The Hawaii County Council needs to take a serious cue from Maui County Council, which has in the past five years morphed from being a voice for pro-development, pro growth, and pro tourism sector into fostering balanced growth, environmental protection with more focus on the local residents.
Here are some of the very important forward thinking steps they have taken:
1. Eliminate county funding for tourism promotion and instead allocate funds for small farmers, focusing on those that produce food for local consumption.
2. Create a Maui County Department of Agriculture that is dedicated to supporting local farmers.
3. To stem the over-tourism problem, they passed a moratorium on new hotel and short-term rental development, and balance the economy by investing in other industries and provide more housing for residents.
4. The council passed into law an ordinance prohibiting the use of synthetic pesticides and fertilizers on all county-owned and managed land. Only compatible methods of organic systems permitted under the USDA National Organic Program will now be used on county property.
5. Maui Council also enabled the electorate to amend the charter through a ballot question to dedicate 3% of property tax revenue toward affordable housing. (Voters approved this).
6. Council also passed “Aina Kupuna legislation” which provides tax relief to lineal descendants struggling with high property taxes due to skyrocketing real estate values.
7. A Commission on Healing Solutions for Homelessness was established to provide a safe place for those living in their cars to sleep at night.
I can only hope our Hawaii County Council can feel inspired by Maui County Council and take action on as many of these issues as possible — we are seriously lagging, and where some of our council members were re-elected unopposed or with only a token opponent, we expect to be represented with pro-active, positive agendas such as this — show us what you’ve got and why you deserve a seat on the Hawaii County Council.
Judith Perino is a resident of Kailua-Kona.
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