Latest / The One Oʻahu Podcast with Mayor Rick Blangiardi / Mayor Blangiardi on the Chinatown Cultural Plaza and a new ridership high for Skyline

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Mayor Blangiardi on the Chinatown Cultural Plaza and a new ridership high for Skyline · The One Oʻahu Podcast with Mayor Rick Blangiardi

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Welcome to the One Oahu podcast.
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I'm your host, Brandi Higa, and today is Thursday, January 29th, 2026.
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February is here just a few days.
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But we're back this week with Mayor Blangiardi and Mayor.
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What an interesting weekend it was for a football match and a super Bowl.
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Yeah, okay, we gonna talk about football.
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I like that I can't, I just can't believe it's January 29th.
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Yeah, it was incredible.
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You know, I have to tell you that, the Seahawks are very, very good, but
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the Patriots did under those conditions what they needed to do.
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You know, which was run the ball and and control the game.
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And you know there's been a lot of talk about Peyton's decision on the field goal
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or whether Stidham you know and the two mistakes that he made.
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You know not just the fourth the one but the
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okay.
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But the fact of the matter is the Patriots they reestablish that game against
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a very good defense and running the football and it control
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I mean the time of possession of the third quarter was like
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you know like 13 to 2 I think or something like that.
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So it was very physical.
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Seahawks are really good.
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I mean but the Patriots beat a good Broncos team old school way.
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It's going to be incredible matchup.
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But I know the Patriots are underdogs I think you know here's the thing.
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I'm as excited as I am for Vrabel and that organization
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I really like the Sam Darnold story.
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I just think his season has been miraculous.
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On the heels of a guy.
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You think about it,
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how many you talk about talk about all the scenarios in this.
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But for a guy
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who won 14 games in Minnesota and was shown the door to go to Seattle,
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which he'd been stonewalled
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because he'd gone through a series of quarterbacks,
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he'd be to have the year he's had and take that team where they're at,
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in the way they're playing and and their coach McDonald.
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It's just it's just this is a really good Super Bowl.
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Mayor,
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it was this week that the governor delivered his state of the state address.
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Yes, I know that you were there. What were some of your takeaways?
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Well, you know, I told him afterwards, that I thought from a content standpoint,
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this was his best yet because it was very forward
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thinking and looking, and it wasn't so much a, a recount,
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if you will, of all the things they've done.
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I mean, quite honestly, the way we operate on and think
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people want to know, yo, you know, what have you done for me?
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What they really want to know. What are you going to do for me?
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You know, it's more that.
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And I thought he shifted that way with an eye in the future.
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And I thought that was really good.
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And you look, we, we share, we share a lot in common right now
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because, you know, the state and Honolulu and the symbiotic nature of all of that,
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with respect to some of the major things we're dealing with, with respect
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to housing and homelessness
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and some the collaboration that we've had between us,
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which has been remarkable for both sides.
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I mean, we've benefited certainly at the city,
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but I think we've helped the state to be more effective.
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And so I'm really enjoying that.
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I think we look at the future, I think we're aligned the same way.
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Everybody's concerned about cost of living,
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anything that we can possibly do.
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You know, he has the benefit of establishing
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tax credits and different things like that.
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But we're looking at every opportunity.
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I think our budget reflects that, where
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we'll only spend the money we have, we're going to spend prudently.
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I've made it on I'm on record of say, we're not going to raise property taxes
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during our time. You know, costs go up.
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You look at the collective bargaining agreement alone
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that's going to represent on what we pay our people, $55 million
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increase the first year and more than doubles to me.
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You got to take these things, these fixed costs into into account
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when you try to run the city, you know, there's not a lot of variable expenses.
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So you've got to be very, very smart with how you manage your money.
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And, I think the financial stewardship of the city, has never been better.
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I'm very proud of our team.
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And, you know, bond ratings are one thing, but still.
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Yeah, we've got a double
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double A+ bond rating, which is good in both in both services.
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But more than that I think it's how we're executing.
