Latest / The One Oʻahu Podcast with Mayor Rick Blangiardi / DPP’s Davis Pitner on storm damage, avoiding scammers, and the success of CivCheck

Transcript

DPP’s Davis Pitner on storm damage, avoiding scammers, and the success of CivCheck · The One Oʻahu Podcast with Mayor Rick Blangiardi

• 0:15
  Welcome to the One Oahu podcast.
• 0:16
  I'm your host, Brandi Higa, and this week we're joined by Davis Pitner, the public
• 0:20
  information officer for the city's Department of Planning and Permtting.
• 0:24
  Davis, thanks for making some time for me.
• 0:26
  Yeah, absolutely. Thanks for having me.
• 0:27
  Okay, so first off, tell us a little bit about yourself.
• 0:30
  So what were you doing before coming to the city,
• 0:33
  what your role is now and what's prepared you for that?
• 0:36
  Yeah.
• 0:37
  So as you mentioned, public information officer at DPP.
• 0:40
  So been here for around a year, little more than a year now.
• 0:44
  I don't think you make a year. We didn't even celebrate this.
• 0:47
  I know it, made a year in April.
• 0:50
  April 1st. Which is kind of funny, right?
• 0:53
  April 1st.
• 0:53
  Yeah.
• 0:54
  Which is funny because I thought it was an April Fool's joke when I
• 0:57
  actually got the offer.
• 1:00
  But, yeah.
• 1:01
  No, I, I came here, April 1st, last year.
• 1:05
  Before that, I was over at hnn
• 1:08
  over there for almost a decade ish.
• 1:12
  So, we're.
• 1:14
  No, I during my time over there, but wanted to branch off, try something new.
• 1:18
  And I saw the city as a great way of doing that.
• 1:21
  And specifically, you know, DPP, felt like
• 1:25
  I could really make a change over there and help with the communications going on.
• 1:30
  So your job in news, how do you think that prepared you for this role?
• 1:32
  Were you doing like, news writing or were there any,
• 1:35
  you know, commonalities that prepared you for this little bit of everything?
• 1:38
  I was over there, so I acted as, first the photographer.
• 1:43
  So going out to stories.
• 1:44
  But then I also helped with producing of This Is Now and our shows over there.
• 1:49
  So a little bit of everything.
• 1:51
  So definitely answering or asking questions to peers over at the city,
• 1:56
  kind of gave me that mindset of what's going to be asked to me, in this role.
• 2:01
  So, I think it definitely prepared me specifically in knowing, like,
• 2:06
  what's important, what does the public need to know, and
• 2:09
  how can I better frame my answers through the media in that way?
• 2:13
  And what can I get out there, that's important for them or relevant
• 2:17
  for them to know. So
• 2:18
  I think definitely having that background in media, prepared me for this role.
• 2:22
  Yeah.
• 2:22
  So now that you are the one answering the questions from the media
• 2:25
  and really from the public in this capacity, that you're in the back
• 2:29
  to back to back storms, you know, from the wind events
• 2:31
  that we had from Super Bowl weekend to the corner close to La la,
• 2:34
  I assume that a lot of folks have been asking you
• 2:36
  what they need to know
• 2:37
  and what they can do
• 2:38
  in terms of everything from damage assessments to emergency repairs.
• 2:42
  So what has the messaging been like
• 2:43
  from your department, from you over the last few weeks, months?
• 2:47
  Really, it really has gone on for, for a long time.
• 2:51
  This has been a crazy storm season.
• 2:52
  I think first and foremost, we we definitely learned a lot from the
• 2:56
  co-owner was I think that was a disaster, especially during my time in news.
• 3:01
  I never saw anything like that.
• 3:03
  So I think we learned a lot about
• 3:07
  how people can repair informing them on what they can do and can't do
• 3:11
  and what they should be checking, before they even consider repairs.
• 3:15
  So one of the biggest changes that kind of happened specifically
• 3:19
  right around right before wall came was FEMA's firms update.
• 3:24
  So just a little bit of background about that.
• 3:26
  So firms is the flood insurance rate maps.
• 3:30
  That came out on June 10th this year.
• 3:32
  So we did a bunch of press on that Cser also did stuff on that,
• 3:36
  head to their website if you guys have more questions about that.
• 3:39
  But basically, this update came out of these firms
• 3:42
  which updated the flood maps for all of what who now placing
• 3:46
  a lot of properties into different flood zones that they weren't in before.
