Democrat to serve Waipahu

By Catherine E. Toth
Advertiser Staff Writer

With state Rep. Nestor Garcia running for City Council, the District 41 House seat is up for grabs. Four candidates, all Democrats, seek to replace him.

Jon Riki Karamatsu (D) • Address: Declined to provide • Occupation: Attorney • Family: Single • One big idea: "Creating jobs, diversifying our economy, making government efficient and improving the quality of public education." Rito Saniatan (D) • Address: 94-615 Kupuohi St., Waipahu • Occupation: Agent for Allstate Insurance • Family: Married with three children • One big idea: "Making a difference in our community through honesty, integrity and sincerity to the people in our district." Nathan Takeuchi (D) • Address: Declined to provide • Occupation: Office manager for Rep. Roy Takumi • Family: Declined to provide • One big idea: Declined to provide Annette E. Yamaguchi (D) • Address: 94-450 Lianu Place, Waipahu • Occupation: Public policy executive director at YWCA of Honolulu, Waipahu Neighborhood Board chairwoman • Family: Married with three children and five grandchildren • One big idea: "I would like to see an alternative way of meeting the Felix Consent Decree without having to devote so much of our public school system funding to meeting the requirements with untrained teachers expected to do so with no increase in salary."

The winner of the four-way primary Sept. 21 will emerge as the elected official for the district. There is no Republican candidate.

The district, long a Democratic stronghold, was redrawn in reapportionment and now encompasses Waipahu town, Waikele and Village Park. The district has a population of more than 23,000 people, nearly 17,000 of whom are eligible voters. Filipinos make up 33.4 percent of the district population, followed by Japanese at 14.9 percent and Caucasians with 10.2 percent.

"The diversity is what makes this (entire) community so unique," said Yamaguchi, who has lived in Waipahu for 40 years.

Each candidate lives in a different area within the district: Yamaguchi is from Waipahu town, Karamatsu from Waikele, Takeuchi from Village Park and Saniatan from Royal Kunia.

Finding a way to address the different issues in a district with distinct neighborhoods, each with its own personality and demographics, will be a challenge.

Waipahu town needs an economic boost. Waikele and Royal Kunia are desperate for a solution to traffic. All three face problems of crowded schools and crime.

Though technically each area falls under the city of Waipahu, residents tend to identify themselves by their subdivision, despite their ZIP code affiliation.

"It shouldn't be too hard to meet the needs of the community," said Saniatan, 42, who has worked and lived in Royal Kunia for 17 years. "We're still Waipahu. Everyone has their own concerns, but the majority of the things we need are the top issues in the entire district."

Town pride

Since the emotional closure of the O'ahu Sugar Co. mill in 1995, Waipahu town has been in the economic doldrums, overshadowed by its younger, burgeoning neighbors Waikele and Royal Kunia.

Plantation workers moved out, and neighborhood stores felt the impact. Landmark general store Arakawa's and Bigway Supermarket closed soon after the mill closure.

There has been a resurgence of pride in its plantation heritage, and Waipahu town is seeing an economic and social renaissance of sorts. The $14 million Filipino Community Center on Mokuola Street, which opened in June, has become a cultural focal point in the neighborhood. The Leeward YMCA has also moved into the former sugar mill administration building, with plans for expansion. More businesses are moving into the Mill Town Center business/industrial park. There's a library, adult day-care center and a senior living facility all in the hub of old-town Waipahu.

"We've had a stigma for a long time," said City Councilwoman Darrlyn Bunda, executive director of the Waipahu Community Association. "We're fighting back, and we're showing we are a community that is really working hard to become a place we can be proud of."

Residents have adopted the federal Weed & Seed program, which recruits area residents to help reduce drug activity and related crime in their neighborhoods. Thousands turned out for the first Taste of Waipahu last year and April's "Sunset in the Park," prompting local organizations to brainstorm other ideas to bring the community together.

Still, many small-business owners are barely surviving.

"We need to try and bring business back to Waipahu (town)," said Gary Tomita, Waipahu Neighborhood Board vice chairman and a longtime resident.

He said the development of Kapolei and Waikele, with their large shopping centers and Mainland stores, have taken commerce away from the old plantation town.

"We've created pockets that compete for the same dollar," Tomita said. "Now Waipahu falls to the wayside like a lot of Mainland towns that freeways bypass."

Karamatsu, 27, believes that by diversifying Hawai'i's economy — promoting alternative industries to tourism such as biotechnology and films — more money will be generated for the state and that will "trickle down" to the entire district.

"If there's more money in the general fund, you can provide the services that are needed," Karamatsu said. "And when there's more money flowing, more money in people's pockets, they will spend more. Buying and spending is healthy for the economy ... It's a ripple effect."

Commuters' concerns

Traffic has always been a top concern for the district's commuters, especially in Waikele and Royal Kunia, where many of the residents endure a 45-minute to hour-long drive into town.

"They need to improve the highways or give us alternatives," said Carla Kansky, a resident of Waikele for seven years. She leaves the house at 6 a.m. every morning to get to work at St. Francis Medical Center on time.

Jim Bradley gave up driving from Waikele to his job at Pearl Harbor. The 47-year-old electrical engineer rides his bike instead.

"I'm not going to put up with the car wars," said Bradley, who moved to Waikele in 1996. "Traffic is disgusting. They need a mass transit system here."

Turning Central O'ahu into a "second city," by encouraging businesses to move to Waipahu and supporting plans for the University of Hawai'i to build its West O'ahu campus in Kapolei, is a solution some of the candidates see as a way to alleviate traffic while addressing the district's economic concerns.

"We need this (plan) to become a reality," said Yamaguchi, 61. "That will solve our problem. But people are afraid of change."

Crowded schools

For years the district's public schools have faced the issue of crowded classrooms. At one time August Ahrens Elementary School in Waipahu town had about 1,700 students; because of the opening of Waikele Elementary School, that number has dropped to about 1,260.

"I've seen improvements," said Florentina Smith, principal at August Ahrens. "We've seen a drop in enrollment in the past years. But if our elementary schools are feeding into one intermediate school and one high school, that will cause problems. I think the way (the area has) been developing, though, has been slow but sure."

Saniatan hopes to revive plans for an elementary school in Royal Kunia, a project that has been delayed indefinitely. Kaleiopu'u Elementary School in nearby Village Park has seen enrollment jump nearly 50 percent over capacity since the opening of the Royal Kunia development.

The influx of immigrants into the area has also raised concerns about English as a Second Language programs within the schools. In the past decade the number of students who have limited English skills has increased 44 percent, from 8,861 to 12,837, according to the Department of Education's most recent Superintendent's Report, an annual account of the state's public school statistics and data that covers the 2000-01 school year.

"Education is definitely a priority in our area," Tomita said. "With a lot of immigrant groups moving in, English is not their primary language. The challenge is for them to learn English."

The district's cultural diversity is a big part of its charm, and residents and community leaders feel it's a strength they need to exploit.

"We've got a lot of pride in our community," Bunda said. "We want to pull that together and make it stronger."

Candidate Nathan Takeuchi declined to be interviewed for this story.

Reach Catherine E. Toth at 535-8103 or ctoth@honoluluadvertiser.com.

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