2020 Election: Addison Bulosan

Name on ballot:

Addison Bulosan

Running for:

Kauai county council

Political party:

nonpartisan

Campaign website:

www.addisonbulosan.com

Current occupation:

Doctor of Chiropractic

Age:

33

Previous job history:

Owner and operator of The Specific Chiropractic Centers – Kauai, owner of Tasting Kauai

Previous elected office, if any:

none

Please describe your qualifications to represent the voters of your county.

I have been volunteering and serving my community my entire life and it has prepared me to be able to serve as a councilmember. I’m currently the President of Rice Street Business Association, Vice President of Lihue Business Association, board member of Hawaii Foodbank – Kauai, board member of Kauai Chamber of Commerce, board member of Hale Opio Kauai, and board member of Leadership Kauai. I’ve also served as a board member of the Kauai Filipino Chamber of Commerce, past board member of Junior Achievement Kauai, past board member of Workforce Development Board, and past board member of Ethics Board of County of Kauai. I believe these experiences have been able to provide me the opportunity to learn the needs of our community and create the relationships in order to help make great decisions on our Kauai County Council.

What will be your top priority if elected?

If elected my highest priority is saving our local businesses and keeping our jobs going by innovating our systems and developing new opportunities for our community. This priority includes a multifaceted approach and requires a collaboration in our community that includes our private, nonprofit, and government leaders. I’ll be looking at many different industries such as agriculture, ecommerce, and work-from-home jobs.

As Hawaii faces the COVID-19 pandemic, what more should county government do to protect residents’ health?

I believe our current local government has been doing an effective job at addressing our public health concerns. The only recommendation I have is to continue to promote and support better healthy lifestyles for our community such as exercise, healthy eating, mental health, and quality health care practices.

What should county government do to help residents who have been economically affected by the pandemic?

Our first step is to help those who have been affected the most by enabling them receive social services from our county. The next thing our county government can continue to do is to support our local economy by supporting our local businesses and enabling our community to continue to come together and support each other. Leveraging relationships with non-profits and community organizations to continue to help our community by utilizing available county resources to enable our community to survive these difficult times.

Should public worker furloughs, pay cuts or downsizing be used to help the county deal with lower tax revenues and higher expenses during the pandemic? Why or why not?

I would consider it but as a last ditch effort after exhausting every option beforehand. Fortunately our county revenues are unaffected this year but our GET and TAT revenues may potentially be affected at the rate our economic challenge is going. Due to these challenges, are most important thing we can do as a county government is to become as efficient and effective as possible. Our hope is to preserve our greatest asset which is our human capital and to continue their ability to serve our community as they continue to fuel our local economy.

What specific solutions do you propose to combat homelessness?

Homelessness is a multifaceted community problem that requires a collaboration between private, nonprofit, and government organizations. The three main areas we need to address with homelessness is to increase more affordable homes, provide better social services, and develop transitional housing. These three areas can help those in need that find themselves without a place to live. Many organizations are doing the work currently and my goal is to continue to support them and leverage more resources to help them be more successful.

Do you support reforms to policing in Hawaii? If yes, please explain what reforms you support.

I support developing better systems that address the needs of our community of the 21st century. Some policies and systems limit our police department from effectively serving our community and I look forward to working with our police department in creating improving these systems. Our biggest challenge for our police department is that they are put in a situation to be a ‘catch-all’ for many different situations. My hope is to help the police department have better resources and develop partnerships with other professionals so that appropriate responses to situations are streamlined.

Is there anything more that you would like voters to know about you?

I’m born and raised here on Kauai and for the last 6 years it has been an honor and privilege to work with all of you through our community organizations. It has been truly inspiring to be able to collaborate and solve the challenges we face together. But we are not done. In fact, we are just getting started. Although the challenges ahead look daunting, we are going to be alright. In fact, we are going to be more than alright. I know this because we’ve got a great team of people to work with and I know we will collectively rise up to the challenge and create a better place for ourselves and for our future. So with that said, thank you. I appreciate all that you are doing and continue to do for our community. Let’s go to work.