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You know, and this comes down to the leadership of our cabinet members,
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the departments, the vision they have, the plans and goals that we've set.
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I feel good about, we're gonna have an amazing year.
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I, I'm confident I've said that I appeared this week after the governor's
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speech, before the Ways and Means and the finance committee members and
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and and told them that I, you know, we've put this team together
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over the course of five years.
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And last year, when we shifted from planning to execution, we had a good year.
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But this year, knowing full well what's in the pipeline,
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in our in my confidence, in our ability to execute and deliver
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on that, has never been greater since I've been in office.
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So, I've got the bar set really high.
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Everybody knows that for all of us, myself included.
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But they like that they're capable of that.
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I think hopefully our deliverables to the people who live here,
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a lot of people will go, wow.
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Oh, this is really good.
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That's, you know, finally, you know, I think people feel that way anyway.
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And I try not to go too far with that, but I think people see the deliverables.
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I mean, I and, the things that we're doing.
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And so I'm, I'm pleased because that's the kind of feedback
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I go a lot of places, you know, I move around a lot.
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Nobody has to pay attention to me and believe me, I, I, I write his criticisms.
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Every now and then, people are going to tell you what they think.
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They're not ashamed afraid to do that.
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But I get a lot of compliments.
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People are noticing
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the things that we're doing, and that's all the way across the board.
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That was a state of the state address.
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What can we expect for your state of the city address?
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Well, I think, very much forward looking, in the spirit of what
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I just said about people want to know what you're going to do for them.
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And so, I probably going to account or recount
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a couple of the things that we've put in place,
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but I think it's going to be about the big stuff.
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You know,
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what, people can anticipate what we're going to get done in housing,
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what we're going to get done in homelessness, what we're going to
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what we're doing for a DPP.
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We've come so far with that.
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We're right on the threshold of of making sure on the claims.
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And that's going to happen.
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It's already improved dramatically.
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You know, I was with Diane Takeuchi of our director just the other day.
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She came over to that meeting.
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I leaned over to her and I said, you know, where are we on residential?
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Where are we on the commercial?
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She said, two weeks on residential, two months on commercial.
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People thought that was unheard of.
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The challenge we've had is twofold from the standpoint
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of implementation of technology, one has to do with the data integration it was.
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So the historical files are so big.
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That took a while.
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Plus that,
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you know, you can buy new technology, but just to bring a workforce along too.
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So you've got you've got a, you know, technological metrics on where we are,
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let's say, towards our desired goals and where we are
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with the people in the learning and the development,
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a new standard, operating procedures, all of that
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that's lagging behind by day by day we get better.
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So I think those are big things where people could expect in public safety.
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You know, sometimes she will be naming a new chief of police.
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But right now our first responders are doing a really good job across the board.
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I'm really proud of them.
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I want to reassure people about that.
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You know, and,
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we stay focused on, on, on what were the big wicked problems
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and, you know, and I will tell you that we have a lot of priorities.
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It's hard to say on which they one is more equal than the other.
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But, you know, you can't really separate when you start talking about public
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safety, a need for housing, keeping people here,
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I mean, down cost of living any way and every way we can,
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all that stuff and then, you know, just better working
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the other thing that we never really talk about
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is just a better working relationship with the various resources,
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like working together with the state on a number of things to really
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bring to fruition things that maybe wouldn't have happened.
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Same thing where our city council was just there and talking with them and,
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how we're looking at Bill seven and some of the things that we want
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to get done and just, just a lot of
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cross-sector collaboration, people working together towards a common goal,
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I think will help manifest some unprecedented results.
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So I'm excited about that.
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But that's what this job is all about anyway, is getting results,
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what people expect from you. That's what they hope for.
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When it doesn't happen, they get frustrated.
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And, you know, I feel I feel good that we're really in a place,
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Brandy, where we're we're delivering, you know,
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I want to go back to something that you touched on.
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You mentioned the search for the next chief of police.
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I know that you've met with that consultant that's now on that, sir. So.
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So what were your thoughts in that conversation?
