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Councilmember Dr. Addison Bulosan, Kaua‘i and Ni‘ihau 2022-2024

Candidate for 2024-2026 Kauaʻi County Council

2022-2024

Chair, Parks and Recreation and Transportation Committee

Vice Chair, Housing and Intergovermental Relations Committee

 

Contact Information

4396 Rice Street, Suite 209
Līhuʻe, Hawaiʻi 96766

Telephone : (808) 241-4188
Facsimile :   (808) 241-6349

1.  E-mail sent to Councilmembers and Council Services Staff for inclusion as TESTIMONY:
          counciltestimony@kauai.gov

2. Facebook

 

Join me on our podcast

Join us on an adventure as we explore random conversations with special guests from around the world. Whether it be about Hawai'i or the ins and outs of things, dive deep with us on the things we think, care, and love about.

Family and passions

Born and raised on Kauaʻi, son of Charlmaine and Adams Bulosan. Grandson to Catalino and Castora Suero. Siblings are Adams Jr., Adrian, and Clarissa. His beautiful family includes his wife, Dr. Nicole Cristobal, son, Kīlaʻa, and their puppy, Maile Cristobal.

Alongside serving a council member, Dr. Bulosan is an entrepreneur, community organizer, and serial volunteer. Dr. Bulosan spends his time serving on several non-profit boards and enjoys playing music whenever he can. He is passionate about developing sustainable systems for Kauaʻi and supporting our local residents resiliency.

Follow us on Instagram @cmaddisonbulosan for live updates

The work begins here, with our community.

Everything starts at the grassroots level. Our community success comes from doing a little from a lot of us rather than a lot from a few of us.

Hawaii Foodbank - Kauai

Our focus is in assisting the Hawaii Foodbank Kaua’i distribute food to our community in need. Learn more at Hawaii Foodbank Kauaʻi.


Rice Street Business Association

Strengthening our local circular economy enables our residents to continue calling Kauaʻi home. Learn more at www.downtownlihue.com.


Kamāwaelualani

Perpetuating Kauai’s Kānaka ʻŌiwi (native hawaiian) and place-based cultural strengths through public-arts, community education, and community research. Learn more at Kamāwaelualani.



Blog

8.12.24 post

Four blessings I’m grateful for Ahead of the General Election

As I seek reelection as a Councilmember, thereʻs no shortage of moments that give me a sense of purpose and drive to do the work. There have been four instances that propelled me into turbulence and yet, clarity and decisiveness in serving my community that I wanted to share with you.

The first blessing: Zenith Kīlaʻapilialohaikekailoameʻaoʻa. My wife and family welcomed our son into this world full of health and happiness. We were blessed with a healthy pregnancy and an amazing four months of love, growth, and connection. Kīlaʻa has renewed my eyes, heart, and soul to all the things I care about in this world. 

Every day and every moment has new meaning. Experiencing the world through Kīlaʻa opens an intangible commitment, love, and dedication to both the simplest and most complex of things. From ensuring the house is clean and safe to ensuring he grows up on an island where local values, local families, and everything that makes Kauaʻi special, is alive and well. 

Kīlaʻa and my family are my inspiration that has me laser-focused on helping our community thrive.

Second blessing: my health took a severe downturn when I woke up and was barely able to walk. Two months ago, I began to have unusual health symptoms, such as numbness and tingling in half of my body, severe back pain, and leg weakness and discoordination. With the help of my healthcare team, we quickly got to the bottom of it and found a three-centimeter benign tumor located inside of my spine, severely compressing my spinal cord causing me to lose body function.

With the possibility of permanent damage or death, I had an emergency surgery to remove the tumor with the hopes that my everyday function could return. With the love, support, and prayers of many, the surgery was successful, and in just a few days I was able to walk again. While the road to recovery is long, health is the greatest reminder of what you truly care about in this world. 

Just before the surgery my last written words were, “I love my life. I love all the people in it. Iʻm so grateful.” I love everything I get to do with my family, friends, and our community. I absolutely enjoy bringing people together, solving challenges, and enjoying life. 

This blessing has set a course for me to make healing and growing as much as a part of me as I give to others. When I dedicate the love and attention to my well-being, I get to do the same for all the things I love. 

Third blessing: in life we often meet someone that changes the course of your life for the better. My wife Nikki, is one of those people and it was actually her dog-daughter, Maile, who changed the course of our lives. You see, while Nikki and I started dating it was actually Maile who decided that I was the right fit for her Mom. From the first day we met, Maile and I have been inseparable. She attended community meetings, held down the office, took care of patients, and still had time to be the cutest, loving, and caring dwarf Pomeranian youʻd ever meet.

