Esther Kia‘aina, vice chair of the Honolulu City Council, is facing three challengers in her 2024 reelection bid to continue to represent Windward Oahu.
Since 2021, Kia‘aina has represented Council District 3, which includes Ahuimanu, Heeia, Haiku, Kaneohe, Maunawili, Kailua, Olomana, Enchanted Lake and Waimanalo.
Her contenders in the Aug. 10 primary are business owner Christopher J. Curren; music producer and musician David N. Kauahikaua; and two-time Olympian and retired U.S. Navy Reserve officer Kelsey Nakanelua.
To retain her seat, which comes with an annual salary of $113,304, Kia‘aina so far has raised 40 times the amount of the next-closest fundraising candidate.
Much like other parts of Oahu, those who seek to occupy the Council District 3 post will contend with a roughly 110,000-resident district that suffers from crime, homelessness, development issues including so-called monster homes, the impacts of climate change and a lack of affordable housing options.
David N. Kauahikaua
Kauahikaua, 68, of Kailua, said he was inspired to run for a Council seat “because I know our community can be better.”
“I believe that the government has stopped listening to the people that it represents,” he said. “I want to reconnect the government and the people that it serves. I will put my community first.”
To do this, Kauahikaua said his campaign seeks to improve parks and park facilities, fix roads, prevent sewage spills and pollution from entering the ocean, boost public safety, address homelessness and create affordable housing without overdevelopment.
Among his top priorities are solving the “brown water” issues that affect the Windward coastline. He noted those may be tied to the nearly 60-year-old Kailua Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant, in Aikahi Park, serving much of Kailua and surrounding communities.
“With all the technology available throughout the world, surely we can do better for our sea life and ourselves,” he said. “Some upgrades are budgeted for our Aikahi sewer plant, but we have had upgrades in the past and we continue to have sewage spills when it rains.”
Kauahikaua said he’d like to expand the Genki ball bioremediation program, which is using beneficial microorganisms to clean the Ala Wai Canal, in more places where that is appropriate, “and add plants to our landscape to naturally purify our waterways.”
Improving area parks is another top priority, he said.
“As one resident recently pointed out to me, Kailua Recreation Center has had broken, boarded-up windows in the exercise/ classrooms for years,” Kauahikaua said. “The playground, which is heavily used by young families, has a lot of broken equipment, and the pavilion needs a makeover, like many of our other park facilities.”
Ho‘omaluhia Botanical Garden in Kaneohe also needs rehabilitation, according to the candidate.
“The beautiful park is no longer in pristine condition. The comfort station has been closed for years,” he said. “The popular botanical garden gallery has been shut down for several months, supposedly for repairs and renovations that donʻt appear to be a work in progress, and the well-used classroom gets drenched on the inside when it rains because the roof needs repairs.”
He added, “A few simple fixes could bring our parks up to their full potential and make them safer, cleaner and more accessible to the public.”
Greater public safety on the Windward side also is important, he said.
“Throughout the years of growing up in Kailua, I have never felt unsafe walking around at night,” he said. “This isn’t the case anymore.”
He said there have been “smash and grab” attacks on small businesses and more property crimes, and even violent crimes, in area towns. The city, he added, needs more “police and extensive training for them to address a variety of issues.”
“We also need to ensure the officers who are taking on this very difficult job have the highest personal ethics and protect the public with honor,” he said. “Training volunteers to help with community policing and working with small-business owners to eliminate crime in our neighborhoods is key.”
According to the Hawaii Campaign Spending Commission, Kauahikaua’s Council campaign from Jan. 1 to June 30 raised $3,650. His campaign spent $2,833.
Esther Kia‘aina
Kia‘aina, 61, of Kailua, said she wishes to continue “to effectively advocate to improve the quality of life for our Windward community and for all residents of Oahu.”
“For the past 30 years, I was fortunate to have worked at the county, state and federal levels of government,” she said. “This breadth of governmental experience has served me well at the City Council.”
During her time on the Council, Kia‘aina said, she’s worked to increase funding to address homelessness and affordable housing; updated the city’s real property tax credits and exemptions; established the first-ever Oahu Historic Preservation Commission; made substantial progress in updating the city’s Land Use Ordinance; prohibited commercial activities at Windward beach parks; and enforced laws against illegal short-term rentals and monster homes.
If reelected, Kia‘aina said her “highest priority” is building more affordable housing units.
“I have secured over $100 million for affordable housing initiatives, supported the continuation of pilot affordable housing policies, successfully fought to increase the percentage of affordable housing units when approving permits for larger development projects, initiated specific affordable projects and city-state housing partnerships, advocated for modifications to state law to improve the Department of Planning and Permitting’s capacity,” she said.
“I will also continue to seek untapped sources of federal funds to acquire additional properties to increase the city’s affordable housing inventory and to invest in much-needed infrastructure, one of the key barriers to housing development.”
Government efficiency of city operations is also important, she said.
“Not only for constructing more housing units, but also for economic development and improving the quality of life in communities,” Kia‘aina said. “The most important matter is addressing the backlog at DPP, which the Council has done by approving the funds necessary for improved technology and staffing capacity.”
She added that the use of “city-owned and other lands” is critical.
“Whether it be the city utilizing land in its inventory, acquiring new lands or buildings for affordable housing projects, or helping the state in the development of Hawaiian home lands, updating our Land Use Ordinance, looking at real property tax revenue-generating options, or approving updated development and sustainability plans, land use will remain a priority for me in a second Council term,” she said.
Meantime, Kia‘aina said her reelection campaign raised more than it did the last time she ran for office.
“For the 2024 primary race, I have raised $146,000 thus far. For the 2022 Council race, $137,000 in total was raised,” she added. “I have spent $53,000 thus far.”
Kelsey Nakanelua
Nakanelua, 57, of Kailua, said the reason he’s running for Council is simple: “It’s to represent the residents of Kailua, Kaneohe and Waimanalo and the problems or obstacles that they have in their lives.”
He added that the “big planks” for his campaign include cost of living, housing and taxes, the environment and aspects of government overreach — namely, the inability of the city to provide fee-based services to the public.
First, he noted that the cost of living and taxes are linked. “I do have a plan on dealing with property taxes to affect the cost of housing,” he said, though he did not want to reveal specifics of that plan just yet.
Still, he noted that the city’s budget — a $4.7 billion budget package for fiscal 2025, which began July 1 — continues to grow even as the population of Oahu steadily declines due in part to its high cost of living.
If people are leaving, “you should lower your budget, not increase it,” he said. “So I think there’s aspects in there that need to be explained comprehensively. If there’s a legitimate reason for increasing the budget, it needs to be explained, but explained correctly.”
As far as the environment, Nakanelua said “water runoff” that takes place in Kawainui Marsh in Kailua and surrounding areas eventually enters the ocean, making it dirty and, in many cases, toxic to humans.
“And so we need to develop a system to assist with taking that away, so we don’t get these brown-water advisories,” he said. “I have a plan … to help filter out the water runoff.”
In regard to government overreach, the candidate said, “You have a tremendous backlog at the Department of Planning and Permitting. So the problem with that is that it slows down construction, which can also increase the cost of housing.”
Those delays affect developers’ “getting these permits approved.”
“If I’m trying to remodel my house, it doesn’t take a week, it takes several months to get a permit. So I want to deal with that,” said Nakanelua, who competed for American Samoa in the 100-meter sprint in the 2000 and 2004 Olympic Games.
According to the state Campaign Spending Commission, his Council campaign from Jan. 1 to June 30 involved a self-loan of $2,492.
Curren, the fourth person running in this race, did not immediately respond to questions about his respective Council campaign.
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