Latest / The One Oʻahu Podcast with Mayor Rick Blangiardi / Mayor Blangiardi on a racetrack in Kalaeloa, a new AD at UH Mānoa, and Father's Day

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Mayor Blangiardi on a racetrack in Kalaeloa, a new AD at UH Mānoa, and Father's Day · The One Oʻahu Podcast with Mayor Rick Blangiardi

• 0:14
  Welcome to the One Oahu Podcast.
• 0:16
  I'm your host, Brandi Higa, and today is Thursday, June 12th, 2025.
• 0:20
  We're back this week with Mayor Rick Blangiardi.
• 0:23
  It was a sure week. We had a holiday in the middle.
• 0:25
  A short. Week.
• 0:26
  Do you get the holidays off? Do you get city holidays
• 0:28
  where you actually have nothing on your schedule?
• 0:31
  Kind of, sort of,
• 0:33
  it's amazing.
• 0:34
  I'm almost, look, I ended up having a whole bunch of things to do.
• 0:38
  Technically. Said it wasn't working, but the.
• 0:41
  So it is.
• 0:41
  So, you know, the thing I really try to hold sacrosanct,
• 0:45
  you know, like, look, I want to be really we were respectful of Kamehameha Day.
• 0:49
  But, I really try to hold sacrosanct Sundays.
• 0:53
  Not because of any reason other than,
• 0:55
  I try to have a day like where I'm just not working all day.
• 0:58
  But a lot of times it ends up just trying to get caught up.
• 1:01
  So, look, I signed up for this.
• 1:03
  It's sort of like,
• 1:04
  you know, as the old saying, the city never sleeps is just a lot of do.
• 1:08
  I do like the opportunity, though, with the breaks
• 1:10
  to kind of get caught up on things that, that.
• 1:12
  So for me, the holiday becomes more,
• 1:16
  like yesterday just getting caught up on a bunch of stuff.
• 1:18
  And so that actually feels good.
• 1:20
  And it feels
• 1:21
  it feels like I'm relaxing if you all if I can get on top of some things.
• 1:25
  There's so much reading in this job and things like that.
• 1:27
  But, you know, it was it's good.
• 1:29
  I got no complaints.
• 1:30
  Oh, he's been running for a bit because you had your town hall tour.
• 1:34
  But after last week's Media Colony, your tour for 2025 is officially over.
• 1:39
  That colony meeting, though, everything from the Ullapool
• 1:41
  Bridge to Skull and dogs.
• 1:44
  That's an interesting.
• 1:45
  One. Well, you know, is it, it turned out,
• 1:48
  we had six really good town halls,
• 1:51
  which, was sort of, you know, a surprise in this last one.
• 1:55
  And that people came with a lot of emotion on subjects,
• 1:59
  and, and we understand that.
• 2:01
  And I say always at the
• 2:02
  outset of the meeting, look, you know, we understand if you're here,
• 2:06
  you care passionately about where you live in your community.
• 2:10
  And, you know, we respect that and we're glad you're here.
• 2:12
  We want to make this worthwhile.
• 2:14
  And you can answer us any questions I just ask for civility.
• 2:17
  Well, and so we will be civil in return because, you know, people get there.
• 2:22
  And sometimes whether it's a crowd or a microphone or,
• 2:26
  you know, they, they want to take they want to take some leeway.
• 2:30
  And so I try to manage that.
• 2:33
  But, you know, there were some people there
• 2:34
  the other night that were just flat out angry
• 2:37
  about different things, some of which we had nothing to do with.
• 2:41
  And so that's unfortunate in a way.
• 2:43
  That's how the, the, the year ended up, seven town
• 2:46
  halls, 29 all in the last couple of years.
• 2:50
  I'm really proud of our team because the whole cabinet comes out
• 2:52
  and I know those those evening evenings are not easy for anybody.
• 2:57
  But, you know, overall, I thought I thought it ended okay.
