For Hawaii’s Aug. 13 Primary Election, Civil Beat asked candidates to answer some questions about where they stand on various issues and what their priorities will be if elected.
The first question asked Council Member King, candidate for Mayor of Maui County, what she felt the biggest issue facing Maui is. Her response:
"So many of our issues are interrelated, but if I were to distill it down, I’d pinpoint affordable housing.
When I first took office, my experience and instinct told me that the biggest barrier was getting developers to communicate with the communities they were trying to develop. I’ve been able to prove out that theory by instigating the communication, getting developers to compromise on their designs and seeing the community come out in strong support of the affordable/workforce housing projects that have been approved in my district since I took office on County Council.
We now have multiple projects in South Maui targeting the lowest-income brackets (60% AMI and below), seniors, rentals and home ownership starting at $395,000."
- Kelly Takaya King, from her interview
