Posted on: Thursday, October 10, 2002

ELECTION 2002
North Shore identity an issue

By Catherine E. Toth
Advertiser Staff Writer

House 46th District
MICHAEL MAGAOAY (D) ADDRESS: P.O. Box 977, Waialua OCCUPATION: Senior project engineer, A-1 A-Lectrician Inc. FAMILY: Married, two children ONE BIG IDEA: To open a community-wide farmers marketplace catering to both residents and tourists. "It's more of a coming-together for the community," he said.	CAROL ANNE PHILIPS (R) ADDRESS: P.O. Box 8, Hale'iwa OCCUPATION: Owner/CEO of Bodyboard Productions Inc., interim executive director of Empower North Shore O'ahu, professional surfer/bodyboarder FAMILY: Single ONE BIG IDEA: To push back Kamehameha Highway fronting surf breaks Chun's Reef and Laniakea to build beach parks with showers and parking lots. Moving back the highway wouldn't displace homes, she said.

Despite the cultural and social diversity along O'ahu's North Shore, there is one constant throughout the area: Residents want economic stimulation without compromising their rural lifestyle.

For decades the North Shore has lured countless visitors with its world-famous surf and rustic charm. It's one of the few places on O'ahu that still maintains an "Old Hawai'i" feel, with streetside vendors and barefoot kids jumping off the Hale'iwa Bridge.

The diversity within District 46, which stretches from Mokule'ia to La'ie, is what the candidates vying for its House seat see as both the area's potential and challenge.

"We have a lot of resources out here," said Republican candidate Carol Anne Philips, 36. "We just have to bring the community together."

About 43,000 people live in the district, which also includes Helemano and Schofield Barracks. About 41 percent of the residents are Caucasian, 10 percent black and 9.8 percent Filipino. Native Hawaiians in this district make up just 3.8 percent of the total population.

La'ie, which was added to the district this year under reapportionment, has a large, strong and vocal Polynesian community, with much of its economy tied into the Polynesian Cultural Center and Brigham Young University-Hawai'i.

"What makes the area so unique is the multiculture out there," said Democratic incumbent Michael Magaoay, 49. "Everybody's doing the same thing, but with a different flavor."

Both candidates are longtime North Shore residents — Magaoay in Waialua and Philips in Sunset and Kahuku — and feel their connection with the community is what makes them viable candidates to serve an area where residents often feel neglected by City Hall.

Magaoay, an electrical engineer who works downtown, moved back to Wai-alua from Mililani 12 years ago, a decision he has never regretted, despite the longer commute.

"When you're driving down Farrington Highway (toward Waialua), over that hill, you see paradise," Magaoay said. "It's home."

Born and raised in Waialua, he knows firsthand how important Waialua Sugar was for the rural community, which hasn't fully recovered economically since the plantation closed in 1996.

According to the 2000 Census, the agriculture industry lost 28 percent of its workers during the 1990s, when plantations closed on every major island. O'ahu lost the greatest number of jobs — 2,042 — with the closing of the Waialua Sugar and O'ahu Sugar plantations.

The expansion of diversified farming in crops such as coffee and corn has helped the North Shore's agricultural communities stay afloat. But more can be done, Magaoay insists.

He would push for the state to encourage more diversified agriculture ventures with tax breaks and by getting landowners such as Dole to lease acreage to start-up farmers. He would also look for alternate methods of irrigation to avoid depleting the resources at Lake Wilson, also known as Wahiawa Reservoir.

"We have a lot of fertile land," Magaoay said. "It's our hidden treasure. It's just a matter of how we use it and whether it's conducive to the community's goal of keeping country country."

That goal has been difficult to maintain, especially with a burgeoning surf industry that has set up shop on the North Shore.

Trying to find the balance between cashing in on the area's tourism potential and resisting overdevelopment and exploitation of natural resources has been the biggest challenge for North Shore residents.

"It's beautiful, it's uncrowded, it's more like the Hawai'i I was raised in," said longtime Mokule'ia resident Mike Dailey. "It's more plantation-style. There's more of a community out here."

Dailey, a business owner and president of the Mokule'ia Community Association, sees the economic potential for the North Shore. But he doesn't want to see the area turn into another Waikiki.

"We've had a very strong and very organized community effort to keep the country country," Dailey said. "But the reality is there's going to be change. The North Shore is a beautiful place, and it keeps getting found by more and more people. And as it gets found, there's more and more pressure on it. It's up to the community to try and control the growth and development and push it in ways that's comfortable and fits with the current lifestyle."

Two years ago the community agreed with the city to limited growth in the North Shore Sustainable Community's Plan, which governs land use in the area for the next 10 years. What residents don't want to see are golf courses and resorts built along their coastline.

"The North Shore is the recreational, rural and agricultural greenbelt for urban Honolulu," Dailey said. "We've fought real hard to keep it country and now that's paid off in terms of urban Honolulu buying into the concept and keeping it that way, too. But now we have to start talking dollars and cents."

Philips, who teaches bodyboarding and organizes international bodyboarding events, wants to see the district get a fairer share of government money to improve schools and parks.

Her plan is to be vocal, to make the concerns of the community clear to the state and city. She argues that since so many visitors use the roads and parks on the North Shore, the city should factor that into their money distribution.

She plans to introduce legislation that would recognize this as a high-usage area and call for more infrastructure.

The city allocates money on the basis of static population; it doesn't take into account the number of people who visit the area and use its resources, she said.

"We're the playground for the island," said Philips, who feels her strength as a candidate is she "gets" the ocean. "We're adding a lot to the state's economy and visitor industry, and we support that. But it does impact our lives and we deserve to get our share of the revenues."

A professional bodyboarder, Philips knows the lure of the North Shore waves. But there's more to the district than just the winter swells.

She wants to bring the entire district together, utilizing each area's diversity in culture and lifestyle, to present a unified front to City Hall.

"There should be more community-based decision-making," Philips said. "The ones who are most affected by the situation usually come up with the best solutions."