• 3:01
  I mean, there were some people
• 3:02
  that really right there at the end, just what came out of so and stuff
• 3:06
  when it wasn't about a county issue or as I said,
• 3:10
  the neighborhood district issue was just personal stuff.
• 3:13
  And that's,
• 3:14
  you know, I think that's really good.
• 3:16
  I probably should do a better job of monitoring that.
• 3:20
  But, you know, you don't want to be rude and cut people off and say, hey, stop it.
• 3:23
  That's not appropriate.
• 3:24
  You know? So it's sort of that's the way it is.
• 3:27
  There was one woman there in particular who was frustrated with HPD,
• 3:31
  not apprehending individuals that were a danger to the community
• 3:34
  in her situation, she said a danger to herself.
• 3:36
  But what more can be done?
• 3:37
  I mean, like
• 3:38
  a lot of people came up and mentioned they called 901 and the police did arrive.
• 3:42
  Yeah, yeah.
• 3:44
  You know, she had a lot of emotional issues.
• 3:46
  And so, it's hard to channel, you know, what's real
• 3:50
  and how much of that was for dramatic or theater, if you will.
• 3:54
  By and large,
• 3:55
  I believe very strongly that HPD response to 911, cause, I mean,
• 3:59
  we would be hearing about it if they don't. So,
• 4:03
  you know, sometimes.
• 4:04
  So people in the aftermath may be not pleased with the result,
• 4:07
  maybe something they get investigated the way they wanted to
• 4:10
  in this particular case, somebody didn't get arrested that she wanted,
• 4:14
  you know, but,
• 4:16
  like I said, that became a real personal matter.
• 4:18
  Sewer fees did come up again.
• 4:20
  The gradual shift and increase to pay for some one
• 4:23
  very important projects and then two necessary operations.
• 4:26
  Yeah.
• 4:27
  Well, the the real part of it is, is we're we've been under a federal,
• 4:31
  you know, consent decree since 2005 when Mayor Hannemann, signed into that
• 4:36
  and for 25 years and so that's coming up in 2030.
• 4:41
  And so we, 2035, actually,
• 4:45
  so it was 2010, I'm sorry, not 25, 25 years.
• 4:49
  And so,
• 4:52
  rates haven't been raised in a long time.
• 4:54
  This isn't even an optional thing.
• 4:56
  It's a question of how you can spread the money and be creative.
• 4:59
  It was a lot of talk about whether or not they could take general fund money,
• 5:01
  put it into the surface, amortize it, make it easier on people.
• 5:05
  You can't do that.
• 5:06
  That's illegal.
• 5:07
  It was just, it was just a lot of stuff.
• 5:09
  And so what they've come up with is to try to spread,
• 5:13
  spread the increases as evenly as possible for the next five years.
• 5:18
  I actually was in favor of doing it for ten years.
• 5:21
  So the public knows what they're dealing with.
• 5:23
  They want to kick the can down the road.
• 5:25
  So much of what we've dealt with
• 5:26
  and since we've been in office with things that have been deferred,
• 5:30
  but the feeling is that right now was better during the five years.
• 5:33
  This is beyond my call. City council came up with it.
• 5:36
  And so,
• 5:39
  at the end of the
• 5:39
  day, that's what we're going to do.
• 5:42
  And, it looks like we're there.
• 5:45
  There's a group that follows you to each town hall,
• 5:47
  no matter what district you're in. And that's the racers. Yep.
• 5:50
  But at that last meeting, we were able to provide them with an update.
• 5:53
  We had an amazing breakthrough.
• 5:55
  Finally, we heard from the National parks.
• 5:57
  We got the approval on the 20 acres out there which we had designated.
• 6:01
  You know, we did a and in fact, they were very nice.
• 6:04
  You know, because we took the initiative to acquire
• 6:07
  that acreage has been around since really the late 90s.
• 6:10
  That was available 408 acres with the Navy.
• 6:13
  We made that deal happen on a call.
• 6:15
  I lo, we wanted to use it for recreational purposes or whatever.