She was instantly loved by all. She smoothly transitioned into an ancestor on Friday, August 9, with all the love from her family surrounding her. 

Maile reminded everyone instantaneously that there is beauty, care, love, and kindness everywhere. That we can lead with kindness and love no matter the situation. That we can also set refuge in love and kindness as well. Maile was a safe place, a warm tingling feeling, and a deep sense of gratitude. 

Iʻm so grateful that I got to be with her 4 out of her 14 years of life as she has transformed me into who I am today, just by being present. She welcomed me to her family that I now get to be part of and has left a legacy for all dogs to strive for. We love you Maile. 

My final blessing: Sunday afternoon my family and friends joined together at our home to celebrate all of the support we received for the primary election, finishing in 7th position, the final seat on council, out of 17 candidates. Itʻs a humbling experience to receive votes of confidence and thereʻs never a moment I take for granted to be elected to serve. What makes this work special is that in order to get to work, you have to be supported by the community first. Being elected means that trust, care, and commitment begins before the ballot.

That trust, care, and commitment gives the work purpose and connection. Working within a community is one of the most rewarding experiences and at the end of the day, for me, is why I love what I do.

Our campaign has been dedicated from the first day we ran in 2020 until now, that our actions be the measure of what my capacity is if elected. Since being elected, the combination of serving as a community organizer and as an elected official has proven that local government is an extension of community. That when we open communication, be fully present, and collaborate, thereʻs no problem too great to overcome. My seeking reelection is a recommitment to continue the progress that has been made and to continue to take on the bigger challenges we continue to face.

As we head into Novemberʻs general election, I'm looking forward to bringing these blessings along the way as a reminder to myself, and to all that I get to work with, that we may be blessed to receive such blessings, and to use them for everything. The blessings of life, health, companionship, and purpose. 

6.9.24 post

Kauaʻi on my mind - a middle of the night thought process turned into a blog while taking care of my newborn

What a mixplate of dreams, cultures, philosophies, and ways of life. My perspective is one that is shaped by being born and raised on Kauaʻi, from a plantation Filipino family with a 1st generation mom and a father who immigrated from the Philippines who was sold the 1970s dream of a better life. 

We were taught the values of hard work, respecting our elders, and that the ultimate success team was to pursue a higher educationI experienced  a childhood immersed in mixed cultures with an emphasis on living an island lifestyle, which instilled in me the values of diversity and protecting the land.

My background, while not identical, is similar to the majority of people who call Kauaʻi home. The post-plantation families of Kauaʻi represent variations of generations living on the island: Some that left and came back, most who never left; but all who have memories of plantation life and lived the transition out of it and into the visitor industry, which still holds the economic engine of the island till this day. 

Who are these post-plantation families and what do they care about? Well, they lived in a time when you could live off of the land and sea. Where you knew your neighbors and everyone else’s business so relationship building was key. These families were also indoctrinated into the era of American industrialization and experienced capitalism as a way to solve individual pursuits versus community needs. The late 19th-20th century Hawaiʻi plantation families experienced  the time of transitioning out of cultural practices that focused on group mentality as a means of survival and into individual expression and prosperity through personal achievement. This transition shifted the pursuit of community centered success and indigenous ways of being towards the newly packaged American dream complete with capitalism, consumerism, and innovation. 

These post-plantation families were the predominant leaders in all industries on Kauaʻi. They were well represented in government and are the guiding force in the future of Kauaʻi. While the themes of protecting the land, sea, and small town ways of being remain prominent on Kauaʻi we’re currently conflicted around the challenges that were created with the transition from a plantation economy to a tourist economy. The descendants of plantation workers are now navigating our values of old, while creating new value systems in the wake of the collapsing plantations, the rise of tourism, and the continual reimagining of Hawaiʻi’s place in the global economy. Most of generation x, millennials, and zs are far enough removed from plantation life that they don’t know what it was like to live with burn days of the cane field, not relying on technology to stay connected, and the deep loyalty to each other that was needed to survive. 

Most gen x, millennials, and Zs have fully transitioned into the visitor industry dominated by consumerism as the primary vehicles for community and personal success. Post-plantation families were sold on higher education and new technology bought through borrowed money and time. While this resulted in the highest levels of education, innovation, and economic prosperity, it also resulted in a loss of community centered values, environmental degradation, and a decrease in health outcomes. 

