WHAT IS NOT TO LIKE ABOUT A FORMER FOOTBALL PLAYER, career civil servant and now mayor of Kauai? In addition to these attributes, Mayor Bernard Carvalho has initiated the “New Cultural Initiative: Kaua’i Nui Kuapapa,” an innovative program that “will bring renewed life to Kauaʻi’s ancient land divisions of moku and ahupuaa, via signage, a website, and interactive displays around the island.”

The island of Kauai is governed as a county, without formal city governmental organizations. The mayor is the elected CEO of the county with the power to fill staff positions, draft budgets and direct county operations.

Mayor Bernard’s Kauaʻi Nui Kuapapa initiative asks visitors to “see our island’s history come to life through an awareness of the unique attributes and traditions associated with the six moku of Kauaʻi.” Learn more at www.kauainuikuapapa.com.

Through a friend, Tommy Noyes, a planner in the Hawaiian State Department of Public Health, I was able to sit down with Mayor Bernard during the week that my daughter and I were in Kauai for Christmas. The original appointment time was brief, but the mayor and I were so engaged in conversation about the work he is doing that we went well beyond the time. He shared with me his frustration with the pace of improvements, and especially the idea that everything must be “known” before moving forward. He convinced the council and public works people to take a small step in “complete streets” with a short section of wide sidewalks, wide bike lanes and roundabouts for bicycle and pedestrian safety. I had a great visit with him and look forward to sharing our common interests.

Mayor Bernard’s energy is infectious and refreshing, and his protestations that he is “not an environmentalist” was amusing as he discussed his vision, called Holo Holo 2020. It “calls for all organizations, businesses, residents and visitors on Kauaʻi to be part of creating an island that is sustainable, values our native culture, has a thriving and healthy economy, cares for all — keiki to kupuna — and has a responsible and user-friendly local government.”

In the mayor’s inaugural speech he listed 38 projects that, when realized, will implement the vision of Holo Holo 2020. Over the next four years, the mayor will be tracking progress on these projects and will illuminate that progress through use of the Holo Holo 2020 logo. He embraces new urban designs for healthy living, which includes walking and biking in neighborhoods for shopping, commuting and recreation; and he values clean water and air and freedom from pollution. But he “not an environmentalist.”

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THE HIGHLIGHT OF MY CHRISTMAS VISIT was the hiking. On our first day Tommy arranged a long hike in KoKe‘e State Park with his sons and family friend. We hiked for about four hours and the views were spectacular. We then made a quick drive to the Waimea lookout before we returned to the town of Waimea to decorate our bicycles for the Christmas Parade with Mayor Bernard.

On another day we visited the National Tropical Gardens established in 1964 by Congress — yes, Congress used to do those things. We visited the McBryde (http://ntbg.org/gardens/mcbryde.php) and the Allerton (http://ntbg.org/gardens/allerton.php) gardens on separate days; each features wonderful gardens of plants that were on the island before humans arrived. When the Polynesians arrived, they brought plants for food, such as pineapple, and later the Europeans did the same (Captain Cook landed at Waimea, where he was later killed in a “misunderstanding”).

The Allerton garden is the creation of Robert Allerton, the only son of a Mayflower descendant who had made his fortune in Chicago in livestock, banking and real estate. After spending five years studying art in Europe, Allerton concluded that he would never be successful as an artist and he became an avid art collector and patron. He also became fascinated by landscape architecture and set about planning a series of formal gardens and settings for water features. He lived to be 91 years of age but would not see the full growth of the garden and his concepts. He could only plan and plant the garden with water features capturing the reflections and natural gradients to create ripples and waves (see fluid dynamics) in these beautifully designed pools and canals. His vision has grown into mature trees and a rich, verdant understory of ferns and tropical plants. If you have not been to Kauai, these gardens are a must-see.

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LATER WE DID ANOTHER HIKE that we named the “slip and slide” as we scaled a small mountain in the Wailua River region during a light rain. I used my collapsible hiking sticks as ski poles for some stretches. My daughter is a rock climber and boulders a lot and this was a treat for her. Just keeping up was my achievement.

We were muddy and the worse for wear and suggested to my friend and former Vallejo City Council member Stephanie Gomes and her husband Tony Purcell, who were spending Christmas in Princeville, that we have drinks and dinner someplace where “muddy” would be acceptable. The restaurant was perfect, and the torch lights and the warmth of the company helped with the cool breeze and torrential rains while we “refreshed” ourselves.

Our last hike was back to KoKe‘e State Park for a hike off the main road. We had four-wheel drive and needed it for traversing the canyon road of mud and bridges. My years of driving my Toyota Land Cruiser came in handy, but my heart was in my throat a couple of times. We decided that another hike in rain was not needed and turned around and made it out to the Waimea Museum, finding later that our Jeep Wrangler had collected bamboo “antlers” in its bumper — it was, after all, Christmas Day, and we felt we had done our part of decorating.

Aborting the mountain hike, we drove down to Polihua Beach and hiked the two miles in the sand with about a dozen other people out on the beach. One could see a clear and beautiful beach in either direction, and Niihau — the forbidden island — off the Na Pali Coast. Tommy’s son Emory once did botany research on the small, nearly uninhabited island and shared some of his experiences with us as we hiked that first day.

Our last day before flying home was on the beach near the Wailua River. We walked out into a mild surf in warm water, which was a new experience for me since I had not been to Hawaii before. Having grown up in Southern California and spending most of my summers at the beach, I always loved the salt water and surf and sand, but visiting my cousins for Christmas, I would say the ocean water’s temperature was challenging in December.

For our final adventure, I rode with Tommy and his bicycling buddy Randy on the new coast bike trail from Lihue’s Lydgate Park and its beautiful, artfully decorated bridge all the way out to the coast and back.
Kauai was an unforgettable experience — beautiful, yes, and under the leadership of Mayor Bernard and others, sustainably so. As he said, show the people a little of what can be done and they will accept change. He is leading the way for a healthy and community-centered life on this beautiful island.

Elizabeth Patterson is the mayor of Benicia.