Kym’s Top 10 Priorities

Kym believes the City must use federal funds received from the CARES Act to support families and struggling local businesses. We must also invest in diversifying our economy. We have a record number of unemployed residents and closed businesses due to the pandemic shutdowns. Now is not the time for talk but action.

Kym believes keeping families in their homes with food on the table is the top priority. Since the crisis started she committed herself to supporting people in need with COVID-19 testing sites, food distribution events, mask giveaways and by offering support to those in need. She held numerous town halls to assist specialized industries like restaurants, hair salons, fitness studios and more to reopen safely to get people back to work.

Kym believes the key to Hawai‘i’s future success is economic diversification and investment in sustainable, clean energy technologies and agricultural systems that can provide food, fuel and jobs for our people. Tourism will always be a part of Hawai‘i’s culture but we need to be a resilient, independent community that can stand on its own.

Kym is the only candidate running for Mayor, who actually worked at a homeless shelter. The current policy, which moves the houseless from one side of the street to the other, is ineffective and a waste of taxpayer dollars. The solution to homelessness is housing and accessibility to addiction treatment and mental health care services. In the last city budget cycle, she sought funding for these services. Kym would enact legislation that allows flexibility in the City’s building code and zoning to allow Kauhale Villages or tiny home communities to be built rapidly.

At the City Council, she crafted innovative affordable housing laws, which will build thousands of truly affordable units. The City Council passed her initiative to dedicate $23 million dollars to reducing homelessness on O’ahu. She also dedicated an additional $2 million to helping homeless communities in her own West Oʻahu district.

Kym believes we can’t just throw money at this problem though – we must work with service providers, community leaders and elected officials at every level of government to improve conditions.

With so many residents struggling right now, getting people in homes they can afford is crucial. As Chair of the Zoning and Housing Committee at the Council, Kym revealed that outdated building codes and permit delays prevented affordable units from being built economically and swiftly. As a solution, she helped enact sweeping legislation that changed building and zoning codes. It enables families that own small lots to revitalize properties with truly affordable housing that does not use taxpayer money. Additionally, Kym ensured that every building with more than 10 units must also have housing units that remain affordable for a long period of time.
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Providing affordable housing at the lowest income levels is crucial. Kym will push for the use of vacant government lands, especially those located along the new rail route, to be used for affordable housing. Reducing land costs and providing low interest or no interest loans and grants to builders and non-profits will help housing get built without delay.

Kym plans to revamp the entire permitting process by removing backlog, adding more staff and integrating new technology to improve timelines and approvals. For smaller projects, she hopes to reduce the permitting process to just two weeks. She will continue to incentivize the development of truly affordable and work force housing.

Kym has worked on many affordable housing projects providing rents as low as $300 a month for a studio to $940 for a three-bedroom unit. She will expand opportunities like this and ensure that there are real options in communities across the island.

Kym knows that many kama‘aina feel pushed out of their island home by the tourism industry but it is also the main economic driver of our economy. Yet, while visitor numbers increase each year overall visitor spending is lower and lower. Kym brought local economist, Paul Brewbaker, Ph.D, to the City Council to reveal that Hawai’i was receiving far less revenue per tourist than 40 years ago. This means that despite Hawai’i’s record visitor numbers, local residents carry the financial burden of maintaining city services and facilities that visitors enjoy. Councilmember Pine calls on tourism leaders and public officials to prioritize the protection of our natural resources and attract higher spending tourists that contribute more to our economy and to our cultural and environmental preservation.

The current visitor trends overburden our residents, our infrastructure and our natural resources. It has been a mistake for the City to not take an active role in tourism management, especially since O’ahu is impacted the most.

As Mayor, Kym wants the State Department of Economic Development and the City Office of Climate Change, Sustainability and Resiliency to have a larger role in tourism management. She believes impact fees should be charged to visitors to help pay for the preservation of our natural resources and to maintain our County. All companies that work in the visitor industry should have a tourism management plan to ensure their operations do not negatively impact the environment, our culture or quality of life for residents.

As Mayor, Kym will renew our focus on public safety and crime reduction. More importantly, she will demand that every Police Chief be allowed to tell the truth about the operations and conditions of our police force. Police officers who risk their own lives to keep us safe must be given all the resources they need to protect us. We must support our law enforcement but we must also demand accountability from them too. Our police force should reflect the diversity and interests of our residents so the community and the police can work together.

Since 2005, then State Representative Pine, said she believed there were not enough police officers to efficiently serve the people. As a City Councilmember she also fought for more police officers but City officials claimed the police force was sufficient and matched national standards. Honolulu’s newest Police Chief recently confirmed what Councilmember Pine and many residents feel, that the police department is faced with a 30% staffing shortage. Certain types of crime are so bad that even police officers explain that they just don’t have enough officers to investigate and follow up.

This is a matter of priority – we don’t have to accept this as the new normal. There were more than 2,000 crimes involving tourists in 2017, a troubling statistic given our economy’s dependence on the visitor industry. Crimes involving the use of a firearm are up 40% since 2014. The number of assault cases in Honolulu has risen every year since 2014. Kym will ensure that public safety is the core responsibility of government and will explore innovative and efficient policies to help law enforcement keep the peace. Our ‘ohana should feel safe walking their neighborhoods at night, using public transportation and visiting our beaches.