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Yeah, in the next. Yeah.
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His name was Gary Pearson.
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They did a great job.
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I, you know, I spent a lot of time with him.
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Unlike the last time I had a 30 minute
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night, maybe even an even 30 minute phone call with somebody never even met.
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And he was reading to me questions.
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You know, there was not even any dialog.
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It was like he was checking a box to say, okay, I talked to the mayor, right.
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This was in my office in person.
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And then we had dinner later that night, and I had our team here with me, too.
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I had people that I know, like all of us, have a vested interest, but I wanted
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it to be,
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that kind of encounter.
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So it was not just me.
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It was, you know, the benefit of of Mike Formby, managing director Crystal Jeremy
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and Scott Humber and Ian to be in here from your communications department.
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Because I know that all of these men,
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and Laurie Foss was in here the newly elected chair.
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They share a perspective because of the filters we have
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on the work of the police department and, and the responsibility that we share.
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So, it was really a very candid conversation.
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And, he had already interviewed a lot of people.
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He had a lot to offer and say, it was it was was really upbeat.
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I felt really good.
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I know this is part of a process
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we have to go through to hire, and we'll see, what turns out.
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But he's had a lot of success in policing chiefs, more than 25 placements.
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He's a former police chief himself.
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You know, sometimes you
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meet somebody like that, you just not sure, you know.
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So I, I've been dealing with consultants my whole career, you know,
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and there's this thing called consultant speak.
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It's like coach speak in sports, you know?
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And these guys get into this vernacular where they're just sort of saying things
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that sounds can, you know, I thought Gary was very real, is very honest.
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We didn't get the consultant speak.
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I was encouraged by that.
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I thought his observations, his assessments early
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on of what he had seen because I'd met him like after he'd
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been here for several days, 4 or 5 days, I think, and the only people he'd met.
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But other things he'd picked up on his own research on Hawaii, etc..
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So it was, was good.
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I'm encouraged. I'm excited.
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I just, you know, everything takes so damn long.
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And, you know, but I think we're going to get there in just a few months.
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As we just joked about a minute or two. It's already January 29th.
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I mean, we just were saying Happy New Year yesterday, you know?
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So, it'll come soon enough.
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I think the biggest thing is not the speed in which it takes us.
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Just to get it right this, this time.
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And I know that you've made it public.
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Things that you're looking for in your chief.
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Open communication. Right?
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An informed public is a is a safer public.
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So what were the expectations or what kind of, you know, information
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did Gary share with you that they hopefully that they're looking for?
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Well, I think he understands
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that as we get now into the seventh year of the third decade of the 21st century,
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that policing is, there's a modernization that's taking place
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on, on in departments across the country in those respective leaders.
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And so it's got to be somebody who has the depth and breadth of that
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when it comes to not only dealing with the men and women
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of their own department and recruiting and all the other things that go on,
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and internal communications and leadership that they have to provide
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the kind of respect that they command, the kind of expectations that
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they set forth.
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You mean it needs to be that in the community
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is there's no ego there, you know, I mean, if they have all the face
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time, all the time on television, if it's warranted, reassuring
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the public about their safety or anything else that they might be doing.
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I want somebody like that.
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I it's it's like what you want from an athletic director
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and a head coach in our respective communities.
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I think there are certain roles that people feel unlike in the private sector,
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that are public figures, and they need to own that.
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It's it's just part of the fabric of our society.
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And if the right people doing it the right way
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and and successful at it, it's just it's just really reassuring.
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I want the chief of police to be a little bit larger than life.
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I really want them to be that way, and I want them to be that way.
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Also, for the men and women who reported it to somebody
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who has to be able to command that respect from a leadership standpoint.
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So in turn, and we can all expect the kind of execution
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that we want from our department.
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And keeping the public safe.
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He also understood a lot about data.
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We had a really interesting conversation about the fact that, in his assessment,
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that very little data was being used from the standpoint of,
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you know, much has been said about the numbers
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of police officers that were were short of nearly 500.