• 6:18
  But this also afforded us and a really nice piece of the property,
• 6:21
  because it's only to take 20 acres and give them the racetrack,
• 6:24
  and we finally got approval to use it that way just that day.
• 6:28
  And they were all relieved. And actually I saw them go on.
• 6:30
  They talked to some of the other media outlets there, kind of in disbelief.
• 6:34
  And I understand that. I mean, they're passionate.
• 6:36
  That's the thing why we wanted to do it.
• 6:38
  You know, the guys are into their cars and it's really widespread.
• 6:40
  And there's a lot of women too, I might add.
• 6:42
  It's not.
• 6:43
  And, they're really car people are passionate
• 6:47
  and they've been, you know, we they've been deprived, if you will.
• 6:50
  We're not having a facility and,
• 6:52
  you know, looking at safety issues to on what goes on the highways and people
• 6:56
  racing and stuff like that, but, you know, to provide a recreational venue
• 7:00
  where you can go there and, and have fun and, you know, just
• 7:05
  exercise their hobby interests, if you will, is a good thing.
• 7:09
  And so I feel really good about being able to do this is, you know.
• 7:13
  The city
• 7:14
  council passed the budget bill for the next fiscal year last week.
• 7:17
  Are you happy with the amendments? Are you happy with how that rolled out?
• 7:20
  I it was you know, I haven't quite put my signature on it yet.
• 7:23
  There's a couple of last minute details, but it looks like we're there.
• 7:26
  And I want to really credit Andy Kawano
• 7:28
  Carrie Castle, both director and deputy director BFFs.
• 7:31
  The entire team of BFFs, all of our,
• 7:34
  department heads or cabinet directors because there's a lot
• 7:38
  of give and take, a lot of dialog, and everybody's got to go be fine.
• 7:41
  Stuff is just back and forth, give and take.
• 7:45
  But we got there, went a pretty aggressive bill,
• 7:47
  5.1 billion, and,
• 7:50
  overall between operating and capital, it covers a lot of our needs.
• 7:54
  I think to think about it more than anything is the moneys
• 7:56
  that we've allocated kind of speak to our overriding priorities.
• 8:00
  I feel good about that. And,
• 8:03
  you know,
• 8:05
  the budget process is a yearlong process.
• 8:08
  I swear.
• 8:09
  I think five minutes after I sign this budget
• 8:12
  bill into effect, they'll begin working on the next one.
• 8:15
  It's never ending. You know, the year starts mid-year.
• 8:18
  So it's been interesting.
• 8:18
  I've been saying 2026 for a while.
• 8:22
  Sometimes I forget we're not even halfway through, almost
• 8:25
  at the end of this month, 2025, but you kind of lose track of that.
• 8:29
  And that's kind of one of the exciting things, too, because are you in this job
• 8:33
  now and the things we're doing in this second term, especially,
• 8:37
  a lot of stuff is forward thinking.
• 8:38
  You know, we said we're going to shift
• 8:40
  from, you know, planning stage execution, and we're doing that.
• 8:44
  We got a lot of things going on in our housing department.
• 8:46
  Just a lot of stuff happening with TPP.
• 8:49
  We'll make it in Rosewood homelessness.
• 8:51
  We're just you know, there's a lot of things we're doing now.
• 8:53
  We're beginning to manifest the rail, skyline.
• 8:56
  We're going to be building gateways before you know it.
• 8:59
  Now, in the Dillingham corridor, we've been involved with the utility
• 9:01
  relocation, but the manifestation of it actually coming in town.
• 9:05
  We're going to open up in October,
• 9:07
  you know, getting past parole in the airport and are a major, major changes,
• 9:12
  some of which are fairly imminent, that I think
• 9:14
  are going to have a big impact on people.
• 9:16
  And I think it's going to feel really good.
• 9:18
  There's a lot of momentum in the city right now.
• 9:19
  I'm proud of our team.
• 9:21
  We've worked really hard to create that momentum.
• 9:23
  But it's not just talk, but we're going to see a lot of things
• 9:26
  happening in very real ways, and I'm excited about that.
