Above the bridge
Above the bridge
BRAH KRUZ for House of Rep District 49, KANEOHE
Join us for an enlightening and empowering episode as we embark on a journey of political engagement in the vibrant state of Hawaii. We are thrilled to have Brah Kruz, a renowned content creator turned politically engaged, returning as our guest. Brah Kruz shares his inspiring transition and sheds light on the pressing local issues that he passionately advocates for. From grassroots activism to advocating for restrictions on home land purchases, Brah Kruz story showcases the power of community involvement and the need for Hawaiian voices in politics. We also explore the significance of voter engagement, the impact of local elections on community improvement, and the urgent need for more native Hawaiian representation. Tune in as we discuss the challenges, triumphs, and the collective responsibility to create a thriving future for our beloved Kaneohe.
In this episode, we delve into the world of political engagement in Hawaii through the lens of Brah Kruz's remarkable journey. He takes us on a captivating ride, from his early days as a content creator to his current role as a political candidate. We explore his experiences at the Peace March, where he gained crucial insights into local Hawaiian issues, and his in involvement in advocating for restricting home land purchases in Hawaii's legislative chambers. Kruz's story is a testament to the power of grassroots activism and the immense importance of representing Hawaiian voices in politics. We also discuss the transformative potential of voter engagement, emphasizing the need to vote based on policy and merit rather than party affiliation alone.
Join us for an eye-opening discussion on the significance of local elections and community involvement in shaping our beloved district of Hawaii's District 49. As a candidate for state representative, I share my personal experiences and insights into the local political landscape. We explore the challenges of overcoming partisan biases and the importance of voting for candidates based on their policies and merits. The conversation highlights the impact of past voting patterns, the presence of swing voters, and the opportunities for change within our district. We also dive into specific local issues such as infrastructure problems, homelessness, and substance abuse, underscoring the urgent need for community involvement and proactive measures to address these pressing concerns. Together, let's foster a future where our community thrives and our children flourish right here in Kaneohe.
Okay, welcome to another edition of the Above the Bridge podcast. I'm your host, thaddeus. First thing I want to do is shout out our sponsors. First we have Defend Hawaii. There's a shop in Winter Mall called no One. Go check them out. They have a bunch of new drops for spring and summer. If not, go on their website, defendhawaiicom. If you use promo code ATBPODUPONCHECKOUT, you will receive 15% off your first your entire purchase order. Next, we have Irip Detail Supply. They have a store in Temple Valley Shopping Center Shout out to Kaika for his two-year anniversary. And they're also opening a new store in Las Vegas, soon. Check out, you will receive 15% off your entire purchase order. Next, we have Hawaii Candy Factory, and you see their stuff everywhere. They have noms and gushers with lemon peel and all kind of different crazy concoctions. Go check them out. Hawaii Candy Factory promo code ATBPODUPON Check out you receive 10% off your entire purchase order.
Speaker 1:Last but not least, we have Medicinal Mushrooms Hawaii. It's a local-based medicinal mushroom company based out of Hawaii. They have four different tinctures right now of extract from the lion's mane mushroom, turkey tail, the chaga mushroom and the red reishi. If you don't know what any of these medicinal qualities for these mushrooms. Go check out their website, medmushroomhighcom, and I'll tell you exactly what all these mushrooms do health benefits for your immune system, your neurological Also. The new one, red Reishi, is good for sleep and I've been taking it. I've been sleeping like a champ, so go check them out, medmushroomhighcom. Promo code ATBPODUPON Check out all capital letters and you'll receive 45% off your first tincture of whatever mushroom you want. Go check them out. Aloha, okay, welcome to another edition of the Above the Bridge podcast. This one's a special one. I have returning guests, the one and only Brock Cruz. He's here to explain his new campaign and I am honored to have you back on here and I am interested to hear what you got going on now, my brother.
Speaker 2:What's up? Mahalo bro. We came a long way through the three videos of different stages of what I'm doing. It's kind of crazy to think about.
Speaker 1:All right, man. Okay, let's get down to it what's going on with you, bro?
Speaker 2:all right, so politics you can't live. We could live without it. People can live without politics, but anyway, uh, quick backstory to where, how we ended up here. Um, coming into the new year, I wanted to kind of change what I was doing as far as content, and one of those things was getting more into podcasting, maybe just interviewing people, stepping outside of that zone of just making skits and funny stuff and doing something different. Um, one of the events that I went to when I was getting into interviewing people more was the? Um, I totally forgot what it was. Oh, the only pop peace march.
Speaker 2:Right, the peace rally yeah and when I went there that day I had interviewed a few people my friend Emma from Moonkind Things, elijah, son of Oahu. I interviewed Ika'a Kamai, ika'a Kamskalan and kind of just got their perspective on a few things that I had. The questions weren't necessarily pertaining to like the event itself, but it was just generalized like Hawaiian type questions, right, Questions about basically this person's thoughts on Hawaiian things. For other people to get their perspective on. One of the ones that went viral, kind of that made a lot of people, a lot of Howleys anyway, on TikTok, really flustered, with someone asking about should non-Hawaiians be able to own, you know, hawaiian-based businesses or should they you know what I mean Should they use that in their thing? Is that okay? It was a hard. No, that was a very vocal anti-Hlly, but I mean I understand her perspective as well. But yeah, so that they kind of opened up my mind to some of the things that I didn't really you know, I guess I didn't really know a lot of the stuff and it kind of just piqued my interest and then from there I went into speaking to more people about other things that have to do with hawaii.
Speaker 2:I went to go speak to rather daniel, daniel anthony and paulo stop by for here, talk for a little bit eventually. Uh, and someone that I've been following for a while, but what caught my I guess attention was the was it? Sb3197 Senate bill. Forget it already, but it's basically Brenton Allsville, to ban foreign buyers from coming to Hawaii and purchasing land. That's what got me to go to the Capitol.
Speaker 2:I actually ended up giving a testimony. I wrote this. I wrote this like super, like crazy one minute one, because they limit you, limit you, or they limited that one specifically to one minute. All the ones I went to were one minute. I guess it just depends on how much people are there, because normally it's supposed to be three.