• 3:50
  So when it comes to repairing, the first thing we want to look at is
• 3:54
  making sure that a property is not in a
• 3:58
  what's called a special flood hazard area.
• 4:01
  So these are specific areas that some properties got switched to
• 4:05
  after this update that do need a building permit, for
• 4:09
  just because they're in an area
• 4:11
  that's could be prone to flooding near streams, stuff like that.
• 4:15
  So first thing we look for is whether or not they're in that area.
• 4:18
  So check what flood zone you're in.
• 4:21
  You know, after this disaster we know what's happening.
• 4:23
  But in order to rebuild, first check on the flood zone.
• 4:27
  And all this information is on the website as well.
• 4:29
  But just mentioning this because this is really the first step
• 4:32
  in repairing your property.
• 4:35
  So if you're in any of these, contact us right away
• 4:39
  and we will work with you guys on on your repair.
• 4:42
  Just because there might be a building permit needed for that.
• 4:45
  All this information is online, but kind of four requirements
• 4:49
  that you need to meet in order to do repair work is that the work
• 4:54
  must not expand the size, height, or area of the structure.
• 4:57
  Repairs must not make the structure less safe than what it was prior to the damage.
• 5:01
  Materials used must be similar to the original construction, and all work
• 5:06
  must comply with applicable city ordinances and building code.
• 5:10
  Safety requirements.
• 5:11
  You know, if you meet all those, then you are good to start work
• 5:16
  without a permit as long as a permit is applied for the next day.
• 5:19
  Now that being said, there is a bunch of different types of work
• 5:22
  that don't need permits. You can just go ahead and repair and do.
• 5:25
  And that full list is on our website.
• 5:27
  So I know this is a lot.
• 5:28
  So it was a lot of messaging that, we needed to kind of get out there.
• 5:33
  So it was a lot of updating the website.
• 5:36
  DEM did a great job creating the OneOahu.org
• 5:39
  which we were able to also create a link straight to our website on there
• 5:43
  to hopefully get that out as well.
• 5:45
  So there's a lot of stuff that goes into repairing the property.
• 5:48
  And you know, we know what is what happens during these disasters
• 5:53
  and we want to help
• 5:53
  as quickly as possible, but we want to just make sure that it's done
• 5:57
  the right way when it comes to the damage assessments.
• 5:59
  So once a disaster happens, we want the public to take it,
• 6:03
  take pictures, take images of the properties as soon as possible.
• 6:06
  This helps with their insurance as well as DEM did in the past.
• 6:09
  Storms for for Lala and one Oahu and
• 6:13
  also on the website in general like there
• 6:16
  is going to be a damage assessment button that they can go to click
• 6:20
  that lets us know that your property received some sort of damage,
• 6:23
  will send an inspector out and we will assess it.
• 6:25
  So I know that was a lot.
• 6:28
  Sorry for for all that.
• 6:30
  But it is important that people understand
• 6:33
  what all goes into repairing their houses so they can do it properly.
• 6:36
  Right.
• 6:37
  And how important is it as we get all of these, assessment
• 6:40
  numbers, you know, like the total number of properties, businesses, damage, etc.,
• 6:44
  how important is that for, say, if we need something like federal funding?
• 6:48
  You know, what FEMA is looking for after these events?
• 6:51
  Oh, it's critical.
• 6:52
  I mean, that's why we did such a big push on that through, HNL alert,
• 6:56
  through social media in collaboration with the, you know, the process
• 7:00
  started right away and we needed those damage assessments done quickly.
• 7:04
  So that we can know, you know, how many were Major Minor destroyed?
• 7:08
  All those different categories fit into the disaster proclamation
• 7:12
  and us getting federal aid because that goes straight into people's pockets.
• 7:16
  That's how they repair.
• 7:16
  And so, it's critical that we get this damage assessments as soon as possible.
• 7:22
  Yeah. And then you mentioned the flood insurance rate maps.
• 7:24
  But beyond flooding, like we saw in la la, it was a wind event as well.
• 7:29
  And one of the more dramatic scenes
• 7:30
  we saw was from Happy Days, the restaurant in Kaimuki.
• 7:33
  I know that you got to go there in person.
• 7:35
  For those of us who didn't, what did that look like in person?
• 7:37
  What happened there, and then what happens next?
• 7:40
  Yeah, that was, that was a really sad situation.