• 9:29
  That's that's sort of a delayed gratitude. And,
• 9:34
  you know, in a way, starting
• 9:36
  to come to fruition because we worked on some of this stuff for a long time.
• 9:39
  A pretty big announcement came out of lower campus last week
• 9:42
  in the hiring of new athletics director for the University of Hawaii.
• 9:45
  And Matt Elliott. Your reaction to that selection was.
• 9:48
  Very happy for Matt.
• 9:49
  You know, in fact, I thought George Killebrew and West
• 9:51
  Mallard I'd like to West now was the athletic director from California
• 9:54
  Riverside and George Killebrew
• 9:58
  who was a candidate as well, who actually
• 10:01
  is, I think, president of the Pickleball Association of America right now.
• 10:04
  But the rugby league, we spent 25 years
• 10:08
  with the, the Dallas Mavericks and, with Mark Cuban
• 10:11
  and that whole turn around, really experienced NBA guy.
• 10:14
  Well, now all three were really great finalists.
• 10:18
  I got a chance to talk with all three.
• 10:21
  Very happy about Matt Elliott.
• 10:22
  And Matt comes to the job with, 19 years of experience at UCLA.
• 10:28
  I knew his boss, Dan Guerrero.
• 10:29
  Dan mentored him personally.
• 10:31
  He was he was there.
• 10:32
  He had incredible responsibilities, lots of knowledge.
• 10:35
  He moved to I came back here to work at the White Community Foundation.
• 10:38
  In the beginning,
• 10:39
  I think Matt was interested in applying for the job,
• 10:41
  but he has really great credentials and found it funny.
• 10:44
  He kind of came around.
• 10:44
  But I think when one considers where we are in collegiate
• 10:49
  in the world of Division one sports now in the changing landscape,
• 10:54
  and whether you're talking about Nil conference realignments
• 10:58
  or all kinds of things, not the least of which are the rules, today's athletes
• 11:01
  transfer portals, all of those things, and then across all sports and all,
• 11:06
  I just think he's a really experienced
• 11:10
  young man, who's got a real passion and knowhow for the job.
• 11:14
  He's going to be highly effective and so I was good.
• 11:17
  I think the unfortunate thing was it good,
• 11:20
  it got so emotional for some people, it turned into a win lose kind of a deal.
• 11:24
  And, I necessarily believe that it should have been.
• 11:27
  I was an advocate of saying, you know, both of these men, I'm talking about
• 11:30
  George Killebrew now because West as an add and and Matt,
• 11:35
  they were sort of in a certain kind of a mold as far as day
• 11:40
  to day operations and all of that stuff, and both very challenging.
• 11:43
  And so I was so pleased with the final three.
• 11:46
  The search committee and the search for and produce was surprising,
• 11:51
  how good it
• 11:51
  was compared to the last time, to be honest with you.
• 11:54
  So, I think, Matt, but, you know,
• 11:58
  George, Killebrew represents, a real unique opportunity.
• 12:02
  I don't know if he would be interested.
• 12:03
  I said, well, why don't we try to hire both?
• 12:05
  You could put one on the state because he's a big fundraising guy.
• 12:08
  He's a big picture guy.
• 12:10
  He's a guy who,
• 12:12
  pretty much said in my interview with him, you kind of redefined the athletic
• 12:15
  director choices.
• 12:15
  You know, in the last year, the role of an idiot and universities has changed.
• 12:19
  I'm not denying that that's not true.
• 12:23
  And, you know, it goes to business guys and whatever.
• 12:26
  And that would be a welcome addition.
• 12:28
  But the fact of the matter is,
• 12:29
  at that particular athletic department, given what's gone on for a long time,
• 12:33
  having been a guy myself who's taking over organizations,
• 12:38
  a guy like Medallia is really suited for that.
• 12:40
  A guy like George Killebrew could really be the answer to a lot of
• 12:45
  big, needs that we have,
• 12:47
  with respect to being able to raise private money,
• 12:51
  to, to help support the program, for that matter, maybe and perhaps
• 12:55
  help support the state.
