2018 Primary Election Candidates

Click to select a candidate
KAWANO, Yumi
Name on ballot:

KAWANO, Yumi

Running for:

Hawaii Island County Council

District (if applicable):

District 6

Political party:

Does not apply/Nonpartisan race

Campaign website:

vote411.org (put in Yumi Kawano, 96785) Message me at Facebook Yumi Teresa Radtke Kawano justtellin

Current occupation:

Forest Steward & Conservationist

Age:

57

Previous job history:

Secondary Science Teacher in Multicultural Hawaii & Alaska (Yupik Eskimos) & Oregon (Multiple Subject Endorsed), Wildlife & Plant Biologist
(Endangered and Threatened Species), Kayak Tour Guide for Alu Ohana on Kealakekua Bay. Prior jobs incl

Previous elected office, if any:

None Yet.

What qualifies you to represent the people of Hawaii?

My Demonstrated Love for the People of Hawaii, Our Beloved Ocean, Our Beloved Aina Land, and Our Forests Which is directly related to Our Sacred Hula and to help us perpetuate this Rare and Magnificent Multicultural Hawaii! Also Teaching was a privilege in Our Hawaii Public Schools and has been Always a Service to Our Hawaii Keiki Children! Even my son, schooled in Hawaii graduated proudly from Our Hilo High School in Hilo. He now is a senior at Colorado University, Boulder and is interning at Fox News as an anchor! So see, we have the Best and can be better! We are the Best Hawaii and I love Hawaii! Everything about it and what doesn’t serve us, HAWAII, LET’S CHANGE IT AND MAKE IT BETTER!

As a Strong and Wise Volunteer Member of the Community Development Planning CDP Puna Action Committee, I have served and demonstrated my ability to motivate diverse people together to reach common ground and continue to resolve problems, to bring healthy initiatives to the public like Natural Resource Conservation Service NRCS funding for landowners to restore their Rainforests and other lands! It is our Nation’s Mission to restore our Native Trees Across Our great country, as it is Puna CDP Action Committee’s Priority Goal to preserve and care for our Rare Rainforests!
As a person, I am very personable and very approachable and most often do an excellent listener and I am eager to communicate honestly with all our government entities, which are here to serve the people. Yet Our Democracy requires all of our involvement in any Small Way one can do. On Our Hawaii Island with recent devastating lava flows, we have lost much but have regained much as a Community Pulling Together as we strive for the Betterment of All. We Can Do It!
Not knowing a soul here, I came to Hawaii Island as a Single Parent teaching in rural Honokaa in Honokaa Intermediate School 14 years ago. I came here with the Hopes of finding a Final Home, so I finally purchased my first home in Volcano and later I married my husband, Kalani, a Son of the Aina and Army Veteran! Having proven my Creative and Frugal Ways sustaining ourselves with as little as $12,000 a year, my son and I, in Hawaii! Yes it can be done! I did it! So I am quite confident and even cockeye, Hawaii
County could use my Thrifty Ideas and Ways having lost an enormous tax base due to lava destroying over 600 homes on Our Island! Don’t you think?

What are the top three challenges facing the voters you seek to represent?

1. Folks in Hawaii need to take way better care of themselves, each other, and the Aina Land and Kai Ocean!! Many are homeless and we absolutely must reach out and help them help themselves because its inhumane to not care and we All have potential and WE ALL ARE AFFECTED NEGATIVELY. Safer neighborhoods are in great need due to the increased burglaries and homelessness and heavy drug use. Island Beautification Projects like President FDR did with the CCC, Civilian Conservation Corps, which put millions of Americans back to work with Dignity during the Great Depression. Those days of toil when folks had to work to eat on a meager wage, yet that wage went further for commodities because they were local and affordable.

2. We absolutely need to be Emergency Prepared as Islands 2000 miles in the middle of the Pacific Ocean! We are not! It has been demonstrated from the recent false nuclear alarm to the volcano lava immense flows in Puna District! Even as Chair of the CERT, Connectivity Emergency Response Team Subcommittee, have felt ignored by our Hawaii County Government as I watched in horror folks evacuate their homes to make-shift and highly inadequate shelters due to poor planning! It is evident Our Island WAS NOT PREPARED for the magnitude of this Natural Disaster! And due to earthquake damage to our home, about 7 miles from the Kilauea Volcano, with daily earthquakes, we are going thru the FEMA process as I write this. It is not clear how it all works so that damaged homes are replaced or repaired in a timely fashion! Government must form an equitable working relationship with All Members of Society. Yet the People that are governed must get out and really get involved to assure their quality of life!

3. It is critical and pragmatic that Our Islands drive harder to be self-sustaining and self-sufficient and less dependent on shipping! First each person and unit must try to grow a garden! It’s fun and amazing! We are so fortunate to live in a temperate climate! You can do it! Go to a gardener friend/family and learn! You’d be amazed of how much you save and it takes so little effort and it’s Organic. Each home and all community neighborhoods must bind together and acquire lands for food agriculture, renewable energy, and affordable housing for Our workers, elderly, and keiki children.

If elected, what will be your highest legislative priority?

The safety and healthy wholeness of our islands are in Great Jeopardy! The Homeless situation worsening so Homeless Centers must be established to see what can be done for them. Medical and Mental Health Services would be provided and drug treatment included. A Beautification Work Project would give clients a chance to make wages and get themselves situated. For those that refuse, it’s likely they could be in trouble with the law or possibly an illegal immigrant. Immigrants are welcome as long as legal, because people take horrible advantage of them with their illegal status because THEY CAN, on the job, even women are raped and most of it goes unreported, for fear of deportation. And as long as they remain illegal they WILL NOT AND CANNOT seek the police, legal advice, or any other government services! As an Enumerator for the Hawaii Agricultural Statistics Service and even a resident of this island, I see a lot of misuse and sick treatment of farm workers, even our young American citizens!

If elected, what can you do to improve the lives of your constituents?

“If you want to Make the Change, Be the Change.”

Community is disappearing throughout the world! It is essential We All Build Community somehow! We get our needs met through one another with goods and services. Where is the Love, you say? Find the Love within Yourself and then Spread it to Others! When we get out of our silly selves, we discover each other. I dare you to get still and quiet and ask what you can do to build the Greatest Community where you are better than the world has ever seen! Dream with me!

Is there anything else you would like voters to know about you?

N/A

Scroll Up