Speaker 2:But we went, it was me and ikaika aloha, uh, the tales from the tarot patch is this podcast? Yeah. So we went and I had this whole speech and I was like, nah, I'm just gonna, I'm just gonna go from the, uh, the old spirit, the old heart, and I ended up fucking, bro, we're in there for like an hour and a half, right, just waiting, just waiting, and like I was coughing a little bit and my, my throat was super dry and I had water. You can't I don't know if you can bring it down to the capital. But I get up there and I'm like, uh, I'm in strong support of this bill and I think if you're against this bill, then you're anti-hawaiian, thank you that's all you said that's all I said.
Speaker 2:Uh, the video did well on instagram. People loved it and I mean in a general. You know, in a sense, that's kind of what I was saying anyway, just very like, instead of a minute, it was like five, six, seven seconds and it was terrible, but that was my first time doing something like that, and that basically got me to start looking at more of the political figures. Some of the people that I follow specifically are Diamond Garcia. Yeah, actually it's basically just Diamond Garcia, and then I kind of just you know, nowadays I don't know if it's just me, but it seems like people are getting more involved with sharing specific bills that pertain to them in some way. Like there was the was it? Gender reaffirmation bill I don't know what the actual thing was.
Speaker 2:Um, there was the bill banning short-term rentals. There was, uh, you know, the things that are affecting everyday people like us and or at least falling into the algorithm where we see it and people are sharing it. So, anyway, yeah, so that's what got me to the capital and to do, to doing that, and then I started paying more attention to what's going on. Then I started paying attention to who are the people putting these types of bills out that are completely useless. Honestly, just like you see, that bill, there was one that was like they're trying to make the shock of the state gesture. Like I mean, I get it, but at the same time, with everything that's happening in hawaii, like that seems like at the back end of what we should be focusing on, yeah, um.
Speaker 2:So then the next bill that I went to go support was the or not support opposed was a gun bill where they're trying to ban guns Probably not going to be liked by a lot of people because apparently Hawaii has this big, fierce, crazy fear of guns, it seems like but they're basically trying to pass a bill that was taking all guns away, like the verbiage was basically saying that any gun with, like, a detachable pistol or a detachable magazine was going to be banned, which basically is like almost every gun. Yeah, that was that was like actually in the bill. I actually tried to read them. Sometimes I needed people to help break it down, because there's like these 30 page bills with all this like fluff in it where, like you know, every day people aren't gonna go look through.
Speaker 2:You need the cliff note version yeah, we just need it broken down so that you know normal people can understand it and not have to. You know what I mean and like yeah yeah, so that one I had.
Speaker 2:That's when I pulled out the phone when your boy was like you know, this is a clear overreach by the government. You're trying to vilify law-abiding citizens. That one I felt super like I actually went. You know I did that. But basically getting more involved with paying attention to the bills through that first one and seeing who's doing it, etc. You can kind of start to see like who's actually pushing things that are going to help Hawaiians and people that are pushing things that are not detrimental maybe even to Hawaiians. And that's where we are now. It is me running for state representative of District 49, which is basically from, like the mall area Kane, kaneohe, all the way to this side and then it kind of stops at Bayview Golf Course. You know that road that goes up.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Like Kohainani side's all District 50, which is a part of Kailua, and then our district is that part of Kaneohe, yeah, and then we also have Mauna Wili in our district as well. I don't know how exactly that worked out, but and actually in the last election I looked at the map and, uh, poinani was a part of our district. But I guess they do something depending on, like, the numbers of people and stuff they'll like shrink or enlarge districts.
Speaker 1:So I see yeah so kahalu is is a different district kahalu is district 48.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so once you go to, once you pass the mall, basically like up haiku, I think a certain point of haiku and everything past the mall towards king would all be considered district 48. I don't know exactly where it ends, probably somewhere, I think.
Speaker 2:I remember, like as far as it goes yeah, yeah sounds, but um yeah, so it was crazy too, because when I talked to all about it he said that, like the conservative people start in like the kohalu area, and as you go on it's into the country, it's more conservative, just in general.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So Kaneohe is more of a less conservative kind, of more tailored to you personally, I guess.
Speaker 2:Actually, according to the votes, the last guy who ran Republican lost by like 10,000 votes in our district. I didn't really pay attention at the time. I I don't know like what exactly like why was it that? But it seems like like, when you first look at it, it seems like kaneo or district 49 that's including monowilly is more liberal, but we got, uh, something for the gop.
Speaker 2:I don't know exactly what it was, but it's like a voter breakdown and it kind of shows that we're not as like we are like more liberal, but a lot of our voters like I think it was like 50 something percent is a swing voter. So basically they have a I guess it's some kind of thing that will mark you as either a weak Democrat, strong Democrat, weak Republican, strong Republican, or a swing voter, and I guess a swing voter is anybody that votes like either way. But so that's kind of a number that we saw and decided that, like, this could be something that we could win. Because you know, when you first look at it, okay, you see 13 000 votes for the democrat side, but then when you actually break it down, you kind of see that, okay, these people don't vote purely democrat or purely republican. They kind of, you know, mix it up.
Speaker 2:So yeah then at that point it would be thinking that, yeah, so at that point I'd be basically thinking that, yeah, so at that point it'd be basically thinking more like, okay, now they're voting based on the candidate and what they, what they offer, instead of the party. And that's a huge thing for me too. I mean, people put so much stock into political party alignment. It doesn't matter if it's a Democrat, it doesn't matter if it's a Republican, it't matter if it's a republican, it matters if is. Are this, is this person making sense?
Speaker 1:yeah, is he? Who's the best guy for the job?
Speaker 2:right, like you, just need someone that's going to represent the people well and, I think, someone that's with just common common knowledge, people, everyday people like you and me. We could go in there. We'll hear a bill and immediately know yes or no. Like you know, yeah, is this something that's for the betterment of the people or is it detrimental? Or is it, you know, neutral, or is there things we can change to make it better? Things like that. And yeah, so it's. It's. It's tough, though, because haw, because Hawaii is very much a blue, true to the blue, no matter who state, which is, in general, right, which is hard to hard to change, especially with the stigma that comes with running as a Republican, especially with Trump, they'll just immediately shoot down the thought of it. Shoot down the thought of it. I've already had people comment that and message me that after we announced that I was running, like, oh, what are you running as A Republican?
Speaker 1:Oh.
Speaker 2:I don't know Republicans. Well, you want to maybe know what I fucking, what I'm representing or what I'm doing, what I'm standing for. You know, and it just is. The same could be applied to a Democrat, right? Maybe you're just voting just because he's blue, but he could be a piece of shit or have real bad policies, etc. Etc.
