Robert G. “Bobby” Hill III
Age: 59
Residence: Wailuku (Wai‘ehu Heights)
Party: Democrat
Current occupation:
Flight attendant, retired Maui police lieutenant Volunteer or community organization experience: Board member for Alu Like, U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, Angel Flight West
Military service: Colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve,
$200 million, but additional commitments and policy changes must be made, especially from the county.
Economy and budget:
Creating new industries in Hawaii is difficult. We must play to our strengths, but there has been tremendous pushback in possible new industries, including astronomy and bio-tech. We must develop a collective of what the community is willing to allow and push forward. Whether we like it or not, tourism will be our economy also served in Hawaii Army National Guard
Family: Married, two adult children for the foreseeable future. Attracting visitors with a higher spend rate must be a priority, as Maui was reaching an overwhelming tipping point before COVID. We have little options, but to reinvest in our main economic driver. It must however, be done in a thoughtful and strategic manner.
District issues:
The most pressing issue in our district is the rampant illegal drug use. Residual issues resulting from this include but are not limited to homelessness, property crime, crimes against persons (including domestic violence) and much more. We need to attack the source and simultaneously assist with the residual issues.
Cost of living:
We need to take it in steps. First, get them back to work. And back to work for the majority is back to both or all of their jobs. Since hotels will probably never be able to operate at 100 percent capacity again, we should encourage creative ways to utilize unoccupied units for possible subsidized employee housing. We can open our state back up safely if we have a solid plan first. We need to work with the experts in public health to create this plan and follow the plan accordingly, not haphazardly with everyone doing their own thing. We need to unify.
Economy and budget:
We can never say goodbye to tourism but we should never let it go back to what we had before this “reset.” It is not all going to happen in a day but it has to happen over a reasonable period of time. We can increase our diversified agriculture, but that will not be enough. We need creative ideas that can work in 2020 and beyond. I recommend looking into a state lottery.