘e. An emphasis on the updating of land use plans for island communities. Approving a law that sets a yearly 2-percent cap on tax bills for persons who own their homes and live in them. To move toward more energy self-sufficiency, the county will soon be contracting a company to install a photovoltaic system on the roof of the Civic Center’s Pi‘ikoi Building. Summer enrichment programs for youths and an adopt-a-park program. Revitalizing the island’s papaya industry, with the county working with partners to reopen a papaya deinfestation plant and to begin large-scale papaya production by the summer of 2007.

Jesse Fukushima

Although acknowledging Baptiste’s accomplishments, mayoral candidate Jesse Fukushima says he can be equally effective if elected as the island’s next mayor.

Fukushima said he would like to debate either Baptiste or the other mayoral candidates so voters can make the best choice.

Kaua‘i is dear to his heart, and if elected, Fukushima said he will strive to continue to keep it a special place.

“The Garden Island is a special place, and by continuing my public service, I believe we can continue to recognize the goals and dreams of our young families and still keep our island’s beauty and character.”

He served on the Kaua‘i County Council for 16 years before retiring in the 1990s to care for a young family. Now that his children are in college, he said he wants to return to Kaua‘i’s political arena to “give back to community.”

“Today there are many challenges for Kaua‘i’s people,” Fukushima said. “Complicated as these issues are, begin we must.”

Residents, and especially county and state leaders, must pull together to tackle the key problems facing Kaua‘i today, he said.

Those would be ongoing traffic congestion, lack of affordable housing, higher real property tax appraisals that have driven up property tax bills and lack of infrastructure.

Fukushima knows solutions won’t come in one stroke.

“Solutions need to be implemented, one step at a time,” he said.

With regard to building more infrastructure, Fukushima said the major costs of such improvements should be borne by developers. Shifting the cost of those improvements to developers “can minimize the bonds or loans that would otherwise be paid by our real property taxes,” he said.

If elected, Fukushima said island residents can count on him to knock on their doors for answers.

“Kaua‘i’s people have the talent, skills and savvy to know what they need,” he said.

The next mayor has to take the job to the next level. Otherwise, the same mistakes will be made.

“The next mayor of Kaua‘i should be an out-of-the-box thinker, strong, fair, decisive and responsive to the people,” he said.

Fukushima said he would be that kind of mayor who can “make a difference.”

His business experience running a landscaping business and craft-related business has taught him how to handle money, and if elected mayor, he will be equally careful with how government funds are used.

“I know and respect the value of your tax dollar,” he said. Lester Chang, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 225) or lchang@kauaipubco.com.