Speaker 1:So yeah, you gotta vote for who's best for the job. I always thought that, and doesn't matter what party they're from, honestly shouldn't even be parties, it's just how it is and honestly, hawaii's been what democrat for it's kind of. It's kind of to the point where it's a given already. You know I mean it's and you can you can.
Speaker 2:You can see it too, like in the numbers, like these democrats aren't winning by a small margin. They're like blowing people out of the water, and a lot of it is. I learned name familiarity like yeah people won't even.
Speaker 2:People won't even know what they stand for, but they've seen it. I think it was name id or name recognition stuff. Yeah, exact term. But they'll see that name everywhere. And when you're at the booth, right, you're like, oh, that's that name. We saw a bunch of places you know we'll just go for them. That's like a proven, statistically proven thing to work.
Speaker 1:So it's like that's why everybody's waving sign and making traffic, which I assume you're gonna do too uh, yes, eventually they were hoping to do that.
Speaker 2:We're gonna do it in other places. Uh, people always gavin made a point uh, people are always waving signs next to burger king. Which how many people are actually conway residents that are passing through that specific area? And I thought, huh, it's kind of a good way to look at it because at certain times of the day, like these people could be, that's a major traffic point for, like kailua yeah or things that aren't in the district. But I mean like, yeah, so we're planning on doing the sign, waving things as it gets.
Speaker 2:Hopefully no one else is running on the republican side, so we don't really need to worry about the primary election because that'd be awesome yeah, we, you know it'll just be kind of a it's just me anyway, but I do want to encourage people and try to see if we can get a lot of people out anyway, because that's kind of the. The main issue is getting people that vote to vote, getting people that aren't involved in politics to get involved and to win this district, or to win any election or specifically this one that we're in.
Speaker 2:That's something that we need to do. We need to be able to reach the 18, 19, 20 year olds that don't give a shit about politics and try to show them that it matters. And you know, I think a lot of the people kind of don't have faith in the government because of the system and the repetitive cycle of elections that we're in. People just get in, no matter what. You know, I think, as far as presidential elections, maybe sometimes your vote doesn't count as much, especially if you're in a state that votes the opposite of your party. So, like Hawaii, hawaii is always Democrat. So if you're a Republican voter, statistically speaking your vote means nothing because it's like it's just the way it is. We always end up blue. But in local elections, where it's more, you know close to you these things, that these are the people making the laws for us. That's something you can definitely affect.
Speaker 2:With your vote you get your friends to vote. You come out, you support these people, whether it's a Republican or a Democrat or whoever. They have values and ideas that you line up with. You go out and support them. You know you get more people to support. It's a domino effect. Next thing, you know like there could be a change and all was one of the perfect people that I give an example to for that. He came with no political background, he was a newscaster and he did the grassroots door to door knocking campaign and just gave people the ideas that he had and what.
Speaker 2:It was close, but he did it yeah so you know that formula can be applied to everywhere. I feel you just need to be able to prove, or at least convince people that you can represent them in, like you know, a good way. Yeah, so.
Speaker 1:So how do you even sign up to get on the ballot, like do you got to get nominated, or like you just can go somewhere and be like, hey, I want to run for this?
Speaker 2:oh, so the process is basically yeah, it's. It's more complicated once you get in, but you go to the website, sign up whatever you're running for. You print out a nomination form, which is what you need to get a certain amount of signatures, depending on what you're running for. Things like the higher up you are, the more signatures you need. District representative is 15 signatures, so you need to get 15 signatures, 50 in one file oh wow so yeah, you just need 15 signatures.
Speaker 2:50 and one, five, oh wow. So yeah, you just need 15 signatures from your district. You turn it in and then you have your name on the ballot. But then that's when the actual, like complicated stuff comes in. You need a treasurer, you need to make a get it, yeah, and get a separate bank account.
Speaker 2:You have to file a bunch of candidacy forms and tend to run, etc, etc it's not super, super complicated, but it's definitely like something you need to put like time and effort at least into knowing for sure what you're doing so you don't mess up and you did all this already uh, no, we're actually still waiting, for we need to do the nomination papers, but we have everything ready to go as soon as that's done. So, like technically okay, yeah, yeah, so that's why we're just kind of doing what we can right now.
Speaker 2:Um, we did a a short, a little canvassing thing amount of willie the other week, last week. Uh, that was kind of I was nervous because, like for me, it's like I don't like people knocking on my door, I don't think anybody does and the first thing you think is especially in a neighborhood like mount willie, where no one else is probably ever there unless you come there like what is this guy?
Speaker 2:you? Are you a salesman, are you a criminal, et cetera, like you don't know right, especially now that the thing's happening. So I just kind of have the professional. Look Gavin's there we had, yeah. So then we went to I think a total of like only five houses, but the two ones that we did talk to were Republican, strong Republicans. So they were like yep, we got you. Oh, that's cool, we didn't even need to do anything and we already got this right.
Speaker 2:The other guy was busy, so he just took the card. We handed out the card to him just so he can kind of go on the website and see a little bit of what we have. The website isn't completely done yet, but it has just like the gist of who I am and what we're, why we're doing this. And then another family actually she came out and her husband came out and they're like listening and we kind of asked like you know, what are the? The thing about our district that's strange is that it includes mount nowilly, which is a completely different place than Kaneohe, which has completely different problems than we do.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and that neighborhood's really nice. I've never really been there to see it. It's really nice. They don't have potholes Not a single pothole in that neighborhood at all.
Speaker 1:Must be a well-to-do neighborhood. Yeah, people are people race motorcycles around mona.
Speaker 2:It's called 13 corners and we just ripped through oh yeah, 13 corners yeah yeah, yeah but yeah, so like for them, it's like even even like the sense of community is there. I seen like 10 12 people total walking when we were there and they were all like saying hi to each other. Stop talking story. I'm like holy shit, this is like a like a community community, which is one of the main things that we want to try to do more in kaneoi. It feels like that aspect of it, at least in some of the neighborhoods that we're in kind of the neighbors move out, people switch up. You know, come in and out military neighborhoods that we're in kind of the neighbors move out, people switch up, come in and out military places especially, we have houses on top of our street that are like that. We're trying to rebuild that sense of community, something like that, where it's just like you feel safe enough to go for your walks and you can trust the people in your neighborhood to watch out for people that aren't from the neighborhood, stuff like that.
Speaker 1:And be proud of of kaneo.
