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All council candidates were given the opportunity to respond to questions on key Maui County issues.
Read their Answers
"Last year after the fire, it was chaos. ... So, this year is totally welcome because we are at our home stadium, we know school is going to be here. It’s just so good to be back out here," Lahainaluna head coach Dean Rickard said.
“It’s important because it is connected to a much larger set of lands that go all the way to the summit (of the West Maui Mountains),” said Scott Fretz, the Maui branch manager of DLNR’s Division of Forestry and Wildlife. “Fires often start at those mauka lands and come down in the direction toward the highway. And often they start at the highway and go up this parcel into the mauka lands. So, that connectivity is important."
“We don’t have club water polo, so I just kind of saw the need for these athletes to continue and to introduce new athletes to the sport so that we’re not so far behind as we move into the high school seasons," said Shawn Donohue, former Baldwin High School girls water polo coach.
"There's very, very traditional ways to fight fire. And with the weather that we're facing now, we have to sometimes think outside the box, how it's going to impact communities faster," Maui Fire Chief Brad Ventura said.
“It’s distressing to all of us, even if it’s not coming right in our nearest vicinity, it’s still triggering, as it would be for anybody, either in Lahaina or Kula, that went through what we went through last year," said Melissa James of The Ohana Animal Inn in Kula.
While unloading cans of Spam and packets of saimin at distribution hubs shortly after the fires, Makale'a Ane and other farmers wanted to find ways to get fresher, healthier foods to families. “After the fires, we kind of pivoted and took the work that we’re doing on the farm and said, let’s feed our people in this way,” said Ane, the climae and resilience director for the Living Pono Project.
"We felt it was time to really get a better understanding of how much really should be left in the streams as kind of the starting point and then balance that against the other uses as well,” Maui County Water Supply Director John Stufflebean said.
"We want to make sure that Moloka‘i High School is able to compete at a high level and that transportation is not a reason why they would not be able to," Mokulele Airlines chief of staff Keith Sisson said.
“Everybody’s in a different situation. … We always say, do what you think would be good for your family and your situation," said Desilee Santiago of the Disaster Recovery Permit Center.
"We never got a generator because we knew way back when if we ever had a major catastrophe of that significance all our physicians would report to the hospital because it’d be that severe," Maui Medical Group Administrator Cliff Alakai said in explaining why the clinics would have to shut down if they lost power under Hawaiian Electric's new plan.
"They’re not going to be in the right mindset, the families are not going to be in the right mindset, the teachers are not going to be in the right mindset because we are all focused on 8-8," said Mikey Burke of the upcoming one-year anniversary of the Lahaina wildfire.
“I have family on this side able to take me in because if not I would probably be on the Mainland." - Ivy Navarro, Lahainaluna alum
“I hope there’s changes that can come in our economy that benefits its people first and not necessarily just how much money can you make from it,” Cowell said. “I hope people who are moving there and who are buying space there can acknowledge and realize how that is such a privilege. And that unfortunately there are people who cannot and will never be able to afford the spaces that they are occupying at this time.”
“I would just say we’re a very persistent and resilient class,” senior Lola Donez said Sunday. “We’ve literally been through it all I guess, and we’re still standing, we’re still here graduating. We still accomplished what every other high school student accomplishes when they graduate — we just kind of had to go through a lot more hardships.”
Students are graduating at a time when median home prices on Maui are $1.3 million and thousands of Lahaina families struggle with displacement. They’re facing big choices that could keep them on Maui or send them to the Mainland. And while some say they want to return, they’re well aware of the cost.
The talent displayed on the field was a landmark for the MIL in what can arguably be labeled its best sport.
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