Economy in spotlight as old political foes quarrel

Mayoral candidates look to future of Maui County

September 5, 2010 - By CHRIS HAMILTON, Staff Writer

WAILUKU - It was not a typical Maui County mayoral forum Friday night at the Iao Theater.

The event, hosted by the Maui Young Business Roundtable, drew about 200 people, many of them candidates' supporters and Wailuku "First Friday" fun lovers.

Instead of sparring in a debate format, 10 of the 11 candidates for mayor presented their ideas of how to run the county. Or, for the most part.

While the idea was to give fresh perspectives in an unfiltered atmosphere, at least two old political foes, Mayor Charmaine Tavares and former Mayor Alan Arakawa, still managed to exchange some not-too-subtle barbs.

For instance, Arakawa repeated his refrain that government (i.e., Tavares) is attacking unpermitted, home-based businesses and transient vacation rentals at a time when the administration should be doing everything it can to help small-business owners.

"The county should not be closing down businesses during a downturn," Arakawa said to applause.

Arakawa went on to say that the economic crisis should not be blamed for Maui County's financial woes. When he was mayor, from 2002 to 2006, unemployment was less than 2 percent, he said.

"We are in an economic recovery not because of the government," but because residents are working through its hurdles, he said.

Tavares said the foremost issue facing the county is the economy, which is in a global downturn. She reminded the audience that Maui's economy is still about 80 percent based on tourism.

People whose bank accounts have been emptied weren't taking many vacations - but they are starting to visit again, Tavares said.

"The economic rebound is not an accident or because of just me," Tavares said. "It's due to a lot of people working together."

She and several other candidates said they will be devoted toward diversifying Maui County's economy in the coming years, so it's not so susceptible to the highs and lows of tourism. Tavares said she will promote high-technology and renewable-energy jobs.

Council Member Sol Kaho'ohalahala espoused the issues of sustainability, water reuse and conservation, renewable energy and food security. Once the islands were known as being "fattened" with food, but now residents import 90 percent of what's eaten here, Kaho'ohalahala said.

"We need to recognize who we are, what we are and what we need to do," he said. "It's time for us to redirect our canoe."

In a somewhat similar vein, retired electrical contractor Randy Piltz said: "I need you all to think about where we're going to go."

Piltz presented a vision for Maui with widespread renewable energy - and the county leading the way since it's the biggest consumer - and much greater access to water, primarily in existing but unused wells.

Former county planning director and land-use planning consultant Chris Hart said: "I see Maui County as drifting. Some say we are moving backward."

Hart, along with Arakawa and Marc Hodges, said he'd work to streamline the much-criticized building permitting process.

Hart also said he wanted to preserve agricultural land and support farmers as a priority of his administration.

At first, Hodges said the rural lifestyle is probably not part of Maui's economic future, but later he said he meant to say that agriculture is important but should not be the emphasis.

"We cannot create real jobs through government," Hodges said. "We need to build and sell and export more than we buy."

Real estate broker Harold Miller said the county should get back into the business of building affordable homes itself, which drew applause.

Hart and Peter Milbourn also said they'd reduce the size of government. Milbourn said he'd cut all department heads' salaries by 10 percent as well as audit every department to find more places to slash funding. (Both of those measures have been done by the current administration and council to some extent recently.)

"No one person is going to accomplish anything in this county," Tavares said. "When I start hearing people talking about listening to other people, then I'll listen."

Both Tavares and Arakawa have raised hundreds of thousands of campaign dollars between them. Miller told the audience to look at the campaign spending reports online, pay attention to donations from developers and then later watch what candidates support.

Miller and Jonathan Olson, Milbourn and Ori Kopelman all said they'd raised little campaign money to date. A few people in the crowd could also be heard murmuring that they'd never heard of these candidates before.

But that's not to say they didn't leave good impressions Friday. Milbourn took aim at the controversial deluxe renovations to the county building's ninth floor, where the Mayor's Office is located.

If his budget cuts don't work, "I'll rent out the ninth floor to the private sector," deadpanned Milbourn to big laughs.

The only mayoral candidate not at the event was Sally Chow Hammond, of Molokai.

Original article may be viewed at: The Maui News

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