Speaker 2:I think that's a big key, like we got to get the pride back that's what, yeah, so I mean it's gonna take a lot and people might not be for it, but yeah, that was just one of the main things I kind of like noticed was that mono williams is going to be very different than kaneo people. I've some of the problems that kaneo people are already talking about was potholes. Oh yeah, they're everywhere and it's actually super simple. Instead of waiting for them to get so bad right where it's going to take way longer to do, get to it when it's like when it first appears right, it's cheaper to fix a smaller bottle. It's probably faster. So now you don't have people complaining about traffic as much because instead of taking 14 days, it's only going to take seven. Don't know what the exact time frames are for those, but you know what I mean. Like you shorten it it's also cheaper.
Speaker 2:So why do we wait until the entire road's destroyed and then pay the entire fucking strip in Kaneohe?
Speaker 1:yeah, and it takes them a long time. What I don't understand is they've been doing up by the college on Kam Highway and it like they got, they did a chunk and honestly, over there is super bad. They did a chunk. It took them like three months to do what they did, but in three months time they did the whole h3 all the way down to the Marine Corps base. Like why?
Speaker 2:When I was working as a site manager in Kailua, I saw a company come in and repave an entire parking lot that holds like 400, 500 cars in like two months. So, with that being said, the question literally is well, why is it taking so long? Because there's got to be a reason, right? I don't know exactly what it is, but someone you know. We get in, figure it out and then you fix the problem. It shouldn't take. I mean, I don't know timeframes on road work. I think that sometimes they take way too long.
Speaker 1:Oh 100%.
Speaker 2:I don't know, are they stretching it out for like hours type thing, or is it you know? What I mean.
Speaker 1:There's got to be some kind of reason, because I've seen, we always see get one brother working and 19 brothers watching them or cruising on the side on their phones. And I seen, I seen on uh in Japan they have an earthquake tear down on a whole road and that thing be back up and running within like four weeks. We we need to get those guys here.
Speaker 2:We'll get back to you. We'll get back to you in one year, one business year, yeah, but yeah, so I don't know you. You know, and like there's somebody to talk to about that and figure it out, and that's one of the things that you know.
Speaker 1:Yep, something that we need so you're gonna be on the ballot. Do you have a campaign management team or like how, who, how are you being helped with this campaign?
Speaker 2:So right now I have two people on the team. There's Marie helping with the events and there's Gavin who's helping with managing the campaign because he is actually, with the amount of times that he's interviewed politicians and stuff that he's got into it, so he knows the more fine details and intricacies of actual politics. Marie's real in touch with events and stuff. As far as that, like, that's basically the team. Everything else I'm kind of just figuring out people here and there reaching out that help. Um, the main thing I think that's going to be the difference maker, for difference to make her for us is door knocking, canvassing um, I can post polls on instagram, but that's only reaching a small amount of the demographic that specifically is in our district.
Speaker 2:Yeah, to find the actual needs and concerns of the community, it's work and it is entailed by going to every single house in the district that you can. Some people you know, like apartments and stuff are kind of different, but you know walking through the neighborhoods and like having conversations with these people and seeing what the problems are. So already enough, or not already enough. But already, from those short people that we went to, two of them isn't happy with the current state rep. The other three kind of didn't even know who it was, and I don't know. That's just a small sample size, but I didn't even know who the state rep was, and I don't think a lot of people do know.
Speaker 2:Because what's the reason to know? And I don't think a lot of people do know because what's the reason to know? The reason to know is because these are the people that are responsible for your district. Something is wrong in your district, something you don't feel or something that you feel that needs to be corrected. The storm drain behind your house, right, the potholes that take 3,000 000 years, those kind of things come down to our state representative and so, yeah, I mean I wouldn't say I have nothing negative to say about the current state representative for me myself, but I just feel like I feel like that we have a chance doing this. Um, they're the platform I know people try to. It's. It's kind of weird because I know that people don't really take it too seriously or they they're on the fence about taking it seriously because of what you've seen for the last, like two years from me but you know, recently it's been more serious.
Speaker 2:It was still funny too. You see the memes like I didn't change my whole persona into this super serious person like I'm still me. I just feel like we can use more everyday people in office and that's literally for me. That's what it comes down to. Um, I'm hoping that I get the support. I hope people take it more seriously. I'm trying to do what I can to make people take me more seriously and yeah, it's kind of, at the end of the day, I just want to help out and if we lose, it's whatever. We'll just go back to making people laugh, but not in the office.
Speaker 1:Well, I think it's good and, like you said, name recognition is kind of a big deal in this industry, right, and everybody knows your name, brah, and if brah crew is gonna be on the ballot at which I'm thinking it might be, how is that gonna play out?
Speaker 2:so that's kind of another one of the things that went into what we're doing too. I think I was gonna talk about it earlier. Um, building my actual name would have been super hard. Nobody knows who that is. It's basically starting a campaign from scratch and id recognition from scratch. I actually saw a guy when I went to go pick up my business card and said brock crew, you already know, you got my vote before I, even before I even like said what we're doing, before I even made a video about it.
Speaker 2:So like we do have people just off of that, that recognition right to do that for sure but so, like I'm thinking that that's that's basically one of the main reasons why we did it too, that, combined with the numbers that we saw, the swing motors, it'll be way easier to, you know, go off of the broad crew's name and get people to pay attention, as it would be to like come out as just me normally and trying to build it from scratch, so that actually I read something somewhere that said that they did bad nicknames, but I guess it didn't go through or something. But it's on there, so that's a super plus for us. And I mean you know what I mean. It's brock cruz. The connie ovega has been making you laugh for two years. Might as well, let me make some changes for two years and if and if I suck, don't vote for me the next time.
Speaker 2:Plain and simple, honestly you know what I mean. Like I don't think we're gonna suck. I think you know, with the ideas that we have and we can get actual legislation put in the place to kind of help these things, that will do good. But on the off chance that we suck you know what I mean fuck, sorry guys, we tried well I know for a fact the guy that's in now in my opinion hasn't done much.
Speaker 1:I could be wrong and not in the know. I do know my dad emails him on the on the rig about problems here. Uh, in your opinion and I'll share some problems I see from my own eyes and my own opinion, but from what you've been hearing or seeing as a person that lives in this community, what do you think the general problems in Kaneohe are at this moment and that need to be changed?
