Traffic charges up
Big Island mayor’s race
KAILUA-KONA >> With traffic congestion figuring to be a major issue in the race for Big Island mayor, some voters may be spending that extra commuting time considering how to cast their ballots in the upcoming primary.
The two leading candidates have differing ideas on how to ease the flow.
Incumbent Mayor Harry Kim has said any solution would be complex and doubts new roads are the sole answer.
"A community will never catch up by building more highways," Kim told a Kailua-Kona audience at a recent mayoral forum.
The county has taken steps to find alternative solutions such as mass transit and business improvement districts, Kim said.
Last month, Alii Drive in Kailua-Kona was restricted to one-way traffic to accommodate morning restaurant and business deliveries. That experiment was called off early when it caused more congestion on adjacent roadways, and the county now is seeking other potential solutions.
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Kim's chief challenger, former Hamakua councilman Dominic Yagong, countered that growth can be good, but the county must ensure all infrastructure components of a development are completed.
He said he also favors spending the money to build more east-west roads in West Hawaii.
"Within a month, I would have a spending bill in front of the Council and float a bond," Yagong said, although he did not indicate a dollar amount.
In the weeks before the Sept. 18 primary, Big Island voters appear focused on a handful of issues, and two mayoral candidates -- Kim and Yagong -- appear to be leading the nonpartisan race. If none of the candidates garners a majority of the vote, the top two will face each other in a runoff in the Nov. 2 general election.
The slate of candidates also includes Roger Christie, Kelly Greenwell and Joe Fernandez.
At the Kona mayoral forum, the five candidates were peppered with questions about traffic and transportation, development and infrastructure, county budget and the island's problem with crystal methamphetamine, or "ice."
Kim said priorities are changing for Big Island voters. Where the quality of lifestyle was important four years ago, land use and infrastructure issues now are the main concerns.
Yagong, a supermarket manager who served on the Hawaii County Council from 1996 to 2002, said infrastructure and housing issues are near crisis situations.
Yagong said he favors Cabinet-level positions on both sides of the island to allow local residents to develop solutions for their own neighborhoods.
Many voters already have taken sides.
Longtime community activist Del Pranke said he most appreciates that Kim has brought honesty and accessibility to county government.
"I support a second term," Pranke said last week at an anti-war rally in Hilo. "He's made improvements in the Police Department, and the morale in the Fire Department is much better. The government is so much more open. People are talking about the tax hikes, but that's not his fault."
Another activist, Linda Kroll, said she supports Yagong for one reason.
"He's made affordable housing an issue," said Kroll, a retired registered nurse who has been living in a tent in Puna. "I can't afford a home, but Yagong seems more on the ball about it. He is strong on home rule, and his business plan sounds good."
The five candidates live in four of the Big Island's nine districts and represent west, north, east and south.
Greenwell, a Kona businessman, admits he might not be the best candidate but said he entered the race to stimulate residents into thinking about the big picture and considering long-term planning.
Problems are opportunities, he said, and some solutions could be found in common sense rather than in law codes. For example, Greenwell said, rather than bicker over recycling and sort stations, the county should haul all the island's solid waste to the West Hawaii landfill to create a steady source of organic components for future development.
Christie, of Hilo, is campaigning to halt marijuana eradication on the Big Island in an effort to fight poverty, homelessness and restore privacy rights and better care for the environment.
Christie said the Big Island should be seeking creative solutions such as utilizing bicycles for transportation or nonconforming structures for housing. "The hippies had it right," he said, when they established communes that respected the environment. "Every molecule is precious."
Pahoa resident Fernandez, who has experience in accounting and also worked as a school and tour bus driver, said he is focused on equality in the property tax code and more jobs in rural areas, as well as drugs, housing and infrastructure.
Yagong said the county's $250 million annual budget should be divvied up to ensure no district perceives an imbalance.
But Kim said the mayor's responsibility to the entire island includes a fair distribution of funds, long a sticking point for West Hawaii residents who feel county money is swallowed by the districts of East Hawaii.
Kim, who was county Civil Defense Agency administrator for more than two decades, said he still considers himself a "political novice."
"I am a manager by trade," he said, "and that is what I am still doing."
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