• 12:56
  You know, with respect to the building of the stadium,
• 13:00
  I just think when you get a guy like that who was born here,
• 13:03
  you know, grew up with the pool hall and,
• 13:08
  in fact, I think he told me he went to the same preschool as my kids
• 13:11
  and went to Eli, and then he went to put a hole.
• 13:14
  But it was a come home.
• 13:15
  He had a great career on the mainland.
• 13:18
  Wants to come back and really make a difference for this place.
• 13:21
  We should open up our thinking and try to figure out
• 13:24
  how do we incorporate that, because both of these guys,
• 13:28
  could make big difference makers.
• 13:30
  And I think that's how we should be thinking.
• 13:32
  I encourage the government to think that where, as of this conversation
• 13:36
  this morning, Brendan, I don't know the status of that.
• 13:39
  But that would be me.
• 13:40
  Selfishly, when you even Westmalle that I really like you sit there, go.
• 13:44
  Why can't we have all three of these guys and figure it out?
• 13:47
  You know, because they're really.
• 13:48
  You could see their passion and
• 13:50
  and that's great that it got competitive like that would really good people.
• 13:54
  But in the case of like I tried to make it early
• 13:57
  with George and and Matt.
• 14:00
  They are complementary in a lot of ways.
• 14:02
  I mean, right now to put the burden of all that has to take place
• 14:07
  from the systemic operations in the changing race landscape of being an 80
• 14:11
  and in sort of a traditional sense, and then also being a super fund raiser.
• 14:15
  Boy, that's asking a lot of anyone for more than a lot.
• 14:18
  I just the time it takes a sophistication to get in firms.
• 14:22
  Supposedly all of these billionaires that fly in here live here.
• 14:26
  Part of a year and whatever,
• 14:27
  but don't really contribute, you know, but they have a love for Hawaii.
• 14:31
  How do we get to them that that's a very sophisticated business
• 14:35
  takes a sophisticated guy, a person and is time
• 14:39
  consuming and would be more than disruptive from their day to day.
• 14:43
  And that's why I say, I think if George wants to do that,
• 14:46
  and we certainly need that, and that's an untapped opportunity.
• 14:49
  It's been talked about for a long time.
• 14:51
  It just has never manifested.
• 14:53
  Now here's a guy who could be a rainmaker in that.
• 14:56
  Well, I would try to get him just to complement all this hard,
• 15:00
  hard work that Matt has in front of him running the athletics department.
• 15:03
  But at the end of the day, if that doesn't happen,
• 15:05
  I still think that out. It was a great choice.
• 15:07
  You mentioned, nil and kind of conference your alignment.
• 15:11
  What did you like about Matt Elliott's experience
• 15:14
  as the Pac 12 deflated, and what do you think he could bring here?
• 15:17
  You know, we could talk about all the conferences and.
• 15:21
  You know, the way Matt positioned himself as he was sort of a golden boy
• 15:23
  there at UCLA. They know this from with Denver.
• 15:26
  So he was at the table at UCLA before they left,
• 15:30
  and went to the Big Ten when the Pac 12 was what it was.
• 15:34
  And the whole evolution of things, he was there
• 15:37
  and I think his last title was chief Strategy Officer, but he had been,
• 15:40
  and that was a really good role.
• 15:42
  You think about it here.
• 15:43
  They were a chief strategy officer on how a school,
• 15:46
  a dominant school like UCLA and so many sports,
• 15:51
  was looking at the changing landscape and he was involved in that
• 15:54
  and all of that and, and being groomed as he talked about it.
• 15:58
  And I know this from firsthand experience to, to be Guerreros, you know,
• 16:02
  he was mentoring him.
• 16:03
  So he's had a front row seat and and what was a great athletic program
• 16:09
  for a long period of time, held all those positions, understands
• 16:13
  so many things, about a really well-run
• 16:17
  athletic department, about the world of college sports,
• 16:20
  about the projections into the future on what may or may not happen.