Speaker 2:One of the main things right was potholes. Um, one of the main things right was potholes. That was a crazy consistent I wouldn't say crazy because it's very kind of obvious that it's there, but that was one of the most consistent comments that pop up about our districts, but our kaneoi specifically. Um, yeah, like we talked about, you know, there could be ways to implement, like an earlier thing, where we kind of handle it ahead of time to shorten the duration of how long road work takes, which would decrease the traffic, because that's what pisses people off, it's not the fact that they're working on the road, it's the fact that they're blocking off a big ass part of the road, and now you got to wait 30 minutes in Kaniola to get to the mall.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know that's.
Speaker 2:That's what gets people. So you know you would shorten the duration of the time that the road would need to be closed right, which would make people happier. Yeah, it's gonna happen either way. We might as well do it earlier and, as far as I understand, dealing with potholes when they're less, you know, when they're first starting, when they're smaller, is cheaper. So you're now saving time and saving money. I feel like I'm people are going to complain no matter what, because people are people, but that will help kind of ease that problem.
Speaker 2:I know that's probably like the number one, and I haven't spoke to as much people personally in person and people like you know, the people that aren't on social media, but I'd like to think that that would be something very consistent for them as well, you know yeah yeah, um, the second thing that I think that popped up kind of consistently is homelessness, and not necessarily the fact that they're homeless people here in kaneoi, but more of the fact that it seems like a lot of these homeless people are coming from outside of the state and outside of kaneoi. So now you know, I mean kaneoi has, you know the people you see around kaneoi normally they're not bothering anybody, they're not making super trouble. But now you have these new people that no one's ever seen before, right, and you don't know like who they are or like how are they like acting, and stuff like that. But when it comes to dealing with the homeless population, there's a lot of stuff that goes into that. I believe, um, one of the main things I think I read about helping for that is more programs in place to like for to help them right, outreach programs and stuff like that. But I think the problem is that a lot of them don't want to follow rules and I don't want to be misquoted or taken out of context, so I'm going to give a.
Speaker 2:I used to work for the HCDA in Honolulu, right, so it was basically a security for when Kaka'ako was closed and we used to work with the homeless population. Like there was an entire encampment there. We'd walk through and do the you know make sure people aren't in the park, but at the same time we'd also like have conversations with these people, because there's a shelter right off the road, five minutes away. The rules that are in place in the shelter are one of the biggest ones that turn homeless people away from the shelters. They don't want to follow the rules depends on who you ask. There's a lot of people that think there should be like places that are for them that don't have rules. But then when you have that, it's kind of like what is this now right there needs?
Speaker 2:to be some kind of system in place for that. But yeah, as far as that, like a lot of it's mental health issues too. But it's like how much can you do for somebody if, like one, if they're like, if they don't have any connections here, especially they don't have any family contact who's person just here from like who knows where, like what do you, what can you do about that?
Speaker 2:that's something we need to look into more to figure out like a concrete answer. I think there's probably a few different ways you could go about it, but yeah, that one's a very touchy subject.
Speaker 1:There's a lot of people that, but I feel like that would be second most yeah, um, for me it's it's definitely getting bad and there's a lot of crackheads running around too. Now that's like on stuff and being very vocal and, honestly, the beef in the air, and it's gotten way worse in the last maybe year and a half and it's something where it's starting to make people feel unsafe and I think that's that's a huge issue and back in the day, like mango man be walking around, no one would care or whatever.
Speaker 2:And now it's becoming like oh, there's like when you see the people that you've seen all these years, you kind of know how they are and you know that you don't have to worry. Yeah, when you have these new people that haven't been here, you don't know if they're just like. Are they just? You know they have something and they, they yell at air or if you approach, are you going to be in danger?
Speaker 1:and that's the problem.
Speaker 2:But then like, yeah, so there just needs to be some kind of I don't know they do have outreach programs. I don't know how much they do that in kaneoi. I never see them, but like who knows, when they do that kind of stuff, uh, I've seen the rise rise program, or rise, you know, in kailua. I've seen them Rise program, or Rise, you know in Kailua. I've seen them do like outreach stuff in person before, but I think they focus more on youth, so it's kind of different.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:But yeah, there just needs to be something. And that's why I'm saying like I don't know for sure if there's anything concrete we could do, but there's something, there's something, something somebody could come up with for that Something we'd have to think about. But yeah, it gets. It gets real touchy when it comes to that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1:Right, cause people that you like there's.
Speaker 2:there's still humans too, and a lot of people don't treat them that way, but at the same time, like the safety of people in the community also matters. So it's like delicate balance between those things.
Speaker 1:I agree A hundred percent, I think. For me I always bring this up where I live there's a canal and the canal was created because back in the sixties or seventies, makapu flooded and that's why I created Ho'omalihia, the whole drainage system, to alleviate the water from flooding into the neighborhoods. There's a canal that goes from Ho'omalihia, the reservoir, all the way to. I followed it on Google it goes all the way to Mosquito. On google goes all the way to be by um mosquito park, by um. What is it?
Speaker 1:kanyoi beach park is the official name yeah and it comes out by over there right now where I live, and all the way down, even if you look on kafa, off a cam highway, like kind of by the library, like all of the canal is overgrown it. It's a cement canal and there's trees and shrubs and weeds and everything growing out of the sides of the canal. So that tells me, all those concrete slabs, there's holes in them. If there's a tree growing out of it, there's a hole in it and, though I don't know what it's like california grass or whatever is consuming the inside of the canal, right, if there's a big rain or a storm, all that debris will get wiped away and it's going to form a dam and thus creating another flood plus with that kind of weather and canoeing rains all the time and it is I feel like this is this is a common sense kind of thing. If there's trees growing out of it, there's holes in it. Those things slide because there's cracks in it. There there's houses, that's part of the house's foundation, so the property line going all the way down the canal is all houses. If those slabs start to slide because of the weather, their whole property is going to tank into the river and it may not happen overnight, but it's going happen.
Speaker 1:And I feel hawaii's biggest problem is they're not proactive to fix a problem until it the problem happens, and then they try to fix it instead of finding a solution, so that problem doesn't happen. And I feel like this is such a easy thing to notice and I don't know why nobody's not doing anything about they. The last time they dredged this canal and I remember was right before um was during the pandemic 2020 I think it was april or march and right by my house, two excavators got um stuck and they had to get a crane and put them out. The whole neighborhood was out watching with masks on and that was the last time they dredged it. That was like four years ago and if you see it now, it is so bad like you can barely see the water.