• 7:43
  I mean, that is such a popular restaurant for a lot of people,
• 7:46
  not only in the Kaimuki area, but all across Oahu.
• 7:49
  Everyone knows of that spot. Yeah.
• 7:50
  So I, I went over there to the property, along with the director,
• 7:54
  and we sent inspectors as well, stepped inside it.
• 7:57
  And it was such a sad sight to see.
• 7:59
  I mean, there was still food out on the tables.
• 8:01
  As everyone knows, several people were injured.
• 8:03
  What our inspectors found, basically, was that one of the interior trusses
• 8:07
  inside the building basically collapsed.
• 8:09
  And the wall kind of facing 11th Avenue was tilting actually toward the street.
• 8:15
  If you actually went outside, we went outside the property.
• 8:18
  You could see the wall kind of bending some of the pipes a little bit.
• 8:22
  You could kind of tell even from the outside that it wasn't too sturdy.
• 8:26
  So that brought up some serious concerns.
• 8:27
  We closed down 11th Avenue, just that small portion of it,
• 8:31
  and also that sidewalk just out of safety precautions.
• 8:34
  We didn't want anyone walking in or driving right alongside them.
• 8:37
  So the next thing for them now
• 8:38
  is to kind of determine on what repair work is needed.
• 8:43
  And so that's something that they're going to be doing with their contractor.
• 8:46
  We're going to be in close contact with them and keep the public updated,
• 8:49
  as it goes along.
• 8:51
  And so for other businesses in that area, I know you mentioned
• 8:54
  kind of shutting down areas where it wasn't safe,
• 8:56
  but for other businesses
• 8:58
  nearby, kind of with the same design or even constructed during the same period.
• 9:02
  Is there anything that they should be looking for in their structure
• 9:06
  or, you know, because hurricane season isn't done yet.
• 9:08
  Yeah.
• 9:09
  It's hard to make that comparison
• 9:10
  between Happy Days and other, buildings just because everything is different.
• 9:14
  Everything was built a different way, even if it wasn't the same year.
• 9:16
  So biggest advice to people is just to look for anything out of the ordinary.
• 9:21
  So that could be cracks, cleaning walls,
• 9:24
  any sorts of shifting if they notice any leaking.
• 9:28
  You don't want to ignore these things in your building.
• 9:30
  Because storm season is here, things happen.
• 9:33
  And those small little problems that you think
• 9:35
  don't matter could turn into something bigger.
• 9:37
  So our biggest advice, just make sure you keep a watch out,
• 9:41
  try and address those small things before
• 9:44
  they could lead up to something bigger later on.
• 9:47
  And the same goes for residential properties, right?
• 9:49
  Absolutely. Yeah. Same thing with residential.
• 9:52
  As soon as you see
• 9:52
  something that's offered different, make sure you address it right away
• 9:56
  because it could lead to something bigger, which we all don't want to happen.
• 9:59
  And I know you kind of touched on this earlier about investigators going around.
• 10:02
  And this is kind of an unfortunate reality.
• 10:05
  But scamming becomes more common following disasters.
• 10:08
  What do you want the public to know about those who maybe come to their home
• 10:11
  to do damage assessments, even their their buildings and doing inspections?
• 10:15
  Maybe they get an email, a text message, something that doesn't look quite right.
• 10:19
  What do you want them to do?
• 10:21
  Yeah.
• 10:22
  So, it is really unfortunate that these things are still happening
• 10:26
  today, and it's just kind of a reality
• 10:28
  that there are people out there that try and take advantage of others.
• 10:32
  And so the first message we want to get across is slow down and verify
• 10:36
  who you're dealing with.
• 10:37
  You know, after the damage assessment, we saw some scams coming in of people
• 10:41
  trying to act like inspectors, you know, going up to properties
• 10:45
  and even most recently we got like, we saw an email of someone
• 10:49
  asking for, like, a wire transfer and just addressing a violation.
• 10:53
  But in the email, they were asking for a wire transfer
• 10:56
  and all these things, you know, our red flags.
• 10:59
  And, you know, first of all, we will never ask for a wire transfer.
• 11:03
  That's something that that we will never do.
• 11:05
  So if you see that that is a scam immediately, please email us that,
• 11:09
  so we can address that, but verify who you're dealing with.
• 11:13
  You know, our inspectors will always identify themselves.
