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quote:
Originally posted by JohnDW
Well, I went to the website: http://ags.hawaii.gov/campaign/
For Wally Lau: No data; Harry Kim: No data; Pete Hoffman: $650.00. $150.00 of that was from one out of state person. Apart from listing the people in charge of their campaign committees there is essentially zip. When Mayor Kenoi ran for his first term there was a now defunct alternative rag that went to great lengths to list his contributors, many of whom were Oahu residents as I recall. There was a flap about the Campbell family members each donating the maximum amount etc. I'm not sure how those journalists got the detailed information they did (several pages), but it did influence my vote. Unfortunately it was their last issue before selling to a Honolulu based publisher and fading away.
Un Mojado Sin Licencia
The first reporting is due July 14. All candidates will have filed (or be subject to fines, which does happen!).
In that report should be plenty of interesting information.
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quote:
Originally posted by Chunkster
Why wouldn't the HGEA endorse Harry? His last administration was a windfall for them, both in terms of new members via hires and a vastly expanded county payroll.
I see that statement a lot, that Harry expanded government during his tenure, and almost always (as I perceive it here) said so as to imply a negative. But what I don't see is an acknowledgement that during the same time the island's population and the number of new developments, especially in Kona and South Kohala, and general home development in Puna were exploding and as such how the county needed to increase it's workforce in order to cope with it.
So as to provide a balance I'll remind you that before Harry we had Steven Yamashiro who may not have increased spending as others have but he was selling us to the highest bidder without regard for the long term impacts of unbridled development. When Harry took office he appointed Chris Yuen to head the Planning Department and brought a period of measured growth that was well needed during that rush to develop the island.
Further, when one paints growth in government negatively I would ask them to consider how it is we are going to provide the services we want without it? In the last 30-40 years the island's population has at least quadrupled, and the value of a dollar shrunk by way more than that, so how is it we are going to function without an expansion of the government?
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I would be curious as to the ratio of government employees to population, in the various administrations.
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FYI: Mayor's Forum in Kona (Video - Big Island Video News)
http://www.bigislandvideonews.com/2016/0...aii-mayor/
KEALAKEHE, Hawaii – Eight of the thirteen candidates for Hawaii County Mayor introduced themselves to Kona on Wednesday evening.
Eric Drake Weinert Jr., Timothy Waugh, Shannon McCandless, Wally Lau, Harry Kim, Pete Hoffmann, Marlene Hapai, and Paul Bryant answered questions during a candidate forum at the Kealakehe High School Cafeteria.
In the video above, part one of many, the candidates explain who they are and why they are running for the position. They also identify what they see as the top issue facing Hawaii County.
The Kona-Kohala Chamber of Commerce, in partnership with Community Enterprises of Kona and as part of the West Hawaii Forum Series, sponsored the event. Local radio personality Sherry Bracken moderated.
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dakine
Harry's hires are criticized because they did not equate to an improvement in services. There was a perception that various departments were not being responsive to the expanding population even as their rosters expanded with all the new hires. This was especially true in Public Works, Planning, and Parks & Rec. The one department that was extremely responsive was Real Property, that administration incorporated a number of new policies that led to a large increase in collections.
On the other hand any visit at that time to Public Works was essentially a visit to the doldrums. A visit to Planning was a visit to a Gulag. And a visit to local gyms or parks was overflowing opala and unkempt weed patches. Management of those agencies was spotty at best, and poor on average.
You say the Planning Dept was "measured growth". Okay, I guess that suits your philosophy about what constitutes suitable "growth". I'll say that the Department swelled with new hires and every significant decision bottlenecked at the top. Simple Parcel Consolidation & Subdivisions took months and months. I went through one that took two years. New subdivisions became onerous. New golf course developments were halted. The larger pre-zoned projects in Kona that went through subdivision at that time, Hokulia, Kohaniki and Palamanui, were all hamstrung and yoked by an administration that thought the geese would come forever and the golden eggs were endless. They thought that their role was to see how much they could squeeze out of every project in the short term. They bankrupted Hokulia due to delays that they engendered leading to court decisions that choked the progress and ruined the economics. Same with Kohaniki, the off sites became so expensive that the initial investor had to discount the project by 50% to find new investments so that they could continue. That was over $75mm lost. Palamanui was saddled with so many conditions that it still hasn't turned a single shovel for development, other than building out the West Hawaii campus of the University, the road to access it and the various utility improvements to support it, all without being able to sell even one house lot. They have over well over $50mm sunk and really no hope of a payback. Makes you wonder about a fool and his money? Well the reality is that the investors entered a process that became a bear trap as the County government transitioned from one administration to the other. It will happen again if we go backwards to a "measured growth" administration, and even worse if we institute concurrency as a planning principle.