Speaker 2:You know, I feel like the whole waiting yeah, like you said, waiting to fix a problem until it finally happens is so common and, you know, sometimes I think about it like I wonder if, like, we'll get in and we'll see why it's like that. Like, is there a reason? Is it a budget thing? Is it a time constraint thing? Is there other important things? Is there, like you know what I mean? Because a lot, of lot of it, like that you said seems like a super simple, common sense thing that fixing the bottles as soon as they happen. Why aren't we doing that? Like?
Speaker 2:yeah is there an actual reason or are we just being super complacent, like it's yeah, it's hawaiian we're laid back in every aspect, even our government's kicking back and waiting for to actually, you know, go to shit before we actually do something. But yeah, I mean, that's great. That's a pretty long time and kaneo, it does rain often, so it's only gonna take, it's only basically, it's a matter of time, right, if they don't do it, I agree and it and it happened before.
Speaker 1:That was the whole purpose of this canal and I think that, um, there's ways to fix it by using the community. The community. I, in my opinion, would want to help, but I'd go out there and start weed whacking and helping. You know, I mean, if, if there was some kind of structure or some kind of way we could do it as a community, because I tell you what the houses all along that whole ridge would be down, because they're the ones that's going to be in the drink when that, when that flood happens, it's, it's, it's, it's gonna happen. And I, I don't understand why nobody, especially the people living on that whole area, like I'd be screaming at politicians every single day like, bro, you better fix this, for my house goes in the water, you know, I mean like I don't know, I don't get it maybe they just don't think about it honestly, or maybe maybe kind of a complacent thing too, kind of just like, just like.
Speaker 2:Ah, you know what I mean. It's been this long since it's happened. You know, what I mean. But yeah, that's definitely something that we will get done ASAP. I keep speaking as if we're going to win for sure, so when we get into office.
Speaker 1:That's how you got to think, man. If you're not ready to be able to make that change and think you're going to win and have that opportunity, then no sense run, you know. I mean it's like you don't go into the ring thinking you're gonna lose that's facts you already lost, yeah, yeah I think what you're doing is pretty admirable, admirable, admirable, pretty cool.
Speaker 1:Yep, that's the word the Damien when kicking on fast. I think what you're doing is amazing. I think because you're one of us not just one of my friends, but somebody who believes in Kaneohe, who believes in the culture here, believes in how it should be and remembers how it used to be, I think because you're all those things, you could be a great voice. You're not ashamed to say how you feel. You're not ashamed to go up in front of people and be challenged. I think because of that, you can stir the pot and make like a better outlook and give people more broadened horizon of what's going on here and and might be time for the change. Bro, I think if you're, if you're gonna do this with everything you are, I don't see how it couldn't be a positive thing for the community.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean like it's crazy honestly, but that's how I've been. You know me through the skits, right, I've always tried to represent audio and that's what people always said. That made me kind of different is a lot of the other people that make funny videos and skits don't really represent a specific place, but yeah I love this town.
Speaker 2:I was born and raised here and you know, whether you like me or you don't like me for whatever reason, whether it be my skits that I make that you don't agree with or the way I am I think that I have an actual like. I love connie oi dude, and I know monowilly too I don't know, I'm not from monowilly. I definitely will, you know, get in touch with that community to figure it out but especially connie oi, born and raised in this area and yeah, like we've seen it, you know, the community aspect kind of dwindle and I feel like I feel like like how you said and that's the thing that I keep going back to is like I'm just an everyday person.
Speaker 2:And it's the same thing I said when I made skits, too right. Or when I, when people ask me about like, oh, you're this big time guy, now I'm like no, I'm still just a random dude. That made people laugh. So what people laugh, so what people follow me. That doesn't, you know, that doesn't make a difference. It doesn't make me any more important than anyone else. But I think that you know, I've represented Kanyoi to try my best to do that. As far as putting on the map per se, I guess, when it comes to content creating, let me give me a chance to actually help us. Give me a chance to actually help us, give me a chance to represent the community in the house of representatives. Um, give me a chance to be the voice for the people, you know. I mean, I feel like sometimes, with the skits that I make, I already some people kind of consider that as that but like a voice that can make, like an actual impact. And you know it doesn't. It's not just me, it's like like I get into is what I was told if I get in, that's cool, right, all we got in. Damien garcia got in starting to trickle in there but what needs to happen is win or lose. I need people to understand that local politics affects you. You can have a local, you can have an effect on local politics, and my hope is, if I can see someone like all a run and now I'm doing this, people can see me and maybe they'll start to think, huh, huh, maybe we do need more normal, everyday people that are in touch with their community in an office. And so, worst case scenario, even if we do lose, I'm hoping that we make noise. I'm hoping that we inspire people to get more involved. I mean, even Kool-Aid music is getting. I forget what she's running for exactly, but she's running for something in the big island and she kind of just said something.
Speaker 2:I don't know what's the whole video, but basically like how Hawaiians used to be in touch with government, government and that, I think, kind of how we we kind of disassociate from the government. Now, right, hawaiians specifically, but you can have an effect on the way that we're governed when you get involved like you want things to change. I don't think we're going to be able to go back to being independent right at this moment, but there are things that we can do to at least push for the betterment of the hawaiian people. Um, that's the main thing I think, too, is we need more kanakas in the office. I think we have like maybe six, maybe seven.
Speaker 2:And I mean, like it says, hawaii, and Hawaii can't be Hawaii without Hawaiians. And so we need more Hawaiians to be in in the government, to have a say and the power to make changes in the way that we're governed. And that starts with people like you, people like me, everyday people. We can make real changes at this level. Like I said, before the presidential level might be a little bit too out of our reach, but this is stuff that affects you every day and you can have an effect on it.
Speaker 1:I agree and I think maybe because of your fans or people that follow you and stuff, you might be able to motivate the younger generation to go freaking.
Speaker 1:Sign up to vote, go apply to get your vote in and because of that the voice is is a is a loud voice, but the voice can't be heard if nobody's out there screaming like we need everybody to be a part of it and even if they don't vote for you still should vote like everybody should vote, and I've learned this at an older age. When I was young, I could give two shits. It was a waste of time and honestly, I didn't understand. But as I got older, I realized how important it is, and especially at this level that is directly affecting me.
Speaker 1:My daughter, like I remember being young I would walk home from school or I would catch bus or walk to the mall and no problem. I'd be like 4th grade, 5th grade God forbid, I won't even let my daughter do that now. No way you walk into the mall. That's not happening. I got to drive you there. When you're in the mall, I gotta be in the mall. I don't need to be next to you, but I'm gonna be around in case you know. I mean it's like when I was young we didn't worry about that or my parents just didn't care if I got. No, I think.
