Affordable Housing Crisis

Hard working people should be able to easily secure and keep affordable housing in Maui. Unfortunately this has been a problem that has only been getting worse and worse for over a decade. It is a complex problem caused by several different factors but it can be solved. It will take aggressive restructuring and changes in government policies but can and needs to be done sooner than later. 

Overtourism

The one thing we can almost all agree we learned from the pandemic is that tourism comes at a huge cost to residents and the environment. This industry needs to be balanced out with the overall cost. We need to aggressively start putting limits on tourism and the impacts on residents and the environment.

Climate Crisis and Rising Sea Level

Hawai’i was the first state to pass a law that implements a portion of the Paris Climate Accord. Our state has pledged to become carbon neutral by 2045 which requires aggressive and immediate action and planning at the county as well as the state levels of government. Our children are depending on us to intervene and work to prevent further damage to our planet.

The sea level is rising and threatening our shoreline and infrastructure. We need to consider this in future planning in order to not make huge infrastructure changes that will not last and turn out to be shortsighted. We need to start planning and taking action on the sea level rise that continues to happen.

Infrastructure 

County infrastructure is outdated and because of that residents and taxpayers are paying fines, fees and the cost of outdated and inadequate infrastructure. We have failing roads, an outdated insufficient water system that will only get worse over time and insufficient sewage infrastructure. We are still allowing contaminated wastewater from sewage treatment plants to pollute clean water. We have a huge number of cesspools that can potentially contaminate groundwater. We need to spend money to update outdated sewage systems that pollute our clean water. 

Self Sufficiency 

We need to support local agriculture to make it more affordable to grow our own food and decrease our dependence on imports. We need to restructure our local economy while supporting and promoting sustainable farming and agriculture practices. We need to restore water flow to streams where it has been diverted, taking away long time water resources for traditional farming practices.