Hawaii is a wonderful place to live, if you can afford it.
Everyone, well almost everyone, knows housing is too expensive and it keeps going up. Some people see that as a good thing because they see their house is an investment. The problem with that is the cost of a new house is going up too. Probably faster than an existing house appreciates. Most existing houses could not be rebuilt today because the building code keeps getting revised upward. Someone has convinced the Legislature that our new or even remodeled houses have to be built to an international standard. No more grass shacks here. Maybe the legislators think people who move away will take their house with them like some do within California and Arizona.
Another punishing expense is food; we’re told that 90% of the food here is imported, and that we should grow our own. Most of us are neither inclined nor capable of growing our own. Field to fork subsistence farming went out with the invention of refrigeration. Anyone with a decent job can earn enough to pay for their food in a lot less time than it takes to grow a tiny portion, with infinitely more variety. Who really wants fish and poi seven days a week? By fish they do not mean lobster or tuna, more likely dried ama’ama (mullet). Industrial farming produces way more food per hour worked and per acre planted.
Shipping also has become so efficient that plantation fruit grown thousands of miles away can undersell local fruit, especially out of season. Mainland eggs and dairy products overwhelm local producers. The worry “What if the ships stop coming?” should be taken more seriously. At least we won’t run out of pork or birria (goat) on the hoof.
Part of the food problem, like the housing problem, is self-inflicted. We want the products, but not the inevitable NIMBY operations, water consumption, fertilizer use, insecticides, waste products, smell and noise. Our market is too small to create the production economics of scale common to mainland or foreign operations. Most coffee growers in Kona are family operations with about 5 acres. In other lands there are coffee plantations that employ hundreds of workers. Kona coffee commands a premium price, but on only a tiny volume. Even our biggest crop, a million tons a year, sugar, was being harvested with machetes when other growers had moved on to combines.
Collective bargaining is the typical workers leverage against repressive management, but something is out of whack here. The contracts seem to excessively favor seniority. The Hawaii County Fire Department cannot hire additional firefighters at any pay level except apprentice, no matter how experienced or qualified. Thus, no experienced firefighters can afford to move here. This is due to a statewide bargaining agreement in which the counties with fewer people have little bargaining power compared to Honolulu’s majority.
Police and schools also have issues with statewide policies. Governor Lingle proposed having local school districts like every other state instead of one managed from the Capitol but bureaucracies defend their territory. Two thirds of the Hawaii State School System employees are not teachers or bus drivers.
Tourism is the economic engine for most of Hawaii, but tourists are not interchangeable. Many expect expensive luxury accommodations and services. That forces small businesses to specialize in that end of the market, making them uncompetitive for the local market.
That is another challenge, each county has unique issues, but Honolulu elects 17 of 25 State Senators, 33 of 51 Representatives and 1 1/2 of U.S. Representatives. The other half a Representative has to serve all 4 counties. A district 340 miles long, mostly water. Sometimes the legislature acts like a county council passing state laws that only apply to counties of over 500,000 aka Honolulu, but all the counties contribute to the cost. Granted Honolulu is not monolithic, part of it is rural, they even have small cattle ranches and a big part is military. They also control local issues that their county council should not delegate to the state, like light rail for downtown that has been embarrassing to say the least. For example, tracks and wheels that don’t match.
Ken Obenski is a forensic engineer, now safety and freedom advocate in South Kona. He writes a biweekly column for West Hawaii Today. Feedback is encouraged at obenskik@gmail.com.