• 16:24
  I think just his ability to do that, the pedigree that he has,
• 16:27
  because I am confident the guy like Matt could have conversations
• 16:31
  with any athletic director in the country or anybody else
• 16:35
  that would be at a high level, with respect to, let's say,
• 16:38
  whether we're talking television media deals, whether we're talking equipment
• 16:43
  related equipment deals were put to bed, but he just he can handle himself there.
• 16:47
  You could see it.
• 16:47
  This is an experienced, skilled professional.
• 16:51
  And and it's really.
• 16:53
  And I told Matt when he called me, you tell me.
• 16:54
  You changed his mind. He was going to apply that.
• 16:57
  I was proud of him for doing that because it's a big risk right now.
• 17:00
  The athletic department for anybody going in is a risky business.
• 17:05
  You know, the expectations of this community are going to be enormous, right?
• 17:08
  But he's got a real challenge on his hands.
• 17:10
  You know, football attendance is down.
• 17:11
  Stadium is still years away.
• 17:14
  There are things that are going to be happening,
• 17:16
  with respect to attendance, with, you know, with the defection of the teams
• 17:19
  after this football season,
• 17:21
  the schedules all have who we're going to play, keeping fan interest.
• 17:25
  You know, all of this just a lot.
• 17:27
  And it's not just in football.
• 17:29
  It's but football is a big driver.
• 17:31
  But it's even in the other sports, you know, and
• 17:36
  you know, we have we have good coaches up there
• 17:38
  and and there's, and there's a lot of expectation.
• 17:43
  And so how do you get them to even be more successful than they have been?
• 17:47
  All of that stuff?
• 17:48
  It's is it's being athletic director in today's world,
• 17:53
  there's a real challenging and demanding job.
• 17:55
  And I think he's up for it.
• 17:56
  And I think it's different here in Hawaii
• 17:58
  because in Hawaii, people are sensitive to to culture, too, right?
• 18:02
  They don't want some mainland guy hired
• 18:03
  who's going to come in thinking like he knows better.
• 18:05
  Yeah, but someone like Matt, who worked at HCF, worked
• 18:08
  with someone like Mike Carney
• 18:09
  for those who aren't familiar with him, and they say, you know what?
• 18:11
  What is is tied to our culture.
• 18:13
  What do you think they're the answer is, I.
• 18:15
  Say he's proven himself. He's been in for several years now.
• 18:18
  His local sensibility and what he was exposed to through working at HCF.
• 18:22
  I mean, look, they they thought so highly of him.
• 18:24
  I've, I've talked to Michael about it,
• 18:26
  but now Mike is moves on with Parker Ranch. But,
• 18:30
  I remember the first time that I met Matt this.
• 18:33
  You got to meet this young guy.
• 18:34
  He's really smart, and he's just.
• 18:37
  You know what I like about him?
• 18:38
  He has, like, a local style.
• 18:40
  He's not a big mouth kind of guy, you know?
• 18:43
  He listens really well.
• 18:45
  He talks with authority, but softly, if you will.
• 18:49
  Not in your face.
• 18:51
  Good listener, but a lot of, a lot of knowledge there.
• 18:55
  When you ask him about things, he has really in-depth answers.
• 18:58
  So, and he's excited.
• 19:00
  And this is a, you know, look.
• 19:04
  I say this internally here at the city, you know, say like to Don
• 19:08
  Takeuchi of Puna.
• 19:09
  If on your watch we turn TPP around, this is the stuff of legacy, right?
• 19:14
  This is you got an incredible challenge. It's not going to be easy.
• 19:17
  But if we ever get there and we're successful.
• 19:20
  Wow. What's the same thing right now?
• 19:22
  You know, his, his his predecessors have not done well over the years.
• 19:27
  He's inheriting a football program.
• 19:29
  Now we're in a stadium, a head coach that everybody likes.
• 19:32
  But, you know, at the end of the day, Timmy's had three straight losing seasons.
• 19:37
  We, are facing some real challenges in football from the standpoint.
• 19:41
  We're not even averaging 10,000 people.