Speaker 2:I think it's like it's like a multitude of things, because it was like that for us too, I mean I think things are just getting and I don't think it's just because of social media. A lot of people say because of social media things are so quick to get out there.
Speaker 2:But like you can see kind of a general change in hawaii period where it's getting, it's getting a little nuts out there and it's like no, it's not paranoia, it's caution and it's it's rightfully so that people are like that, because yeah nowadays you never know, you hear about these things happening in your backyard and it's like holy shit, like so I mean, yeah, I totally think that things are changing and like I think, right, one of those things for as far as like making the community safer is building that community aspect again. You know, people kind of just look out for other people.
Speaker 2:Um, I know, like after covid, people kind of shelled off it was a weird, weird time for life and I think maybe sometimes people didn't come all the way back from that because it got so used to that. But I mean like more community events, more stuff, more neighborhood things, just get people to know each other in that way, you know, then you'll feel just I mean it might not take away all of the things and the facts that things are getting more dangerous, but it kind of will just help ease your mind a little bit of like okay, like we have a community that looks out for each other so you don't have to worry as much I agree, I definitely agree.
Speaker 1:And, like you said, with social media, a lot, of, a lot of the things that's bad in a negative way gets documented and posted before none of us would have seen that, you know. I mean if, if something bad happened in our neighborhood, we wouldn't know about it because it wouldn't be on instagram on hungry hawaiian or something you know I mean you.
Speaker 2:You maybe see it on the channel. You know news at five six o'clock, when you're eating dinner. If if it made it yeah, or the sun press.
Speaker 1:Remember that local, the kaneo sun press I don't know what that is, though oh shit okay I gotta look that up so the sun press was a local newspaper, but in each district oh yeah, that's kind of cool yeah, the sun press um.
Speaker 2:Should bring that back yeah, it was cool.
Speaker 1:Um, I was in it a few times for, um, martial arts or baseball or whatever it was. It's cool, but the building was by uh kinwa. Right behind it was the sun press building and and that's where they printed it. You get it delivered every Wednesday, I think it was, and it was a Kaneohe newspaper, but every district had it. So I think every district I know Kaneohe district had it.
Speaker 2:That's actually really cool.
Speaker 1:Yeah, look it up, this is the Kaneohe Sunpress. But I think what you're doing is going to shake things up and I'm impressed. But I think what you're doing is going to shake things up and I'm on board to support you a million percent, and I have not seen anything be shaken up in kaneo for a while. I had the previous guy that was running for this same office on here and he had good points, but I mean, obviously he didn't get in and he wasn't someone who was from here and and knew life here as much as you do. So I'm thinking who ran for this? Who?
Speaker 1:was it richie sean richie, oh yeah yeah, he was from a church and stuff.
Speaker 1:He is super nice and he had great ideas, but I just think it didn't resonate with people because he didn't know kanyoi, because he wasn't from here or you know, I mean it's like he's his roots was in here and he gave it a good shot and he had good points, but I think that with you running you're rooted here, so that holds a lot more water with kaneway people right, myself included, you know I mean yeah, I mean that that's that's right, because I mean like it does, it does probably for me too right.
Speaker 2:So we're gonna have good ideas. But if you're not like born and raised here, then like it's good, good ideas, but then you're kind of missing that connection right, that personal connection of like which I mean it's kind of shitty that it's that way. But especially for our, our city, our district, it's definitely community, like you know what I mean, it's connie way first, you would probably go a long way.
Speaker 2:Like you said, that goes a long way just being from here yep 100, yeah. Yeah, I mean hopefully to make some noise. Um, I'm positive that we have a chance. The the main thing, that's probably going to be the biggest gap of what we're doing is, uh, campaign money, because one thing that I've been told by everyone that I spoke to whether it's a state rep with advice or people that are involved in politics it's all about having money and I'm like I mean we have some money. We don't have a hundred thousand dollars stashed away ready to go for this, but hopefully the social media stuff and the knocking on doors and the grassroots stuff kind of makes up for that lack of funds.
Speaker 2:And it's kind of shitty to think about it that like money wins and this kind of thing, because like that's definitely not criteria that should go into whether or not somebody wins yeah, position in the state government having money should be the complete opposite of it, because you know what I mean, that's, those people are more prone to where you get that money first of all why do you have a? Hundred thousand dollars sitting around. But I mean, we'll see how it goes. I'm hoping to fundraise money. I'm hoping that we can get. That's the thing too about it raising fundraising for campaigns like I don't feel like we should be taking money from people to try and get a job to help the people.
Speaker 2:That makes a lot the logic of that seems backwards to me. Unfortunately that's kind of the way it is, so like I am eventually going to ask for donations. Not I don't expect huge things, but like little stuff counts. Literally every dollar counts for us because, you know, we're kind of just the underdog in here right now. But we'll make up for that lack of funds with, you know, more creative, you know marketing type stuff.
Speaker 1:I think that and that being said, with a lot of people contributing to your campaign, it doesn't have to be a monetary donation. It could be like, hey, I own this print shop, or I know somebody owns a print shop, I'm going to run some flyers for you, or I can oh, I can print you in banner, bro, it'd be cool. So that kind of stuff where people can donate assets to your campaign. Versus, oh, here's a script so you can go pay for it.
Speaker 1:I think that for you would probably sit more beneficial to you because, like you said, they're not coming out of pocket, they're doing favors, and I think a lot of people would not hate the word say, do you a favor, but would be about the support in other ways than giving you money like, bro, I'm a promoter, I can help with that, you know. I mean, like we can, we can figure some ways out to where we can promote your campaign and not be like, hey, man, we we just trying to get money for this thing. You know what I mean? It kind of tends to take away the focus of what you're trying to do with the problems, versus now the problem is getting money to run your campaign to fix the problem. So I think you have opportunity and you have a lot of support, and a lot of support of the younger community, which holds a lot of water because the younger community isn't involved yet. So if you can get them to be involved, that's a big mass of people that your opponent doesn't even tap into.
