Preserving Kaua‘i while keeping it affordable was the top issue residents had on their minds yesterday when exiting the polls. That issue was the umbrella for several other issues, including controlled growth and development, the Superferry and affordable housing. Though
Preserving Kaua‘i while keeping it affordable was the top issue residents had on their minds yesterday when exiting the polls.
That issue was the umbrella for several other issues, including controlled growth and development, the Superferry and affordable housing.
Though many residents were mixed on what issue was most important to them, one thread was consistent: Residents appreciate when life on Kaua‘i is made more affordable, but want to maintain the island way of life as well.
That means legislators will have to
figure out a balancing act of growth
and preservation.
“I’m against major development, but I call Costco a paved paradise. I was against it, but who is the girl always there? Me. I can’t beat the $1.50 hot dogs,” Leah Ragsac said. “I don’t want the Superferry, but I’d probably be the first person on it. We just have to make sure there is some balance.”
For Angela Augustine, balance also is key.
“I think we need development to be at a level where it is controlled, so our natural resources aren’t affected,” she said.
A lack of affordable housing and its effect on the island, namely the prevalence of homelessness, also was considered a critical issue to residents.
“The locals that grew up here can’t afford a house unless their family has one,” Kevin Matsunaga said. “It’s almost impossible to afford one otherwise.”
Casey Rothstein and Rae Chandler agreed.
“It’s definitely a pressing issue,” Rothstein said.
That pressing issue directly affects Kaua‘i’s homeless, many of whom were born and raised here.
Brian Garania has lived on Kaua‘i all his life, currently on the steps of the old Kaua‘i Police Department, alongside several other of the island’s homeless. He made sure he voted, he said. The building is just a few hundred feet away from County Council chambers.
“We need affordable housing. We’re killing ourselves, working two, three jobs, and living out here,” Garania said.
“And there isn’t even an emergency shelter or homeless shelter for us, what are we supposed to do?”
There were roughly 735 homeless residents of Kaua‘i in 2004 to 2005, according to the Hawai‘i Public Housing Authority.
Though Kaua‘i’s first homeless shelter is slated to open in spring 2007, it will only offer temporary assistance to 39 people at a time.
Chuck Phillips, who also lives on the steps of the old KPD, said in the absence of an emergency shelter, there should at least be water in public bathrooms.
Phillips said several homeless people make the daily trek down to use the shower at Kalapaki Bay.
“If nothing else, they should have a facility so we don’t have to walk all the way up to Nawiliwili where (the water) is so cold,” he said.
David Aguiar, also homeless, called the problem an “islandwide disaster.”
“I was born and raised here,” Aguiar said. “I left for 13 years. I was never homeless on the Mainland — not even on O‘ahu. In other cities I can get it together, because they have shelters and resources. Here there aren’t any.”