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And, the department itself is over 600 when you count administrative staff.
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But in my time in office and even going back,
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there's really been no model to say that's the number.
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You know, that we really need.
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So there's going to be a real drill down to say with things being what they are,
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the way they can decide what is what is that real number.
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And I suspect it could possibly be less.
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In fact, I'm confident it's less.
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And so so that may also do something to alleviate the the gap if you will.
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But that also has to do with how one runs a department and that leadership.
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So, I think those kind of things are really positive.
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So suddenly all of a sudden it gets determined that through
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however skirt whatever.
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And it's not 500, it's 300.
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That's that's huge because that's how we're taking we can hire those 200,
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especially when you consider that every year we have two retirements,
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understandably and justifiably, you know, lose 50 or 6,
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60 officers a week, a year, rather, you know, I,
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I just love that thinking we were going, you know, at that kind of comprehension
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and being able to use technology to really help us map out and do a better job.
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So I know you said a lot of good things, mayor, this has been in the news,
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a couple times.
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The trans on Cultural Plaza is, getting some attention.
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What is what is the latest that's getting a lot more attention?
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You know, we've gone through the channels I started four years ago.
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I started really the first year.
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And if you remember Brandy, we took our Capital One.
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The very first things we did as a cabinet during Covid.
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We all had masks were outside.
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It's one of its few times
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I can even bring everybody together because we were outdoors.
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We marched through Chinatown, we spent a couple of hours.
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We walked up and down every street up was, you know, just to familiarize
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with everybody.
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And we began early on addressing Chinatown issues,
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because it really needed that, you know, it.
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And a lot of good things even happened early on.
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And I tell you this, early on, we began reversing what river of life.
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We saw that as an issue.
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We we saw the lack of security cameras was an issue.
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We dealt with that right away.
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We we we didn't have enough, police on the ground,
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and we dealt with that while we hired private security for Waikiki
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to augment some things on them.
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We we all, we just saw a lot of things in the first year.
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And then.
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So in January of the second year after we'd been in office
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for a whole year, you know, I've joked repeatedly,
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I keep bringing it up, but nobody's taking me seriously.
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That first year was so Covid related.
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I should get a red shirt.
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Yeah, really, in the spirit of everything, you know, it's not going to happen.
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But when I think back about our actions since we've been in office,
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how much of that how much of the first year was
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we really curtailed from doing things?
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So now we've so I wrote a letter,
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I met with the consul general, who I got to know there in the first year,
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and wanted to talk about the Cultural Plaza,
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because when we were doing our assessment of what was wrong about Chinatown,
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it was obvious that the place had fallen into not only disrepair, it was obsolete.
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It was void of really very many tenants,
15:49
but was also a haven for for criminal activity, drug activity.
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You know, I don't want to start
15:57
of criminalizing homelessness, but that wasn't good either.
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And and so on.
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And we were precluded from enforcing even though we help out every now and then
16:07
because of private property.
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And so you sit there and you say, wow, you know, a foreign entity
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owning a property of this size
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and significance, four acres, you know,
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incredible park next to not only downtown Honolulu, but our cultural historic
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district, Chinatown, to be in such disrepair
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with ongoing negligence.
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And having gotten to know also some of the merchants
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that were still left there, their frustrations that, you know,
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so we started so I wrote a letter that did nothing.
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I was a gentleman.
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Taiwan here.
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Taipei, actually, Taiwan.
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They have a Taipei representative here. So, so.
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And then he left, and then the next one came in.
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He vowed to me, he's going gonna make a difference.
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And he he understood.
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And then he found out very quickly.
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He was really somewhat unable to do that in fact,
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my wife and I, because she speaks fluent Mandarin
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and Taiwanese and, we're all set to take a trip.
17:05
He thought he had it set up for us
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to go to at least present our case, which is what I asked for,
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because I honestly believe if they said, hey, what do you want to do?
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Can you bring developers?
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You want to do some kind of joint venture?
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Because I think the whole thing needs to be reimagined.
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If we really come down and we were all set to go make that case.