• 11:16
  So if someone comes up to your door,
• 11:20
  and says that they're a DPP inspector, just politely ask for a badge.
• 11:24
  They will always present that.
• 11:26
  So make sure you're always asking for that.
• 11:28
  They will always have a city badge on them.
• 11:30
  Emails and texts just don't click.
• 11:32
  Like, if anything, any suspicious links,
• 11:36
  or provide any financial information, just because it seems like
• 11:41
  it comes from their government agency, it comes from us.
• 11:44
  You know, if you have any doubt, just contact us dpe@honolulu.gov.
• 11:48
  We will respond to you and address that.
• 11:51
  But yeah really just keep an eye out especially after these disasters
• 11:56
  for people trying to claim that their inspectors that that they work for us.
• 12:01
  And switching gears now, I know that on September 1st,
• 12:05
  DPP move forward in the next phase of implementing Civcheck.
• 12:09
  What does that mean and what do people need to know?
• 12:11
  Yeah.
• 12:11
  So that's, it's an exciting time for us to Civcheck.
• 12:15
  We launched, on December 8th of 2025.
• 12:18
  So we've had this going now for around nine months now.
• 12:22
  And it's been like showing some pretty good progress.
• 12:25
  And we're really excited about the potential.
• 12:29
  So it has been it's currently just limited to residential projects.
• 12:34
  So certain scopes that full list of scopes and more information on self
• 12:38
  check is on our website as well. But September 1st.
• 12:41
  So we are making that subject mandatory for those specific types
• 12:46
  of residential work.
• 12:47
  So people that fall under that scope, which is listed online.
• 12:51
  And also when you go through the application process,
• 12:53
  if you fall under those types of work, then you have to create an account
• 12:57
  and check and basically just go through that check process.
• 13:01
  It uses AI to check your plans basically for simple kind of formatting errors
• 13:07
  or formatting mistakes,
• 13:08
  trying to address those early before it gets to a human reviewer.
• 13:11
  So this is all about saving time in the long run.
• 13:15
  We want our reviewers and examiners to get the most complete plans ahead
• 13:21
  of time, which is where Civcheck comes in so people will go through the process.
• 13:26
  It's super simple.
• 13:27
  It guides you every step of the way through Civcheck addresses, issues.
• 13:31
  It'll bring every
• 13:32
  you know, if there's any errors or any issues that you need to fix.
• 13:35
  It'll bring those up to you so you can fix those as you go along.
• 13:39
  So in the end, you're going to get a Civcheck ID
• 13:42
  and also a safe check stamp on your plans.
• 13:46
  And then you use that in HNL build. So
• 13:49
  that will help us know that your plans
• 13:53
  are checked by Civcheck and can keep continuing on through the process.
• 13:56
  So this just saves time in the long run.
• 13:59
  So making it mandatory now and then later on this year
• 14:02
  we're going to actually open it up to commercial projects.
• 14:05
  So that is the kind of next phase.
• 14:08
  Yeah it's comfortable enough to make this mandatory.
• 14:10
  Now even like you said we knew this is going to happen.
• 14:12
  But what kind of strides has this been able to make?
• 14:14
  Is it in time? Is it in.
• 14:17
  You know, maybe it's a person applying for this
• 14:20
  like understands because it's now more visible to them as well.
• 14:23
  There's more transparency.
• 14:24
  There's more transparency. Yeah.
• 14:26
  I think the biggest thing that people are going to notice is time.
• 14:30
  So clarity, which is the company that owns this check, they provided us
• 14:34
  their quarter one results and it showed that Civcheck
• 14:38
  for at least the applications that it compared it.
• 14:41
  So it compared Civcheck
• 14:42
  applications to similar applications in HNL build to compare the both.
• 14:46
  And it showed that people that use check saved an average of 40 days
• 14:50
  on their review,
• 14:52
  which is huge for someone who just wants to do a simple residential project.
• 14:56
  You know, after seeing that, that was really eye opening for us
• 15:00
  because we're like, wow, there's a lot of potential here in this software.
• 15:03
  Let's see what else I can do.
• 15:04
  So we highly suggest, even if you don't fall
• 15:08
  under that scope of work right now, please create a check account today.
• 15:12
  You mentioned this, but when it comes to I, DPP,
• 15:15
  won an award, AI 50.
• 15:19
  Can you talk about that?
• 15:20
  Yeah, it's it was really unexpected.
