Hawaii Island’s top four mayoral candidates meet at forum

HONOLULU (KHON2) — The four leading candidates for mayor of Hawaii Island met Wednesday night at a forum sponsored by AARP.

Leading candidates include incumbent Mitch Roth, who is seeking a second term, businesswoman Breeani Kobayashi, who has won the endorsements of former Hawaii Island Mayor and Civil Defense Administrator Harry Kim, Junior Tupai and Kimo Alameda.

At the forum, Kobayashi explained that she wanted to “be operational within the first 100 days.”

“We don’t have time to wait to hear the problems and think about how to solve them,” Kobayashi said. “We know about the problems and learn about them today, and when we win, we get to work immediately with solutions in place.”

For current Hawaii Island Mayor Mitch Roth, the first 100 days would be spent laying the groundwork for building a cabinet.

“One of the things we’re focused on is sustainability. That means being able to raise our children and our grandchildren. We have a lot of projects that we’ve kind of laid the groundwork for,” Roth said.

Tupai believes the safety and security provided by the mayor is exactly what the community needs.

“I think we need a stronger message from the mayor to ensure that the community is actually safe. They feel supported,” Tupai said.

Candidate Kimo Alameda hopes to focus on services benefiting Hawaii Island’s kupuna.

“I know what it’s like to get older and I help write the blueprint for your plan. It’s still in effect today and I’m going to talk about our kupuna because you paid the ultimate price for living this long. You deserve better and so that’s what I intend to do as mayor, those services that are really working.”

The Hawaii primary election is scheduled for August 10.