The reason this County is as prosperous as it is are the RPT collections. Roughly 65% come from West Hawaii. The majority of that comes from North Kona and South Kohala. Those "unbridled development" projects, the luxury home enclaves, the hotels, golf courses, etc. pay the taxes that subsidize all of the island. They have a low impact on our services and they create the majority of our private sector jobs. And those projects were primarily the result of one administration, Steve Yamashiro. His "selling to the highest bidder" is your interpretation, I think a more "measured" assessment is that his administration, during a period that was not blessed with a single "boom economy" created more wealth on this island, leading to more benefits for every citizen, than any other administration, ever. Woe the day this island splits into two counties, Puna will NOT be happy.....
So when you ask at the end of the post "how are we going to provide the services we want" I can provide you with an answer. Have an administration that doesn't kill and eat the goose.
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luxury home enclaves, the hotels, golf courses, etc. pay the taxes that subsidize all of the island
Yet their workers cannot afford to live there, spend hours on the bus to affordable housing, and this is considered "acceptable"?
Looking for a mayor that addresses the real problems we actually have. Hoffmann seems to be the only one even talking about these.
I don't care how big the government gets as long as the public gets a decent return on their investment -- and months of nitpicking a building permit application doesn't count.
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kalakoa
What alternative Universe or Utopia are you conceptualizing where workers in a highly developed economy live adjacent to their workplace? Don't say Europe, I visit there often enough to know better. Urban yuppies and millennials can do it, if they're single and make $100k a year. Did you mean something akin to the local example like the camps around the Plantations here on the Big Island? Those were unzoned, extremely small lots, with limited tenure and scant improvements. That's not necessarily a bad thing but it would never be allowed now by the various agencies that "measure growth".
BTW- you know why there's no affordable housing in Kona? Lack of Supply to meet the Demand. You know why there's a lack of supply? Overlapping and complex land use restrictions. You know those long twisty roads that go down through Waikaloa that have no houses on either side except at the Village? Makai of the Village is an obvious potentially "affordable" area, within 15 minutes of all those jobs. Change the Land Use District at the state level to Rural, change the zoning at the County level to allow smaller lots, even and including allowing modular housing ( used to be called trailers) and you change the Supply side of the equation immediately.
Is that what Hoffman is talking about? A real solution?
I don't think so, because for he and his constituents there property values would likely going down, or at least not continue to rise. If he were able to shut down, or even just slow down, the current approval process the values will just keep going higher and higher.
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Regarding workers and housing on Kona and Kohala side, and also Mr Hoffmann:
What is the latest on the Waikaloa Workforce Housing Project? which was Mr Hoffmann's initiative while he was on Council.
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http://kamakoanui.com/index.htm
Don't think there is any question how much the county is doing for Kona. To Hoffman, Hawaii island is only the north end. He was that way when he was on the council. He really does seem oblivious to the east side from Honokaa to Kau.
"Aloha also means goodbye. Aloha!"
*Japanese tourist on bus through Pahoa, "Is this still America?*
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Overlapping and complex land use restrictions.
Created and maintained by government, in such a way that the public does not benefit, which suggests that said government isn't bothering to address the needs of its constituents.
Obviously, the "highest and best use" of those lands would be more high-end luxury homes; these would clearly provide a better tax base -- but then, who will mow the lawns and take out the trash?
Perhaps it's time to treat this as an environmental problem: keeping the "affordable housing" a 2-hour bus ride away from employment means burning lots of extra petroleum products...
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