Speaker 2:Right, yeah, I mean, mean, that's the plan. That was one of the things they told me is the way that you need to win this election. There's three different ways. One of the hardest ways, or the hardest way, is getting people to vote, especially young people. Now, in my mind, in the last two, three years that we're making skits, that was a lot of people that turned 18 during that time that probably watched one of my videos, like the videos, etc. Those are the people that we're gonna have to flip. And somebody told me like it's really hard to get people to vote, like you could go to their doorstep, fill out the thing for them, get them registered, but even then you still need to do more work because it's just it's so easy to not, you know yeah, yeah it's, it's easier to not get involved than it is to worry about it and get involved.
Speaker 2:So it's a whole thing. We got to sit down and think about it more. We have some time. It's not a lot of time, but there's time because we don't have to really worry about the primary elections.
Speaker 1:When is the election anyway?
Speaker 2:I think it's the first one's in August and then November is the general election, so I get that mixed up a lot when I talk to gavin.
Speaker 1:But yeah, he's, he's an awesome person, right? Yeah?
Speaker 2:yeah, that's, that's the main reason I'm actually full sending it, because he has the knowledge to fill in where I don't, and then basically kind of everything else is just all sending it and figuring it out on the way, getting little bits and pieces of help. Speaking of that, if anybody's watching this that owns a company that makes shirts and or signs, uh, like my buddy here said, we could appreciate the contribution of your help. Uh, uh, you know, because we're like you, um, normal people that don't have a gajillion dollars to go into stuff. But here's a truck that my kid plays with. It's not gonna focus, but it's cool anyway. Yeah, so I mean hoping for the best worst case scenario. We wake some people up. Actually, not even worst case scenario, because it's still a plus. You know it costs 250 to officially get on the ballot. That's just whatever you know, and whether we would win or lose off of that, it's not too bad.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so yeah, I mean a couple of nights at district.
Speaker 2:From this, my one of my campaign slogans was from districts to the district 49. Let's go.
Speaker 1:Well, you already know, I like the number.
Speaker 2:That's what we're going to celebrate when we win.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and when the 49ers win? Well, man, we've been going for an hour. Personally, I want you to know that you have my support and whatever I can do to help, I'm down, I'll be outside waving signs with you on a printed shirtohe. I would definitely have your back and I know you and I know your heart and I know you genuinely, genuinely care about this community and for me, that's huge and it's time for a change.
Speaker 1:Things didn't really happen the last four years, and change is always good and competition is good because it creates movement. So I think, if you come at it hard and show a lot of people that you have something that we need and we need to be represented in a different way, I think, brad, this could be something. Man, I think, with, with who you are, I think you, you, you got a damn good chance of winning this thing, and more power to you, man, and more power to change and more power to kanehe. It's where I live, it's where my daughter lives, it's where I grew up and I am honestly disappointed to see what it's becoming compared to what it used to be. I'm not saying we need to get it to what it used to be, but I think we can be better, and that's always going to be my saying we always can be better. You know what I mean.
Speaker 2:One of my non-political biggest inspirations, too, is yes, actually my children as well, because what is it going to look like when they're our age? And if things continue in the downtrend, it's probably not going to look good. And if things continue in the downtrend, it's probably not going to look good. And outside of volunteering, supporting local businesses, when you can doing stuff like that, what more can you do? Getting involved in politics, having your tests, even if you don't go run for whatever you want to run for, get involved with submitting testimonies. Be more aware about the bills that they're trying to pass, because a lot of the stuff they've been doing lately affects our children and you probably wouldn't even know about it if you don't hear about it from someone on social media. Start following those pages and posts about it.
Speaker 2:Be more proactive when it comes to that stuff, because this is our home and this is hopefully the place that our kids will continue to grow up in and eventually be in our positions. What kind of Hawaii do we want for them? That's that starts now. That future is in progress now and what we do today is going to affect that and impact the outcome. So you know whether it's politics, get involved with your community, just try to do things to help change that negative downturn that it seems that we're in. And I'm thinking, I believe in myself, that we can start, you know, working on that kind of stuff and hopefully cause a positive uptrend in our community and in other communities, because it's not just about our district, as much as running for state rep is, it's about our home as a whole, it's about our people as a whole and it's just making sure that we represent the people, you know, by the people, for the people.
Speaker 1:So well, there's a lot of things you've seen wrong, and whenever I hear people talk about stuff or should be done, I'm like like, bro, don't talk about it, be about it, and you're being about it. And more power to you, man. I think you're innovative enough to come up with good ideas and I think you can shake up this whole thing. And it's going to be fun, bro, it's going to be fun to watch. I am disappointed that this isn't one of our silly, fun conversations, but I'm not a political guy, but I did feel like having you on to talk about this was important, and it's my home, it's my district, this is where I live and where my daughter lives and this is where I want to stay.
Speaker 2:So you're on talking about it and it matters to me the thing about that, too, is, if you asked me a couple months ago about politics, I would not give a shit. People like people like you, people like me. We don't care about politics. It's easy to not give a shit. Once you start bringing up politics, people get weird about it. Friendships end over politics. Here we are, here I am. Here's a guy that doesn't care about politics. Here's another guy that doesn't care about politics. One is, you know, supporting completely what we're doing and one is trying to do stuff. People keep telling me they're like oh, oh, you know, like what? What makes you fit to be? Uh, what makes you think you're gonna be a politician? You're a comedian and I said, like government's a joke already, bro. So you know, I'm kind of, I kind of got experience with the funny stuff, so yeah, you know, yeah, that makes sense.
Speaker 1:Well, man, good luck to you on your campaign, and I know I'll be seeing a lot of you. I always see a lot of you, so it doesn't matter you lived out.
Speaker 2:You live like right across the street, exactly yeah all right, man, well, we're out.
Speaker 1:Shaka's for the cameras. Alright, man, we're out. Shout out to the Artist Group Network, aloha.
Speaker 2:Yes, I'm a dog. Aloha, it's Brock Cruz. Today, I'm proud to announce that I'll be running for the House of Representatives, District 49. Now, although I don't have any political experience, I have something I feel is equally as important, which is a deep love for the community and a commitment to making Hawaii a better place for everyone, and the perfect place to start is in the city that I was born and raised in. With my platform, I've been able to make you laugh, but I've also been able to hear the voices and concerns of the people. We want a safer Hawaii. We want a better Hawaii, a Hawaii where our children can stay and thrive without having to leave this beautiful place that we call home. Now I'm running so that we can make these things a reality. I'm running because I believe in the power of everyday people to make a difference. I'm running because you deserve better. Mahalo for watching this video. If you want to support, you can reach out to me, or you can reach out to my campaign manager, gavin, but if not, get out, thank you.
