Name on ballot:

Addison Bulosan

Running for:

Political party:

No answer submitted

Campaign website:

www.addisonbulosan.com

Current occupation:

County councilmember

Age:

37

Previous job history:

Chiropractor

Previous elected office, if any:

n/a

Please describe your qualifications to represent the people of your district?

In my first term as a councilmember I have been able to make positive contributions to our county legislation and county budget. We have been able to increase county support for housing initiatives, houseless programing, and protecting our local homeowners. Before becoming a councilmember, I have been volunteering and serving my community my entire life, being born and raised on Kauai. I served as Past President of Rice Street Business Association, Past Vice President of Lihue Business Association, advisory 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 past board member of the Kauai Filipino Chamber of Commerce, past founding 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 smart decisions on our Kauai County Council.

What is the most pressing issue facing the voters you seek to represent, and how would you address the problem?

If elected for a second term, my focus is on increasing housing for our local working families and reducing our cost of living. With a combination of local legislation, community led projects, and intergovernmental and private collaboration, we can reduce the barriers to building local housing, expedite processes, and help build more housing.

What would you propose to improve traffic congestion on the island of Kauai?

We must focus our local workforce housing near job centers to reduce work commute times and alleviate rush hour traffic. This will reduce traffic congestion, improve quality of life, and reduce cost of living for our local working families. In addition, we need to strengthen our multimodal transportation and enable stronger public transit in between towns and other methods of traveling within town centers. By doing so, we reduce single car use traveling and alleviate traffic congestion.

What are the best ways for county government to alleviate homelessness and to increase the availability of affordable housing?

The best way our county government can increase availability of affordable housing and alleviate homelessness is by focusing on improving our public infrastructure. Water and waste management infrastructure are the biggest barriers to expediting homeless and housing programs and our county government can address this issues by focusing funding in these areas.

What can the county do to help Kauai residents cope with the overall high cost of living in Hawaii?

The common top three cost of living for Kauai are housing, transportation, and healthcare. By focusing on enabling more workforce housing within town core centers, we can reduce travel times and costs, reduce costs of housing, and improve the health of our community by creating a more connected town. Restoring our interconnected community living is vital in fighting the rising costs of living.

How prepared is the county to deal with a major natural disaster and what would you do to improve preparedness and responsiveness?

Our county continuously trains and improves our systems of response to natural disasters. Our focus currently is to reduce threats and improve community response.

What measures, if any, should county government take to regulate short-term vacation rentals?

The last few years our planning department have been proactive in regulating short-term vacation rentals in non visitor destination areas and non-compliant rentals. This has lead to a reduction in illegal vacation rentals and better management of legal rentals.

What more needs to be done to reduce crime on the Garden Island?

Developing our neighborhood watch program for both commercial and residential areas to create stronger community resilience and accountability is an area where we can improve.

What will be your top priority if elected?

My top priority is increasing our local workforce housing.

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

As we wrap up my first term as a councilmember we have accomplished a lot in a very short time. While I believe my work on council is an important piece to addressing our community needs, many of our solutions come from within our community organizations and people at the ground level. That is why I spend a lot of my time at the grassroots level so that policymaking is both practical and realistic. I believe some of the best ideas come from the ground up and that is where I’d like to continue to collaborate from.