WEST HAWAII TODAY | Sunday, July 29, 2018 17X
Brenda Ford - State Senate 3rd District
What’s the most pressing issue
facing Hawaii as it looks to
rebound from the Kilauea
eruption and how would you
lead recovery?
There are several: a) low-cost
affordable rentals for people
to start out or over again. The
State, the County, and the
Federal governments need to
work together to build these
units. We cannot rely on
developers to build these units
as they are only interested in
profit from high-end housing,
b) Housing for the displaced
residents, c) emergency
and transitional housing for
the homeless, and d) HTA
advertising to encourage
people to come here while the
lava flow is active.
Besides tourism, what
economic driver should
Hawaii focus on to diversify
and strengthen the economy?
Energy - Hydrogen energy and
solar and wind energy will not
only provide energy without
bringing in fossil fuels but lower
the cost of living. I do not
support geothermal because we
have a fragile volcanic geology,
geothermal periodically
spews toxic gases, and now
two geothermal plants have
been overrun by lava. b) More
advanced medical services
with a new state-of-the-art Level
3 trauma-teaching hospital
in Kona near the airport. We
should be the “healing” State
with conventional medicine
and many types of alternative
healing arts. We need to bring
University of Washington’s
Physician’s Assistant program
to Kona to help provide
more medical accessibility
throughout the Pacific Basin. c)
Education - we should have the
best public pre-schools starting
at age 3, public K-12 with
vocational arts, community and
4-year colleges in Kona.
What’s your plan of action if
elected to fight for a higher
share of the TAT, or hotel tax?
Every legislator on the outer
islands should be advocating
for higher TAT returns for their
respective islands. Currently,
TAT is being used primarily
to support O’ahu, but the
neighbor islands bear the
brunt of infrastructure costs
from tourism but receive far
less than needed from the TAT
distribution. I will advocate
for our island’s best interest. I
hope to educate the legislators
why treating the outer islands
fairly is an advantage to all of
us because good infrastructure
helps the residents and
impresses the tourists. The
most beautiful State should not
look or feel ugly.
Why should people vote for
you over the competition?
I am a proven entity with a
long record before, during,
and after my 4 Council
terms of hard work, honesty,
persistence, dedication,
bringing big legislative issues
to the Council and getting
them passed, and working
for all districts who need my
help. I am dedicated to the
protection of the people over
bad government policies and
illegal actions. I and six others
started the first Community
Emergency Response Team
(CERT) on the island. CERTs are
alternate first responders and
every community should have
one. While on the Council, I
moved some of my contingency
funds to the Fire Department
to train additional CERTs. The
island now has over 32 CERTs
(I did not pay for training all
of them). I gave funds to the
West Hawaii Community Health
Center to help start the first
Keiki dental clinic. I was part
of the group that designed
the La’aloa Street extension
before I was on the Council
and continued following in my
predecessors’ foot steps to get
more than half of the La’aloa
Street Extension completed
before I left the Council. I am
trying to get a new Level 3
trauma and teaching hospital
in Kona, and bring in University
of Washington Physician’s
Assistant program to educate
our children for a job with
high income and provide
more medical services. I will
continue to work to bring a
4-year university to Kona. I
want to bring vocational arts
back to our high schools
because not everyone wants to
go to college.
What neighbor island issues
will you champion for on
Oahu and how will you go
about getting results?
I will advocate and legislate
for a new Level 3 trauma and
teaching hospital in Kona,
vocational arts in our high
schools, public pre-schools
from age 3, better daycare for
our residents’ children and
elders, more social service
workers to help with drug
and alcohol rehabilitation
(re-use the old Kona Hospital
for rehabilitation, long-term
care, perhaps even homeless
housing), raising penalties
for domestic abuse, raising
the minimum wage to $15/
hour, wage and gender equity,
low-income rentals, shortterm
emergency housing and
then transitional housing,
help the County build a South
Kona and Ocean View Police
stations, protect our farmers
from agricultural theft and
invasive species with more Ag
inspectors, help the County get
a second water well in Ocean
View, advocate for more public
transparency for outbreaks
of disease and the location,
require more education on teen
dating violence and domestic
violence in our high schools,
advocate for more funding for
CERT training and ensure that
Amateur Radio Operators using
their own network are free from
government interference, and
advocate for CERT training in
high schools CERT training is
life skills training.
What’s the number one issue
facing the state and West
Hawaii right now?
It’s a toss-up between
affordable rentals (apartments
and condominiums) and a
new Level 3 trauma-teaching
hospital in Kona. Both are
necessary for families to be
healthy, happy, and feel
secure. I will work hard for
both of them.
Paid Advertisement