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And so we had written
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and two weeks before the trip, he said they don't want to meet.
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And but if you want to come to Taiwan,
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that I tell you as a guest, they'll be happy to show you around.
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And I said, I'm not going, I'm not going. Sightseeing trip.
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So she, you know, so and then he left.
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They put them out a year earlier.
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He was only here for two years, not the three years.
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And the new guy comes in, I meet with him right away trying to get his attention.
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And the first thing he says to me is write me a letter.
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I already written to both consul
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generals prior to him, I had written to the president of the country.
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I wrote to the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
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In fact, I went to the airport to greet the incoming president,
17:57
hoping to maybe get a word in with him.
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But I was standing next to Governor Green and Governor Green.
18:01
It got all the words, and I got nothing.
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But, you know, I wanted to at least,
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you know, I but I did shake his hand and, whatever.
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So I felt like over the course of time,
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you know, we have gone through all the protocols.
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In fact, I, and with really no response, we got one thing back
18:21
asking us about the tax map key in the assessment on the property
18:25
and its size, which we relayed back, and then nothing for months.
18:28
You know, the and the clock is ticking.
18:30
We only have three years left in office.
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And, I honestly believe that
18:35
if we can effectively redevelop by tearing down that facility,
18:40
just imagine four acres in the potential of Riverwalk adjacent to it.
18:45
Add to that what American Savings Bank did on the other side of that canal
18:49
and up their investment in our park.
18:52
Take it a little bit further across the street down to Eveleigh.
18:56
What we're going to do in the transformation of Eveleigh,
18:57
because it's all from an aerial view.
18:59
We're all stuck together
19:01
and knowing that you know, what we're good at is going to be happening down there.
19:05
You know, this thing is just sitting there.
19:07
It's it's it's empty. It's not safe.
19:10
There's only a few merchants who I did a complete walk
19:14
through on every floor,
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and, of that place and, you know,
19:21
places are just completely empty, and they've been boarded up for a long time.
19:24
It's just not good. It's unsightly.
19:26
So it comes down to challenging a foreign government,
19:31
to say to them,
19:32
basically, you don't get to be slumlords in our city.
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And, and that's what we have here.
19:37
Yeah.
19:37
And the and the other definition, that's what this is, is not marriage.
19:42
We talked to the security guards in there and they're overwhelmed.
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They're actually afraid.
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I talked to a
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woman who works seven days a week because they can't hire enough people.
19:51
And she feels this burden, but she even tells me
19:53
she even told us walking around, she's she doesn't feel safe.
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I mean, we're all due respect, you know, she's not a
20:00
she's not some black belt martial arts is a mother of three kids.
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And she's doing this job because she gets good all the time.
20:07
Or whatever.
20:07
But, you know, it's hardly what you would call security.
20:10
And she feels overwhelmed by that. So there's only so many things.
20:13
She shouldn't have a condition like that.
20:15
That's absurd. So,
20:18
she admitted that HPD has been able to help.
20:20
Or sometimes they said they would come on some kind of emergency distress call, but
20:23
it's just not the way it should be.
20:24
So if we could take that incredible piece of real estate level
20:28
and reimagine it for mixed use housing, mixed use facilities and retail
20:34
and certainly a cultural site and housing, you know, we were able
20:37
we were to get however, overbuilt really as pot on that same side
20:42
fully occupied now for kupuna affordable housing 62 plus the city on that land.
20:47
We donated it.
20:48
That was our part of it that had been promised for decades.
20:51
It never happened. We got that done.
20:53
So this is an extension of that extension of everything we've done in Chinatown,
20:57
where Christine Camp and other developers
20:59
are doing for downtown Honolulu, trying to really roll the dice.
21:02
I mean, they're big time rolling the dice, all that happening.
21:06
This is all part to me as mayor.
21:08
This is all part of that revitalization effort.
21:11
But also, I think I deserve the right to be able to say, you know what?
21:13
A mayor of the city of Honolulu,
21:15
I have this responsibility, and I'm mad as hell over the fact that you guys are.