Kauaʻiʻs post-plantation families are now at the crossroads of the daily contradictions of trying to be successful in two worlds at once; One world is where wealth is defined as a 1.2 million dollar home, international travel, and all the innovation and education we can consume; And the other world where wealth is defined by community well-being, environmental restoration, and interpersonal connectedness. Most families are balancing both worlds in some variation, the reality is this balance can feel daunting and unjust. While this is happening to Kauaʻi’s post-plantation families, there are two other populations on the island that push and pull the majority of plantation families. First, there are the Kānaka Maoli or native Hawaiians who were the first to call this place home. And secondly, the transplant population or those who are newly arrived through the visitor industry to Kauaʻi who now call this place home.

First off, Kānaka Maoli have been put through the wringer with many fresh memories of trauma and social inequities that they are navigating. While they relate to the plantation families in the integration into the forced lifestyle that comes with a prevailing tourist economy, and a lot of families are now ethnically mixed families with overlapping histories; their true pain comes from having an entire way of life, knowledge, land, and culture stolen by foreigners. The rapid decay of Kānaka Maoli ways of being since the introduction of foreign interests was so swift that in one generation, hundreds of years of knowledge and practices were silenced. From developing advanced agricultural practices of the land and sea that were 100% sustainable for the same population of today; to a governance system that prioritized the whole of the community that enabled leadership to focus on relationships to place and people over things. While most plantation families reminisce of the good times of the past, for Kānaka Maoli the past is remembered with a great sense of grief and for many, a feeling of a responsibility to revive those ancestral times. 

Some traditions and ways of being survived the plantation era and with the transition to the visitor industry, found a complicated opportunity to preserve their way of life: By commodifying themselves into capitalism. The visitor industry took certain parts of Kanaka Maoli being and sold it as an experience. Whether it was their land, art, agriculture, language, or philosophy, it all found a price tag and disproportionately provided profits to those who used the system of capitalism. 

Kānaka Maoli, however, were able to gain some power back from the extractive capitalistic forces imposed upon them to restore their way of life, knowledge, and culture. And in this restoration came new stewardship, leadership, and a desire to reawaken the relationships and ways of being that thrived just two generations ago. The 20th century up to the present resistance and a Kānaka Maoli led renaissance of art, language, and ways of being to be protected and perpetuated. On the backs of the generations that came before us, I believe we are currently in the third renaissance, led by generation x and millennials and adapted for longevity by generation z and generation alpha.

Our last group of people who arrived through the visitor industry are often referred to as transplants. They, like the plantation families, were also sold a dream. However, their dream differed in that it is one rooted  in the romanticization of Kauaʻi as a place that didn’t fully lose itself to the capitalist mindset and American psyche that dominated the narrative of western society before touching Hawaiʻi. When transplants arrive, many say they feel a calling, a reawakening of the human soul. One way to look at this is from a perspective that there is indigenous knowledge innate to them from their ancestors that has been stolen long ago. Or they came from a place that still shared community centered values and so when they step onto the land, they feel closer to a home they once came from that will never be home again. Another way to look at this, is that some transplants bought into this dream of Hawaiʻi as a paradise that they, by way of American citizenship or capital, feel it is their right to pursue. In my experience, Kauaʻi transplants have received Kauaʻi in one of two ways: either they got a rude awakening and are immediately repelled by the lack of self-determination and the capitalistic values  and the insider-outsider protective relational dynamics characteristic of Kauaʻi; or they have a deeper reasoning wanting to be here and contribute to the reshaping of Kauaʻi’s culture. 

The transplants who end up staying find themselves in two worlds: one world is strife with the reality that they don’t fully fit in with the rest of the community with their current ideologies and identities. This leaves them with the option to adapt to the discomfort or try to create a place that fits their ideologies and identities. Many transplants on Kaua’i have found a way to learn more about the struggles of Kānaka Maoli, understand the complexities that plantation families experience daily, and acculturate into the community as an ally. And still, many transplants struggle to align with the values of Kauaʻi’s longest residents and instead create their own social, political, and economic strongholds on Kauaʻi utilizing their wealth of resources and continue living their values. They empower the capitalist train and steamroll spaces with their presence and disproportionate amount of economic capital. They transform communities and places into commodities for profit which were once full of community centered people. They fuel the perspective of self-determination, innovation, and profit driven solutions. While they are the minority, their resources are extensive and their skill set in the current system allows them to have a bigger voice than the majority. They have the power to help restore community centered living as they are privileged enough to live a financially abundant life, and they also have the power to stifle the restoration efforts led by Kānaka Maoli and generational local plantation families by continuing to center capitalistic goals for Kauaiʻs land and people. 

