Kauai House candidates aim to ease traffic

Alleviating traffic gridlock is a top priority for two Democratic candidates vying for the state House seat on Kauai representing Hanalei, Princeville, Kilauea, Anahola, Kapaa and Wailua.

State Rep. Derek Kawakami, who currently represents District 14, is not seeking re-election to the Legislature. Instead, he is in the race for Kauai County Council, where he served from 2008 to 2011.

Running for the House seat are Kauai County Managing Director Nadine Nakamura and anti-GMO community activist Fern Rosenstiel. Both vow to find ways to improve infrastructure to accommodate the island’s growing population.

For 2-1/2 years Nakamura has been serving as county managing director. If elected, Nakamura said, she will strive to strengthen the relationship between the county and state. “I look forward to serving the public in a different capacity. I hope the voters have faith and give me that opportunity,” she said.

Born and raised in Aliamanu on Oahu, Nakamura, 54, has lived in Kapaa, her husband’s hometown, for 24 years. The couple has a 16-year-old son who is a junior at Kapaa High School and a 19-year-old daughter who will be a junior at Boston University.

Nakamura earned a bachelor’s degree in public affairs and urban planning from the University of Southern California and a master’s degree in urban and regional planning from the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

She worked as a planner with Honolulu’s Department of Land Utilization and Department of Transportation Services. Also, Nakamura served as project coordinator at Pacific Housing Assistance Corp., where she coordinated development of affordable housing for seniors and mental disabled individuals.

Previously, she operated a consulting business on Kauai, NKN Project Planning, that specialized in land-use planning, environmental assessments and organizational development.

In 2010 and 2012 Nakamura was elected to the Kauai Council. She vacated her position in 2013 when she was appointed managing director following the resignation of former Managing Director Gary Heu.

In an effort to address traffic-related headaches, especially in Wailua and Kapaa, Nakamura said she would work with the state to ensure plans to build an additional southbound lane between the Wailua Bridge and Kapaa Bypass Road fronting the Coco Palms Hotel stay on track to start construction in 2018.

“The county and the state have to work together to really address how we can improve our transit system and improve shuttles on the North Shore,” she said.

Nakamura said she would also push for more rental and affordable housing, in part to address homelessness. “We have to look at the whole continuum of housing,” she said.

Regarding public schools, the candidate said she advocates for the “best training possible” for principals and teachers to help improve the system.

Born and raised in Kapahi, Rosenstiel, 31, said she is passionate about her hometown.

“I’m going to be tackling all issues. I’m just not capable of narrowing it down to one thing,” she said.

“I’m committed to the future of Kauai,” Rosenstiel said, adding that she is committed to promoting transparency in government.

Rosenstiel earned a Bachelor of Science degree at Griffith University’s School of Environment in Australia, where she majored in wildlife management, environmental sciences and marine biology.

Before returning to Kauai in 2012, she worked at an international consulting firm conducting ecological assessments, and later as a state environmental officer for the Queensland Department of Transport for rural road projects in Australia.

She lives in Kapahi with her husband of four years.

A first-time candidate, Rosenstiel said she will listen to constituents to come up with ideas and create solutions that benefit the community.

One of her priorities is to bolster traffic improvements in bottleneck areas.

“Our district has major congestion issues,” she said.

There has been a lack of foresight on the island’s future concerning transportation, she added. If elected, she plans to develop a transit plan to reduce gridlock on Kauai’s North Shore and tackle congestion in the Wailua and Kapaa areas.

Among education-related priorities, Rosenstiel supports improving pay for teachers and finding ways to fill hundreds of teacher vacancies around the state.

Rosenstiel, who supports green-minded sustainability, has criticized the government for what she maintains is a failure to protect the community from pesticides used by seed companies. Rosenstiel and other activists have claimed that some agricultural spraying practices on Kauai are harmful to people’s health and the environment.

She helped draft Bill 2491 (Ordinance 960) requiring large agribusinesses that operate on the Garden Isle to disclose detailed information on pesticide use and regulate the growth of genetically modified crops.

The measure became a county law. Opponents responded by filing a lawsuit in defense of agribusiness practices, and in 2014 U.S. Magistrate Judge Barry Kurren ruled the county law invalid as standing state law pertaining to farming practices supersedes it. The matter is now pending before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.