• Editor’s note: As 2022 has ended, The Garden Island staff looked back on some of the moments that defined the year on Kaua‘i.
LIHU‘E — While the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic will probably never fully disappear, 2022 marked something of a return to normalcy for an island turned upside down by the virus.
Beginning the year facing a brutal omicron surge that shuttered many businesses, there was a steady decline in case counts and restrictions started to loosen as time passed.
Schools reopened to in-person learning in January. The state indoor mask mandate was rescinded in March, and the County of Kaua‘i removed limits on large gatherings that same month.
Tourists gradually began to return to the island by plane and cruise ship, surpassing even pre-pandemic levels. Shows, events and festivals gradually became part of island life after a long layoff.
With the return of in-person events came huge victories for the island, as Kaua‘i’s Halau Ka Lei Mokihana O Leina‘ala brought home top honors at the Merrie Monarch Festival in April, and Waimea High School demolished the competition to win its first state football title in December.
The return of visitors also meant a busy year for first responders, who handled dozens of ocean search and rescue missions as well as three aircraft crashes.
Kaua‘i is far from out of the woods — the county still averages around seven positive cases a day and the actual number of cases is probably much higher — but for most residents the virus has become a smaller part of daily life.
Cost of living on the rise
As high inflation rate driven by disruptions to the supply chain (and a healthy dose of corporate price-gouging) drove costs up, improving affordability for residents has become the top political issue.
Workers struggling with the high cost of living got some assistance from the state Legislature this year. In the face of political pressure, including demonstrations on Kaua‘i, lawmakers raised the minimum wage to $18 an hour. This gave many low-wage workers a raise when it partially took effect in October.
The high cost of living was especially felt in housing. The median price of a single-family home ended the year firmly above $1 million, and as just about anybody looking for multi-family housing can attest — supply is extremely limited and costly.
Debate at the County Council often revolved around the best way to address the housing crisis. The council ultimately approved a bill to provide a steady 2 percent minimum of tax revenues toward affordable housing development, and the county is set to break ground on dozens of new housing projects in 2023.
High housing costs contributed to a large movement in opposition to the construction of a luxury condo complex in Koloa, which plans to sell condos starting at more than $1 million each. More than 150 demonstrators gathered at the site in June to protest the environmental, cultural and economic impacts of the project, which now faces active litigation.
The Coco Palms redevelopment project faces similar opposition. The blighted hotel, known for its place in Hollywood history, is in the process of being handed off to a new development team in Utah.
The project drew hundreds of pieces of testimony in opposition, and two legal actions against it. The community group I Ola Wailuanui has been in talks with the owners about buying the property in hopes of developing it as a Native Hawaiian cultural center.
In politics, the status quo holds
In an election year, most Kaua‘i voters favored things as they stand. Voters returned all four state legislators, the mayor, and all five county council members running for reelection to their respective posts.
Two new members, newcomer Addison Bulosan and former Council Member Mel Rapozo, returning after a four-year hiatus, took their seats at the first meeting of the new council in December.
Shortly after his reelection, state Rep. Jimmy Tokioka announced he would be leaving to join the new governor’s administration as deputy director for the Airports Division of the state Department of Transportation. His replacement will be selected by Gov. Josh Green and the Democratic Party in the months ahead.
Mayor Derek S.K. Kawakami took home more than 70 percent of the vote in his reelection bid against first-time challenger Roven Poai, and was sworn in for his second term in December.
Among this year’s local legislative accomplishments was a bill to regulate construction based on projected sea-level-rise, and an overhaul of the agricultural dedication program.
One of the most contentious bills was legislation forbidding the feeding of feral cats on county property, which unexpectedly generated thousands of pieces of testimony from around the country earlier this year. Meant to satisfy the county’s legal obligations, the bill passed unanimously.
Fighting the drug epidemic
Kaua‘i closed the door on a dark chapter in 2022, as a federal judge handed down prison sentences on former County Council Member Arthur Brun and his associates for their roles in running a meth-trafficking operation.
Brun received a 20-year sentence for drug, weapons and assault charges, all of which occurred while he was a sitting county council member and vice chair of the Public Safety Committee.
Brun — an addict himself — is a small part of a larger problem, however, and addiction to meth, heroin and fentanyl remains a scourge for the island.
The long-awaited adolescent drug treatment center, unable to house patients since the facility was completed in 2019, entered a new phase this year. Facing litigation from Grove Farm, the County Council voted to privatize the project, turning the facility over to the development company.
Lawsuits dogging the facility, filed by both Grove Farm and the provider hired by the county, were dropped soon after it exchanged hands. The treatment center is now run by a management board installed by Grove Farm and has its sights set on opening by in August.
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Guthrie Scrimgeour, reporter, can be reached at 808-647-0329 or gscrimgeour@thegardenisland.com.
i think coco palms will be a lost cause. I think Derek Kawakami has nothing to do with Big Save. I think Rapozo is a crazy man, over welcome in his tenure as county council. As for covid-19, still yet keeping tabs on the virus.
Overall I think the year turned out great. For some like myself, health was the main concern, then other areas of the community. As far as building a larger runway, i think that’s still in the making. Tourism, Kaua’i has been slower. But I think Oahu being the main hub, they’ll need to work on their idea of tourism. I missed the whole Hawai’i Bowl. I’ve been watching surfing on channel 20 the whole time visiting the island.
How to bring more tourist here? Find a gig, then work it. Since Oahu is the main hub, I just switched it over to surfing channel. I watched Balaram Stack pick up the pipeline classic along with 1000s of visitors there. That rounds up my view. 2023 ? I think it will be different. First off, I’ll pick Shion Crawford local Hawai’i Boy to be the next pipeline Masters champion, then pick him in the triple crown winnner. Local sunset beach boy. Then i think tourist will return and it will be even busier on Kaua’i.
If you look at statistics, every area on Hawaiian land, whether it be urban, rural, agricultural, and commercial, you find one area of concentration that brings in tourist. North Shore of Oahu, and Hanalei, and Koloa, and maybe ever Koke’e, brings in the tourist. If they can find one way to high light these areas, they can bring in the tourist to visit. North Shore of Oahu are swamped with many tourist. By collecting these data and then funneling it into their respective districts, like Pipeline Masters or Sunset Beach, you will notice that community involved will lead to greater spending and greater business returns.
This year I just concentrated on the North Shore of Oahu, and at Pipeline Masters, you cannot go wrong with highlighting Kaua’i also. Making it like Oahu. By telling them about the beaches people can go to too. Like Hanalei or Poipu Brennecke’s Beach. This will draw 1000s of visitors wanting in on a good vacation. And Winter time when the swell are up, it is not going to miss. I think these ideas are a good idea to look out for. So be mindful of one commenters suggestions. And I am fair. In judging what Kaua’i has to offer too.
I think you guys forgot to mention Kappa High School girls’ softball team won state champs and also, they were Champs on Kauai and Waimea High School girls softball team took runner up in State champion ship 2022, those both teams worked hard, they should be recognized thank you
Also- Char Brue a developer from Colorado purchased over a 1,000 acres of south and westside Kauai from A & B in 2022. This is a huge impact on the future of Kauai.