21:19
I have been so indifferent,
21:21
not even curious after even why you would think if I wrote
21:24
as the mayor on my letterhead, which I did to both the president
21:27
and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, I would get back
21:29
at least some form letter from somebody, say we received your letter.
21:34
Thank you very much.
21:35
We'll keep it on the because nothing, you know, it's just like on deaf ears.
21:38
So we've had it.
21:40
I owe it to the city to say we've had it.
21:42
So I think you could anticipate this week because we've done
21:46
some, detailed work with the Star Advertiser.
21:50
This Sunday, I think people will see it in the front page
21:54
beginning of a series of articles about that.
21:56
We're going to fight back and say, you don't get to do this to us.
21:59
What's next?
22:00
I mean, what can you do? These articles will come out.
22:02
You know, we try to spread the message.
22:04
Well, I'm hoping
22:04
to kind of embarrass them into this,
22:06
and they're going to give us the audience we want.
22:07
And then I want to determine how they would like to go about it,
22:09
that they want to take on the development of it.
22:11
Do they want to leases and let us come back here and then
22:14
we work on a lease deal if they want to, do they want to sell it to us.
22:18
You know, I mean, anything is possible.
22:20
You know, when we did Eveleigh Center,
22:21
that was the largest acquisition in the history of the city.
22:23
And we we bought first at the old first way back.
22:26
And we've now since subsequently bought all those parcels in between
22:29
that, that converted out from what was initially four acres to almost 11 acres.
22:34
We're really serious about this.
22:36
There's a lot at stake for the future of our city.
22:38
So what can be done with this?
22:40
A myriad things, a lot of the ball's in their court.
22:42
They're the owners.
22:43
Sell it to us, lease it to us, let us come forward.
22:46
We'll put it out for RFP on, on on developers.
22:49
You know, one of the things that we've been really encouraged with,
22:51
if you talk to Kevin O'Shea from, Housing and Land Management,
22:54
you know, every, every city remnant, every piece we've put out
22:58
has been oversubscribed to by developers.
23:01
We've been really encouraged by that, wanting to take these projects on.
23:04
So the potential there, the possibilities are unlimited.
23:07
We just need to have the conversation to figure out how they want to proceed.
23:12
They can maintain their ownership well, and we will promise that
23:15
any development we do will still be a cultural site of sorts.
23:18
But also what happens is not just the leveling that's for that
23:23
those building,
23:23
but also then that will open up the entire Riverwalk side
23:27
based on what it's constructed, to turn into something really amazing.
23:30
You know, you could not build that stream today
23:33
that flows through with 50ft wide sidewalks on both sides
23:37
and if somebody said, we're going to do that, that would
23:39
the cost of that would be prohibitive.
23:41
We have that needs in each work.
23:43
Stone was made over 100 years ago.
23:46
It needs some sure to be dredged, all of which could take place
23:49
with private development, you know?
23:51
And so, it's it's a you have to be a dreamer a little bit,
23:55
but all it's possible because it's so, so important.
23:59
It's just such a big cornerstone, you know, and, Yeah.
24:04
Like that. Yeah.
24:05
And then you mentioned, you know, kind of keeping the cultural element,
24:07
you know, you're not sure, you know, what would be the reason
24:11
why this the government would be inactive in this situation.
24:14
We don't know. That's just it.
24:16
I mean, when you write letters and you go through,
24:18
you go through the protocols and going through three consul generals now, and,
24:22
you know, in fact, I wrote a really nasty note to one of them.
24:26
I know you start. You're chuckling.
24:28
I was really angry.
24:29
I actually said,
24:31
I said that letter to the president to I said,
24:33
I copied them on what I wrote
24:36
in addition to what he what triggered it, because I got this
24:39
ridiculous note back, say, this is you don't get to do this to our city.
24:44
Life here is hard enough.
24:46
We take our work very seriously.
24:48
We take our responsibility very seriously.
24:50
This is a big opportunity
24:53
for the city of Honolulu and our downtown sector
24:56
for future generations, and what we could possibly do there.
