Candidates fleetingly shift talk from rail

For part of a mayoral forum Monday, candidates Kirk Caldwell and Ben Caye­tano veered away from discussing the city’s $5.26 billion rail project and talked about issues on the minds of the largely elderly audience.

Cayetano, Hawaii governor from 1995 to 2002, spoke about his family’s experiences with his father and the difficulty of dealing with his declining health and dwindling resources.

"It taught me a lot about the needs of senior citizens," he told the gathering of about 50 people at Harris United Methodist Church.

He said a citizens committee headed by then-first lady Vicky Caye­tano came up with a proposal for the state to provide long-term care to seniors, a bill that was later vetoed by Caye­tano’s successor, Linda Lingle.

Senior citizens often lack the political muscle of unions or big business, "and usually their programs are on the block when it comes to discretionary (government) spending," Caye­tano said, noting he has been told there has been no increase in the budget for elder services in 11 years.

"For senior citizens in general, the best way you can help them is to keep the cost of living down," Caye­tano said. Recent mayor administrations have neglected basic sewer, water and road repairs and improvements, leaving a higher tab for the taxpayers of today and future generations, he said.

Caldwell, a former city managing director and state legislator, outlined an initiative that would include more direct funding for senior citizen programs and focusing more on getting federal grants for senior programs.

"When I talk about direct funding, that means taxes or fees raised by this city going directly into kupuna kind of care projects," Caldwell said. Hono­lulu is the only county in Hawaii that does not provide home services to seniors such as bathing, meals or companionship, he said.

If elected, Caldwell also pledged to call a "senior summit" that would look at ways the city can better serve elderly citizens. "We could then talk about how the city could ramp up its delivery of services to seniors throughout this island, because I believe we can do a much better job," he said.

"We owe it to our seniors to help them age in place and live life at the highest quality possible for all the sacrifices they’ve done for all of us," he said.

Cayetano scoffed at Caldwell’s call for a summit. "There’ve been conferences up the yin-yang," he said. "We know what has to be done, and Kirk knew what had to be done and Kirk knew what had to be done when he was with the city. The problem is that administration focused on the rail project, and that’s why the buses are being shortchanged … and that’s why the focus has been on rail to the exclusion of sewers, water and everything else. The rail project is the most costly in the nation … if not the world."

Caldwell shot back that Caye­tano again was proving to be a one-issue candidate.

"It took about 45 minutes to find out the real reason why Ben is running, and that’s to kill rail," Caldwell s†aid. "I’m running for all the other reasons."

The forum was sponsored by Kokua Council, an advocacy group for senior citizens.