This is my perspective of the dynamic of human life on Kaua’i. It’s the framework in which I understand my community and allows me to choose how I want to be on this island. Where my morals and values come from are the closest people to me. Nikki, my wife, in 3 years has transformed my personal priorities and shifted the way I implement my value of collectivism to be one that puts the Kānaka Maoli ways of being as the foundation of all things that get to call Kauaʻi home. Experiencing life with Nikki and the work she does and cares about resonated deeply with me when we first started dating and as I pursued the knowledge and practices important to her, it connected dots of experiences for me that felt like it had always been a part of me. My primary cause is the restoration of the Kānaka Maoli way of life. By restoring these ways of being, our community becomes naturally more self sustainable, more community centric, and more aligned with what makes Kauaʻi, Kauaʻi. 

In addition, my whole life is predominantly surrounded by my family and friends who share similar lifestyles of growing up on Kaua’i. My core group of friends are the same ones I had when I was 4 years old. They remind me of who I do this work for when I am faced with difficult decisions. I navigate the causes I care about with the needs and wants of our majority community; our post plantation and Kānaka Maoli families; in mind and heart. 

I’m privileged enough to have lived off island for 10 years and have been educated in the systems of our dominant world. With these experiences I have gained an extensive skill set. Returning home I have started and owned several different businesses and served in many leadership positions that champion self determination, innovation, and financial gain. While I experienced levels of success in these western models the true successes I have gained is in finding a way of existing in our capitalistic framework while not losing my community centered perspective or my values of restoration. This allows me to work across populations, with Kānaka Maoli, post-plantation families, and transplants who share similar values as myself to mutually protect this beautiful island and all her people. 

One practice that I have adopted was to transform my businesses to a nonprofit mindset. I operate my businesses to focus on giving back to the causes that restore community. They are designed to be self-sustainable, sourcing local, and creating value to the people it serves. This is the framework that informs my legislative work. My focus is to adapt or create legislation that protects, promotes, and perpetuates community centered values and ways of being. I spend my time empowering the things that work in our existing systems and modifying or removing the parts of our systems that go against it. Whether it’s taxing the visitor industry to build local housing or enabling local families to build more homes on their own properties. However, the truth is, most of the time the work is as simple as living the life I’m advocating for legislatively– participating at a workday at Alakoko fishpond, playing music with our keiki and kūpuna, walking around a community market and supporting local, spending time planting native plants with my wife, son, and father-in-law, or going to the beach for some healing. 

As I finish my second year as a county councilmember and embark on a campaign to hopefully serve one more term, this is my moʻolelo (story) that allows me to navigate our community and inform my decision making. This is my core moʻolelo that embodies my relationships and allows me to work with the people and places I get to work with.

If I am granted a second term, my hope is to tip the scale of change towards the rapid genuine restoration of place and people. Empowering our community with healthy systems that reflect our shared values and allow for a full transition of an era that prioritizes the land, sea, and people truly led by the Kānaka Maoli and generational post-plantation families. As hopeless as it sometimes feels, Kauaʻi’s history reminds us that we are a people of relentless resilience and a protective pride in our sense of place and I’m excited to go to work. 

Aloha, 

Addison B.

Legislative Updates

In The News


 policy focus

Our council plays a vital role in our ability to tackle the challenges ahead by affecting the local laws that govern both the social and financial framework in which we operate. My focus is on policies that can help increase home price affordability, increase economic prosperity, develop safer communities, restore healthier environmental systems, and develop a more equitable life here on Kauai.

The guiding documents that I reference are the Kaua’i General Plan and our Community Plans.

 

economy

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Policy focuses:

  • Direct improvements towards county technologies that enable businesses and communities to be more efficient and connected

  • Help focus county procurement to support locally owned businesses

  • Leverage multi-modal legislation to increase lower cost transit ability and reduce transportation costs

  • Enable agriculture innovation and collaboration through supportive policies

  • Support entrepreneurial endeavors and small business development through supportive county policies

We hit the bottom of the barrel as regards to our economic and health challenges during this pandemic. We need to shed our preconceived notion of our old economy and evolve our systems to better serve our current and future needs.


homes

Policy focuses:

  • Streamline policies for home development processes in county systems

  • Support existing neighborhoods for additional dwelling units, tiny homes, multi-family homes

  • Modify current policies that restrict new construction or redevelopment in town core centers that focus on residential/commercial combinations

The island challenges always stem on whether or not a local family can find a home. Re-imagining existing spaces with existing infrastructure is our immediate and long-term solution. This not only allows for smart growth with reduced environmental impacts, it keeps costs down allowing for affordability to be a priority. 


environment

Policy focuses:

  • Continue to support energy efficient systems and policies that enable businesses and homes to be self sustainable

  • Encourage home and business development in town core centers

  • Execute the Climate Action Plan

My focus is in continuing the efforts in zero waste efforts, renewable energy, town core centers, and multi-modal traveling. We must become the first fully sustainable community in order to take care of our earth properly.