24:58
And this thing just doesn't get to sit there.
25:00
And as I was talking to Allison Jeffries, who's a reporter,
25:03
was assigned to this, she had done enough research to find out.
25:07
In other US cities, there are similar circumstances with
25:11
foreign entities owning these properties that have gone into disrepair.
25:15
And what's the accountability?
25:17
You know, and it obviously
25:20
they're not ready jumping.
25:22
You know, I know we're on their radar screen
25:24
but they've been in but they don't get to do that.
25:26
So we're going to fight.
25:27
We're going to fight for that.
25:28
We're just not going to accept that as this has to be it.
25:30
And we've, you know, and so I, we've taken the gloves off, let me put it that way.
25:34
And if we if it comes down to embarrassing them, shaming them, I don't care
25:38
at this point because my concern is for a city of Honolulu.
25:41
And if that's what it takes to bring them to the table
25:44
in an earnest way, to talk about what can happen, then we're willing
25:49
to do that, because we try to do it the nice way for four years.
25:52
This is not something I just thought about last week.
25:55
It's been very frustrating, and I've not gone public with it until only recently.
26:00
And and that's that was born out of complete frustration
26:03
at people that responded to you.
26:05
You know, I'm not used to that.
26:07
It's not it's not like I got a big ego,
26:09
but I'm not used to having something so significant get ignored.
26:13
It's just it's not right.
26:15
Yeah. You know, you do talk about action.
26:17
And mayor, I want to get an update.
26:18
There was a great meeting held recently.
26:20
Great progress for the community recently.
26:23
Keesha latest with the Kahuku Pool project.
26:25
Yeah.
26:26
Well, finally, you know,
26:27
I had envisioned when we told the people on Kahuku at the town hall
26:31
you're going to build. I'm going to jump at that.
26:33
I could keep doing it.
26:34
Well, that's probably not going to happen, but we'll have shows in the ground.
26:37
But yeah, we've come a long way. I think,
26:41
and I, last year and had a very successful town,
26:44
all the communities on board, they like it.
26:45
We also building a recreation thing out there.
26:47
I think all the pieces are coming together.
26:49
It can't happen fast enough. I'm.
26:51
I'm pretty confident we will begin construction while we're still in office,
26:55
and then it will be done, maybe not long afterwards.
26:58
It's all that that leads up to it, but we're going to turn that into
27:01
a reality, and it's really been needed out there.
27:04
And so, yeah, I'm.
27:08
Yeah, I'm excited about it.
27:09
I know, for a lot of reasons, mostly because it's so needed.
27:15
You know, the one thing that we've learned over
27:16
the last several years, the town halls, every time we go out to that side, I mean,
27:20
they're not asking for much, you know, and there are so many great athletes
27:23
in the area.
27:24
But even on that side of the island and that type of facility like that
27:27
for all kinds of people, not just a water polo team, a swimming teams, kupuna,
27:32
there's just
27:33
young kids learning all that stuff that goes on when you have a facility
27:37
that you really can't do in the ocean, per se, you know, that just creates so much.
27:42
And, and we get it done. Yeah.
27:45
Yeah, that's pretty incredible that they didn't have a facility.
27:47
But you know, they're it takes a lot to, you know, you need assessments.
27:52
You need to be able to put out all the bit.
27:54
And then this is an Olympic sized pool.
27:56
So the construction on that alone,
27:57
what do you think contributed to the success of making this happen?
28:01
This project for some reason.
28:02
Yeah. Well, it's jumping along.
28:04
Yeah. People tell to tell me we're actually light speed.
28:06
Despite two years of cicadas,
28:09
but I still have a hard time with that.
28:11
Look, I think because we're focused on.
28:13
We want to make it happen a year, it contributed money,
28:17
which also really helped.
28:19
You know, they had originally promised the community
28:22
when they put those windmills out. This predates our administration.
28:25
Some $4 million.
28:26
We went in. I was looking to get more of
28:28
I get an extra million, but we had five years.