• 19:43
  You know how you get back share of mind, you know, the a lot of talk
• 19:47
  going on right now as to what the pay per view deal should be, not be.
• 19:51
  I don't think there should be one of those kinds of things to try to win back
• 19:55
  share of mind.
• 19:56
  I mean, these are big issues to take on.
• 19:59
  So yeah, he's got his work.
• 20:00
  I admire him for having the courage
• 20:03
  and really want him to succeed, because we need a great success here.
• 20:07
  And if it does happen for him,
• 20:08
  you know, it may take years to do this thing, you know?
• 20:11
  But I think he's the kind of guy who can lean into this, understand that.
• 20:16
  And really, I think we're going to get a I want to say the money's worth.
• 20:20
  It just sounds callous, but I mean, that way
• 20:22
  I think we're going to get great value from that.
• 20:24
  I think he's going to bring I think he's going to surprise a lot of people.
• 20:27
  I really do.
• 20:28
  I, I'm, I'm counting on that because I've talked to him enough to know
• 20:31
  that, I think, and he's so different than his immediate predecessors.
• 20:36
  I want to say it that way, that,
• 20:39
  I think when people get to
• 20:40
  know him and see him in action, it's going to be very refreshing.
• 20:44
  You recently celebrated the retirement of Bill Ingram.
• 20:48
  Well, spent 46 years as a city and County of Honolulu lifeguard,
• 20:52
  which means in lifeguard duties you have to pass the physical exam every year.
• 20:58
  Right. So Superman. He's he's passing the test.
• 21:01
  Basically the guys in their 20s are doing getting into the department.
• 21:04
  Yeah. What did you walk away with after meeting him?
• 21:06
  Was inspired by Bill. He's so humble.
• 21:09
  But he just a real, you know, tough guy.
• 21:12
  I mean, he kept himself a great shape for me beyond just passing the tests.
• 21:16
  These are guys who at the ready.
• 21:17
  If he had to get into the ocean,
• 21:18
  no matter how challenging it would be, no matter how threatening.
• 21:21
  So, so powerful. Right?
• 21:23
  Could still handle himself doing that.
• 21:27
  That's a rare person, really, right.
• 21:29
  I have I have a reverence for a guy like Bellingham, and he,
• 21:33
  What a legacy.
• 21:34
  And what an inspiration to young guys.
• 21:36
  You go see a guy. Like, what a guy.
• 21:38
  The guy did it for 46 years.
• 21:41
  So, yeah, just a lot of gratitude.
• 21:43
  God knows how many of the members say so, how many countless lives he saved.
• 21:47
  And, And the good that he did, we think about that in life.
• 21:50
  If we had an experience, if you felt like somehow, some way,
• 21:54
  we've had an encounter where we actually saved a person's life,
• 21:57
  I mean, just for the average person, right?
• 21:59
  You think, wow, I was blessing that I was there and at the right time, and I
• 22:05
  you you know, these guys do that, that that's the norm.
• 22:08
  They're lifesavers.
• 22:10
  You think about it, you know, and that's their job is to keep you from dying.
• 22:14
  And they do it. They do it a lot.
• 22:18
  And you and you've done that for so long I mean, I,
• 22:21
  I, I, I don't know how you must think and feel inside.
• 22:25
  We should feel very, very good about himself.
• 22:27
  Talk about a noble profession and,
• 22:31
  and just really we talk all the time.
• 22:33
  People say, oh, I want to make a difference in people's lives.
• 22:35
  Boy, that makes a difference in your life.
• 22:38
  Telling on that.
• 22:39
  Yeah.
• 22:39
  It's a big weekend for families across Oahu.
• 22:42
  This weekend is Father's Day weekend.
• 22:44
  Is it?
• 22:45
  Wow. My kids remote. Remember me?
• 22:48
  I'll. Shoot them a text after this.
• 22:49
  Yeah, I also do. What's up?
• 22:52
  What's been your proudest moment as a father?
• 22:56
  Wow. You know, I think.