• 15:23
  And it just kind of shows the potential of the software
• 15:26
  and the potential of where things can go in permitting here in Honolulu.
• 15:31
  So it's a an award
• 15:34
  provided by the center for Public Sector AI.
• 15:37
  So we won this based off that
• 15:39
  first quarter report showing our times and the improvements that were being made.
• 15:43
  It just goes to show where things are going.
• 15:45
  We're trying to modernize,
• 15:47
  permitting here in Hawaii and see how we can improve these times.
• 15:51
  So just getting this award just adds another another layer
• 15:54
  to that and seeing what else we can do, how else we can improve.
• 15:59
  Another exciting announcement out of DPP is that DPP has a new deputy.
• 16:03
  What does Stephen Young bring?
• 16:06
  Yeah. So we're super excited about Stephen.
• 16:08
  He was a great pick for this role.
• 16:11
  Definitely deserves it.
• 16:12
  So he's been at DPP for the past 20 years working over in our site development
• 16:16
  branch, and he's fully on board with everything that we're doing.
• 16:21
  You know, he comes with so much knowledge of the department, how
• 16:24
  it was operating, 20 years ago to where it is today.
• 16:27
  And he is excited to keep improving on what we're building now.
• 16:31
  And we're really happy that he's going to be a part of our team.
• 16:35
  You mentioned earlier from your time at Hawaii News Now, we're
• 16:38
  you were the one asking the questions.
• 16:39
  Now you're the one answering the questions.
• 16:41
  What kind of questions do you hear the most?
• 16:44
  I think the biggest question that I get asked is, what's taking so long?
• 16:51
  And your answer, as
• 16:52
  the person that answers these, no, I don't. I.
• 16:55
  So my answer is always, you know, just check on the status of your firm.
• 17:00
  We've been seeing applications that have been in review for
• 17:03
  hundreds of days still in the applicants, and we've been waiting for the applicant
• 17:07
  to make a correction for like more than 400 days.
• 17:10
  So there's not a lot we can do on our part if it's being held up on there.
• 17:15
  And so check on the status of it, see if you missed anything,
• 17:19
  or need to make any corrections and always reach out to us.
• 17:21
  And because DPP does get a lot of complaints, right?
• 17:25
  Why is it taking so long and digging from the media?
• 17:29
  What do you do to find center?
• 17:31
  At the end of the day and take care of your mental health?
• 17:34
  Davis what is the secret
• 17:38
  and what is the secret?
• 17:40
  I don't know, you know, it's NFL is here.
• 17:43
  You know, checking up on my fantasy team, you know, going to sports.
• 17:48
  That's assuming your fantasy team is doing well.
• 17:50
  Well, you know, it's I did start off with, like, two losses, so.
• 17:54
  I'm sorry.
• 17:55
  Where is your mental things?
• 17:56
  Things are kind of down right now. Brandy.
• 18:00
  They win this week will bring things right back up.
• 18:03
  But, No, I'm I'm.
• 18:05
  You know, like I said, I've been here a year.
• 18:07
  It's such a pleasure working with the director, with Don,
• 18:12
  all of you guys, all the other peers here
• 18:14
  at the city, really appreciative for this opportunity.
• 18:18
  And it's been fun so far.
• 18:19
  We just need these storms to stop, you know?
• 18:22
  Well, Davis Pitner, is there anything that we missed?
• 18:25
  I don't think so.
• 18:27
  I think we're good.
• 18:27
  Thank you for your time. Absolutely.
• 18:30
  And for more information again on any of the programs Davis
• 18:33
  discussed today, you can find more on DPP's website.
• 18:36
  That's honolulu.gov/dpp.
• 18:39
  And like you said, remember
• 18:40
  hurricane season not Paul yet it does go through November 30th.
• 18:44
  However tropical cyclones can and really they do occur all year round.
• 18:49
  Use the time now to go replenish those hurricane kits.
• 18:51
  If you use anything during the Kona lows or LA, go over your emergency plans
• 18:56
  and if you do have any questions about protecting your property,
• 18:59
  you can head over to Honolulu.gov/DEM
• 19:03
  You can learn everything about the risks for really any location on Oahu,
• 19:07
  not just for flooding, wildfire risks, dam and levee risks, and other hazards.
• 19:11
  Again, that's honolulu.gov/dem Mahalo to all of you for listening.
• 19:16
  And until next time Aloha.