Kawananakoa for State House

Economy – “We need to take care of the district economy so people can live, work and play in their neighborhood. We need to shape our economic growth to ensure we maintain our residential lifestyle” Kawananakoa said. Kawananakoa believes Waimanalo holds great opportunity for our local agricultural industry to produce fresh healthy foods and be self-sustaining. “There is potential for a thriving agricultural industry that produces food for our entire State and I want to help increase that productivity” he added. He believes the pocketbook is the number one issue for his constituents and wants the people in the district to be able to stay on the Windward side, if they wish, to work and live.

Education – Education should be administered at the local school level. Hawaii has a failed system of spending money without any results. In fact, our educational system has failed our children and jeopardized their future. In the past five years spending has increased about one Billion dollars from $1,464,539,692 in 2002 to $2,402,018,490 in 2007. At the same time enrollment has dropped from 183,629 to179,234. Currently, Hawai’I is rated 47th in the United States for student achievement levels. Kawananakoa said “The current leadership has had 30 years to reform our educational system and they have failed. We need a new approach that puts our resources at the school level in the classrooms and not in the administration in Honolulu.”

For an excellent diagnosis of our ailing education system, written a few years ago but still just as true today, check out this editorial from the Pacific Business News.

Environment – “Kailua has always been the leader on protecting the environment and I want to help maintain that distinction” he said. “We have done so much to make Kailua, Kailua and must protect our fragile environment”.

Energy – Energy is a major concern with increasing gas and electric prices. “Alternative energy is an issue I passionately support. Again, however, the legislative leadership has had 30 years to address the problem and has done virtually nothing. For decades Kawananakoa has been advocating for the use of alternative energy. Kawananakoa explained “it is a shame that we have not harnessed the abundant natural resources to satisfy our energy needs.” Today, 90% of our electricity depends on burning coal and oil. And of that 90%, 99% comes from foreign sources. “Whether it is wind, wave, solar, geothermal, or OTEC (Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion) we could be completely energy sufficient and not dependant on the uncertainty of foreign oil prices.”

There are other issues Kawananakoa would like to work on in the State House, such as helping native Hawaiians improve their living conditions and work towards self sufficiency.