Kanamu Balinbin, a father of four and business owner, ran for political office and lost to incumbent Angus McKelvey in the 2020 race for District 10, but says he is running again to be the voice for the community and maintain the integrity of the people, land and coastal areas.

Former Maui County Council Member Elle Cochran, who held the West Maui residency seat from 2011 to 2019 and fell short in the mayoral election against Michael Victorino in 2018, says she is focused on preserving community traditions, protecting the environment and growing a circular economy to create opportunity for the next generations.

In 2016, Cochran successfully defended her council seat against Balinbin; the winner of this year’s rematch will move on to the general election to face Republican Kelly Armstrong and Aloha Aina candidate Leonard “Junya” Nakoa III, both of whom have no opponent in the primary.

KANAMU BALINBIN

Kanamu Balinbin

For Kanamu Balinbin, interest in advocacy and the island’s politics started early on when former mayors like Elmer Carvalho and Hannibal Tavares had fundraisers at his family’s restaurant.

Back then, Balinbin felt like lawmakers were “for the local people,” but now it seems like they are being pushed out.

Ultimately, what really inspired Balinbin — a father, youth sports coach, and owner and chef of Nalu Grindz — to get involved with government is the slow loss of county beach access for divers, fishermen and surfers.

Born and raised in West Maui, Balinbin and his community of supporters have been working to regain access on Napili and Honokowai shorelines, as well as pushing to pass environmental and safety legislation earlier this year following an incident in which a sandbag got loose, pinning his nephew underwater (he survived) and suffocating reefs at “S-Turns” beach near Mahinahina.

After falling short in the 2020 race for House District 10, Balinbin hopes to gain more traction this time around.

The county and state “need to work better together” to resolve issues and create legislation regarding water diversion, beach access due to shoreline development, ocean safety concerns and affordable housing, he said.

Additionally, updating cesspool technology can reduce the degradation of the environment and reefs. The current techniques are “outdated,” he said.

“I’ve found out that even though I’m not in public office, there’s things that we can do,” he said. “You just have to find the right people and just not giving up … Win or lose, we’re not here to pose or for photo ops, we just like to get stuff done for our community.”

If elected, his top priority for District 14 would be first to build trust with the Lahaina, Waihee and Kahakuloa communities through working with “honor and respect.”

“We want the community to give the state as much input as possible. We want the people to get involved,” he said. “We want the people who are busy, who cannot get involved, to know that we have the best interest at heart. We know who we work for. We work for our community, first and foremost.”

One of his ideas to engage the community more is by hosting monthly meetings and “having constant communications” to get everyone caught up on what legislation was passed or what bills are being proposed, as well as discuss any new concerns or ideas for the district.

“We want to get more young people involved with county government, also, and get better knowledge and understanding about how things work because kids are brilliant these days,” he said.

Next, he’s focused on bringing solutions to achieve true affordable housing and improving Maui’s education system.

Balinbin said he’s been collaborating with University of Hawaii Maui College Chancellor Lui Hokoana on efforts such as expanding the school’s programs and educational opportunities to help students to complete their degrees on the island.

“We have a lot of high school students that want to get into the teaching profession but are really discouraged,” he said. “Having a better education system here and having more four-year college degrees, we can keep our people here. Keep our people here so that our next generation can get those general manager jobs, those high-paying jobs that are available here.”

He also wants to support the teachers themselves by providing more tax breaks, he added.

During his term, he also wants to ensure that Maui County gets a “fair share” of the state’s hotel tax revenue, considering that Maui has the second-highest return behind Oahu. Last year the Legislature took away the counties’ share of the transient accommodations tax but gave each county the option to impose its own surcharge, which Maui County did, starting in November.

He also wants to continue pushing for the construction of the West Maui Hospital to address safety concerns on the west side of the island (the project broke ground in 2016 but has been on hold due to legal and financial issues) and collaborate with Congress on addressing homelessness.

ELLE COCHRAN

When disruptions to shoreline access and luxury home development were slated “right in my backyard” as part of a grand master plan for areas stretching from Kapalua to Honolua, Elle Cochran wanted to speak up.

Several meetings later after launching the Save Honolua Coalition in 2007, Cochran quit her job at the Marriott to focus on her Maui County Council candidacy, winning election in 2010 and serving for eight years.

“It’s really Honolua Bay that started it all and haven’t really looked back from there and just kept going,” said Cochran, who continues to work to preserve Honolua by reinvigorating the Makai Watch Program with Hannah Bernard of the Hawaii Wildlife Fund. “It’s definitely near and dear to my heart.”

In 2018, while on council, she helped to pass an ordinance to create a Special Management Area Revolving Fund, which was created to collect fees from applications or emergency permits that could be used in turn to purchase land for public beach access from willing landowners, for example.

In collaboration with the Planning Department, Makani Sands and Kahana Sunset have provided beach access for residents who want to dive or fish.

“I definitely think that was a way to address something that was overlooked for decades and was able to provide a benefit to the public,” Cochran said.

She hopes to continue to engage with the community and build relationships so that she can learn about what the top issues are in District 14.

“Our Neighbor Islands really need to have a strong voice and advocate in there to address their concerns,” Cochran said. “Hear what the needs are and take that voice there and make sure we get proper funding and do whatever it takes to find solutions and address it all.”

If elected, she said she’ll help push forward tax incentive ideas, pass legislation and advocate for funds that support infrastructure improvements; environmental preservation; medical needs, such as the West Maui Hospital; and affordable housing.

For Waihee, she hopes to tackle concerns regarding housing and roadway improvements, like speed bumps and guardrails.

Similarly, she wants to continue to work toward affordable housing solutions in Lahaina as well as resolve traffic concerns on Keawe Street with new apartments on the way nearby.

“The northern bypass has to happen, so that’s definitely top of my priority list, is to make sure that funding is reinstated and that project is put back on state (Department of) Transportation plans because we have to alleviate that bottleneck,” Cochran said. “That road was never meant to have that much traffic.”

Earlier this year, state officials said the northern phase of the bypass would have to be pushed back due to a decrease in rental car surcharge funds during the pandemic.

Finding ways to preserve Maui County’s unique environment and Hawaiian culture is also important to Cochran. Historically, the islands provided residents with food security, economic drivers through on-island crop production and exportation, and a holistic lifestyle.

“That has to be kept intact, and you know, education in who we are and what we stand for,” she said. “I’ve always said that these islands have all the ingredients to be a role model for the rest of this world … We just need to make sure we get back to perpetuating what these islands can give: water, wind, solar, rain, wave energy. We have everything to be self-sufficient and to teach others how they can be, too.”

Better tourism management is needed in “places that are special and needs to be protected,” she added, though efforts are taking place in small amounts around the island with reservation systems and paid parking.

“There’s a sharing capacity to everything. We only have finite landscape and finite resources,” Cochran said. “We all rely on tourism to run our economy, but that doesn’t have to be. We all talk about diversifying the economy, so let’s get back our ag lands and ag production. Let’s get people back to the land.”

Cochran has been working with Lahainaluna High School’s boarding program to revive and hopefully secure funding for its agriculture and livestock curriculum to teach future generations how to make it economically sustainable.

“We want to create a pipeline of teaching people how to grow, but how to transform that into, maybe, value-added products, entrepreneurship, businesses,” she said. “Hopefully we can get that in West Maui, particularly at Lahainaluna, and be a role model for other schools or companies to do the same.”

* Dakota Grossman can be reached at dgrossman@mauinews.com.