Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 25, Number 10, 1 October 2008 — YOUR VOICE [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

YOUR VOICE

What is the No. 1 issue facing Native Hawaiian voters in the 2008 election?

To build or not to build a proposed fixed rail system - that was the question at the center of the 2008 Honolulu Mayoral Debate at the Hawai'i Theatre, televised on KGMB9 prior to the Sept. 20 statewide primary. With cheers and occasional jeers, audience members supported their candidates' stances on the proposed mass transit project, affordable housing and the homeless. But debate attendees also had other policy matters on their nūnds, as indicated by their responses to KWO' s question:

Pohai Ryan Kailua Right now in my work for a social program, I find that

Hawaiians eannot survive without a healthier economy. There is nothing more important than tackling the economy.

Maria Andrade Waipahu I think we need better education for our Native Hawaiian kids, because Kamehameha <->or» on 1 \ : r\rAtti/iA

VU.11 Wlll J J/1UY1UC for a chosen few. All of our children ean use the help. If you need support for a problem like dyslexia, you have to work hard at finding the help in our puhlie schools. This needs to change.

I Dickie Wong Honolulu We have to boost health care. I give credit to OHA for doing a lot. But now we are see-

ing the effects of diabetes on Hawaiian people and this demands attention from lawmakers or our people will not have the good lives they deserve.

Summcr Kaimikaua Hawai'i Kai Hawaiian Home Lands issues are most important to Native Hawaiian

voters. Making sure that Hawaiians have a plaee to stay and ean pass it on to their children in the future. As our state's populaūon is growing, this is becoming more important for Native Hawaiian residents.