• 22:57
  Well, first of all,
• 22:58
  you know, when you grow up as a guy, you wonder someday we'll ever get married.
• 23:02
  And then you wonder if you ever have kids, and then lo and behold, you actually do.
• 23:05
  And one comes after another after another.
• 23:07
  We had three, two boys and a girl.
• 23:10
  And the fact that,
• 23:12
  nobody leads a perfect life but all three of them now, which are up there.
• 23:16
  My oldest son is turning 48 in September, my youngest son's 45, and my daughter
• 23:21
  turns too big for, oh, who has four daughters of her own.
• 23:26
  She turns 40 in August.
• 23:29
  Just watching become
• 23:30
  the people that they become.
• 23:33
  Knowing that each each of the three of them in their own
• 23:37
  ways, is sort of really reached out to try to do the best they can and,
• 23:42
  they're having some success with it and success in life as well.
• 23:46
  They're decent people. I've, they've never caused me.
• 23:48
  I never had a go to get any of them out of jail. And,
• 23:52
  they just become really good, decent people
• 23:55
  who actually, it's going to sound weird.
• 23:59
  But for other people, like, you know, I know, I, you know what I mean?
• 24:03
  As opposed. To like.
• 24:04
  Well, I mean, but they have, like, a lot of friends and they sort of social,
• 24:07
  you know, it's like, you know, they're not misfits, you know what I mean?
• 24:11
  You hope your kid will be like that if you will.
• 24:14
  And they both, you know, they all have their own
• 24:16
  social life and people and, you know, and Ryan, who was here
• 24:20
  the longest, he's now living in Atlanta is a kind of a quiet guy.
• 24:23
  But this year he was sitting a fisherman out for, well, five years and two years.
• 24:28
  And he was worked in operations and football for 4 or 5 years.
• 24:32
  And then he was a D at Saint Louis for a couple of years.
• 24:34
  And I run into people all the time, as are we've been Home Depot.
• 24:37
  So, hey, how is Ryan doing?
• 24:39
  You know, and the stuff where, you know, don't I?
• 24:41
  And, you know, that makes me kind of proud that
• 24:44
  the decent people who try have really, you know, in their own ways.
• 24:48
  I mean, my, my daughter had a great career going. She fell in love.
• 24:51
  Now she has four kids.
• 24:51
  She's raising four kids from 18 months to nine.
• 24:54
  God bless her.
• 24:55
  Four girls on top of it, all of whom are full of life and whatever.
• 24:59
  I'm proud of all that stuff, you know? It's just.
• 25:02
  And you just wish the best for them.
• 25:04
  You know, as I age and, you know, I see them now.
• 25:06
  They're really grown up people.
• 25:09
  I think I'm, I'm proud of that, that they're they're now
• 25:12
  in a place where I can kind of identify who they are, if you will.
• 25:16
  As, as adults and the people they become and the parents they become.
• 25:21
  It's good. It's good stuff.
• 25:23
  On that note, mayor, this is the one Oahu podcast.
• 25:25
  So for one final thought.
• 25:27
  Well, you just said, let me just say Happy Father's Day.
• 25:29
  Talk about being an A.D. is not easy.
• 25:31
  Being a dad is easy.
• 25:34
  No, it never stops.
• 25:36
  Like I just said, the three of 48, 45, and 40 is like,
• 25:39
  they might as well be eight, ten and 12 or something.
• 25:42
  You know what I mean? Your your kids.
• 25:44
  And so to all those dads out there who've worked so hard to try to provide
• 25:47
  for their families and, and just, you know, live a good life, God bless you.
• 25:52
  And and happy Father's Day. Mayor.
• 25:54
  Thank you for your time.
• 25:56
  And thank you for listening.
• 25:57
  Next week we'll sit down with Bill and Graham, that lifeguard
• 26:00
  we just talked about who retired after 46 years.
• 26:02
  If you have any questions for Bill, feel free to drop into our DMs on social media.
• 26:07
  Mahalo for listening. And until next time, Aloha!