Mayor Bryan Baptiste has made headway in attempting to solve some of Kaua‘i’s most critical problems — traffic congestion, drug use among youths and affordable housing, summoning the help of Gov. Linda Lingle. But four other candidates in this year’s
Mayor Bryan Baptiste has made headway in attempting to solve some of Kaua‘i’s most critical problems — traffic congestion, drug use among youths and affordable housing, summoning the help of Gov. Linda Lingle.
But four other candidates in this year’s non-partisan mayoral race — Jesse Fukushima, a former member of the Kaua‘i County Council, John Hoff, Bruce Pleas and Janee Marie Taylor — want to take the mayor head-on and take his challenges to the next level.
If elected, Pleas said he wants residents to be his co-pilot in forging solutions to Kaua‘i’s problems.
“My vision would include making sure the people of Kaua‘i have the first say in where we are heading, remembering that their elected representatives are there to integrate into the government system the wishes of the people,” Pleas said.
As mayor, he said he also could change the county’s economic thrust from tourism dependency toeconomic self-sufficience.
“We are already beyond the carrying capacity of a tourist-based economy,” Pleas said, citing traffic congestion as an example.
“To begin the process of becoming self-sustaining will require a mayor who is able to look at the short-and-long-range planning process,” Pleas said.
He says he fits the bill. As mayor, he also would restore the Hawaiian culture and to keep in tact as much as possible Kaua‘i’s rural character and slower pace of life.
Pleas believes he is ready to be mayor. He has been a government watchdog for eight years, having studied government documents on developing projects and voicing his concerns at public hearings.
“During this time that I have gotten to know all sides of the county government from the administration to legislative to judicial branches, I have met with and worked with many federal, state and county government officials, which gives me a good base to work as the mayor of Kaua‘i for the people of Kaua‘i,” Pleas said.
His interaction with government officials and his ability to work with “pretty much anyone in the government” make him a good candidate for mayor, Pleas said.
While ready to take on the challenges of the job, he acknowledges he will only be effective as the public support he receives.
Pleas listed the key problems facing the island and outlined solutions he would implement.
• Property tax reform. That can occur through property assessments that are based on the purchase price of properties and public input on the yearly setting of tax rates.
• The county lacks a sufficient number of roads. One solution is to have developers continue funds to the building of county roads. But roads need be built before the projects built by developers are occupied, he said. In addition, a developer should be assessed a yearly fee.
• The island’s inventory of affordable housing units is inadequate. “What I would propose is that the county either acquire land through development funds or through an executive order from the governor,” Pleas said.
• The number of vacation rentals has soared in past years, reducing the number of homes that can be used as rentals.
“What I have proposed and still support is adding a new section in all articles of the comprehensive zoning ordinance (a detailed county land use guide) that pertains to zoning, except the article pertaining to visitor destination areas, that specifically prohibits vacation rentals,” Pleas said. The county-designated visitor destination areas are found at Princeville and in East Kaua‘i, the South Shore and West Kaua‘i.
Because the county allows such units to operate outside the VDA areas and because legislation on the matter could be tied up in court, Pleas said he would approve the “grandfather” uses of such units, but only under certain conditions.
They could be allowed, for instance, if the owner of a vacation rental paid a general excise tax, a transient accommodation tax and a commercial and resort county property tax rate on the part of the house that is used for vacation rental purposes. In addition, owners of vacation rental units also should be required to obtain a yearly permit to operate such units.
• Residents have been besieged by high electricity, water, gas and utility bills.
“It costs more than it did a year ago, and we are not making much more than we did a year ago,” Pleas said.
• With more agricultural lands zoned for resort and residential use, the county seems to be moving away from goals to achieve self sufficiency with its fruit and crop production.
“Where are our agricultural lands going?” Pleas asked.
Pleas, a resident of Kaua‘i since 1972, makes surfboards, and lives in Kekaha with his wife and two sons.
If elected as mayor, Janee Marie Taylor said she would be a “breath of fresh air” for Kaua‘i’s political scene. Taylor, who has worked as a consultant to improve morale among government employees, said she is running because she has been an “excellent administrative and operations manager with proven distinctive abilities who has worked with top-level personnel.”
She said she also is running because she wants to see better public parking at government-maintained beaches.
She said she has swum in the waters off the Sheraton Kauai Resort for 30 years and has raised her family there as well.
“Lately, it has become very frustrating not to be able to find parking in this area as early as 8 a.m. in the morning,” she said. “This inability to safely park and swim jeopardizes my health and my qualify of life and that of all the residents and their families.”
If elected mayor, she said she will ensure a higher quality of life for residents, promote Kaua‘i as a top visitor destination to strengthen
“Hawai‘i’s sense of place and to provide continued economic strengthening for the community,” she said. “Quality of life, good planning and governing will be the result of my administration overseeing operations. Together, as an island community, we can become conscious stewards of our island home.”
As part of her campaign platform, she said she would:
• Implement the Hawaiian concept of “pono” (goodness) in controlling the island’s growth. (Taylor proposed having the pono concept incorporated in a county charter amendment for this election year.
But the charter commission’s decision to reject that proposal meant to her “that individuals appointed by the present mayor said ‘no’ to giving people their right to vote for proper and correct government,”
she said.);
• Implement Ohana Kauai charter amendment to implement property tax relief;
• Encourage county leaders to use more imagination in planning the development of the island;
• Have county support the construction of boutique affordable housing projects;
• Welcome investors who see themselves as part of the community;
• Support annual evaluations of county employees as part of good management practices.
She said her administration would be “pro-active and performance-oriented.”
Taylor says she has been a proven management systems specialist and motivational consultant with 28 years of experience in analyzing and upgrading company operations.
In the 1980s, the administration of then-Mayor Tony T. Kunimura hired Taylor to raise the morale of county employees who operated a small county public transportation system.
“The morale down, and the staff and recipients of transportation services had many complaints,” she said. “Within three months, there was a noticeable, positive upgrade. Within six months, we were buying a new fleet of vehicles.”
As the system developed, the county began the process of developing a transportation risk management program.
Taylor, a 56-year-old resident of Koloa, has been a resident of Kaua‘i for 33 years and has two children and two grandsons.
Stories on Baptiste, Fukushima and Hoff will appear in the election-year column of the Aug. 13, Sunday edition of The Garden Island.
• Lester Chang, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 225) or lchang@kauaipubco.com.