28:30
We had some seed money there that we would have put towards G70
28:33
with design and construction.
28:34
Laura Thielen was very, innovative.
28:37
And certain approaches that she took on
28:39
with the city would take our responsibility.
28:41
Her focus on it, I think I think I going to give Laura a lot of credit,
28:45
you know, that's part of the reason why things are happening quickly
28:48
is that she had the same vision to, like, okay, there's some we can get done
28:54
that will really be significant when it's done.
28:56
Let's go for it. And that's what you need.
28:59
You know,
28:59
like I said a couple of months ago, you got to be a dreamer in this business.
29:02
You gotta look at some things.
29:03
So whether we're talking about the Cultural Plaza or a pool in Kahuku,
29:06
the success we're having with our homeless population
29:09
and the capability we've given the city or the housing
29:12
and the things that we're doing on what we're going to create there
29:14
already are in the way of doing it.
29:16
You know, that's why you buy an invoice.
29:17
So you say, you know what? We're going to transform this area.
29:20
This is no longer going to be these warehouses.
29:22
You know, they were needed.
29:24
We had other places we could put stuff like that.
29:26
And given the proximity to the urban core, we're going to make this
29:30
especially with the skyline coming in.
29:32
And by the way, this week we got up to almost 13,000 right on skyline.
29:37
And I understand,
29:38
you know, I'm not on social media, but social media has been a buzz.
29:42
The people took it a couple of days ago and they had all those crashes.
29:45
And, you know, they the feedback has all been positive.
29:49
And I think that that's once people start to sample in different ways,
29:52
you know, we're we're advertising, we're marking, we've been creeping up.
29:55
And we did break 12,000 before we hit
29:58
almost a 30,000 as a result of the crash, an extra 1000 people.
30:01
But like anything people go, it's like you go to a good restaurant, go what's good?
30:05
I'm going to go back.
30:06
I think, you know, whatever the circumstances that cause ridership,
30:09
it all contributes, whether we're marketing word of mouth
30:13
people or anything else, because we've got to change behaviors.
30:16
Right. And this new but so far so good.
30:19
Everybody's been on it. They they're so surprised by it, you know.
30:22
And in a look we've never had anything like that
30:24
on a level with such certainty that you can predict your time schedules.
30:29
It's convenient.
30:29
It's cost effective.
30:31
It's not you know, it's it's it's all it's all good.
30:34
So like I said that day, we open up the system and say
30:37
there's nothing but good oozing out of this.
30:39
And so people just got to get get into it.
30:41
Skyline always on time.
30:43
That's right. Well, mayor, we are about out of time.
30:45
This is the one or who podcast.
30:47
So for one final thought.
30:48
Well I want to I want to just sort of, say to the audience,
30:53
what I said before, we're anticipating having an amazing year
30:56
in the spirit of better serving our public and our plans coming to fruition.
31:01
The things that we've talked about are going to be a reality for many people,
31:05
and we're not all done.
31:06
We still got three years are going to be things when we walk out.
31:09
I've said this before,
31:11
I'm sure that on the very last day in the last hour when I walk out of here,
31:15
hopefully I'll be very proud of all that we got done.
31:18
But, very aware of what's left to do.
31:23
So we're fighting time. Okay.
31:25
And so we operate with that sense of urgency.
31:28
And so we want to get as much done and change the course of things
31:31
as we possibly can.
31:32
I want people to take hope in that, to believe in that.
31:36
And, you know, the world is tough right now.
31:39
We're doing a lot of real issues.
31:41
I want everybody to feel as good as they possibly can about living here
31:44
in Hawaii, living here in our city, and kind of all around the island.
31:48
That hopefully
31:50
they believe that the city leadership is providing good leadership for them.
31:54
Thank you, mayor.
31:55
And next week, we'll be joined by new Honolulu Ocean
31:58
Safety Department chief Kurt Logger.
32:00
That's right here on the 1 or 2 podcast.
32:02
Mahalo for listening. And until next time, Aloha.