Latest / The One Oʻahu Podcast with Mayor Rick Blangiardi / Mayor Blangiardi on his trip to Japan, homelessness, and the end of pay-per-view for UH football home games

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Mayor Blangiardi on his trip to Japan, homelessness, and the end of pay-per-view for UH football home games · The One Oʻahu Podcast with Mayor Rick Blangiardi

0:14
Welcome to the One One podcast.
0:16
I'm your host, Brandi Higa, and today is Thursday, August 14th, 2025.
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We're back with Mayor Rick Blangiardi, fresh off
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his first international trip as mayor.
0:27
Mayor. Welcome back. Thank you.
0:29
Welcome back to you too. We're both in Japan.
0:31
You were.
0:32
Yeah. It was an incredible trip.
0:33
We were there seven nights for you, boy.
0:36
At three, then three, and Hiroshima, then back to Shibuya for a night.
0:39
We had some business meetings before we left.
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Incredible trip.
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The driver in the beginning for me was to attend
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the ceremony for the eighth anniversary of Hiroshima.
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But that just allowed us to also go to Shoe Boy, our knew sister city.
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You know, in this particular trip, we visited our newest latest sister
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city, Shibuya, in the heart of Tokyo.
1:00
Incredible place.
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Amazing. Mayor, mayor. His CV, his team.
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We had a lot of time with them.
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And then we go to Hiroshima for the 80th anniversary of the bombing.
1:09
Very different tone, different mood.
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But nonetheless highly effective.
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Impactful, if you will.
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Personally, for me, I felt especially honored to be there.
1:20
You know, I was born in 1946.
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And from the time I could remember, you know, I, you know,
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my dad and his, my uncles and every kid I went to school with,
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all of our fathers fought in World War two.
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And while these men didn't tell us about their personal heroics,
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we knew about the impact of the war and certainly the end of the war.
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And you see, you learned about Hiroshima and the atomic bomb.
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It's a little kids word I've known about all my life.
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And even
1:45
though I've been to Japan before and, I've never been to Hiroshima.
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So to go there on this occasion and to tour the Peace Museum, it's
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a really focus for really a couple of days on that entire event.
1:58
Having had dinner
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with one of the survivors, having tended to receptions and listening
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to the impact and really stunned understand
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the numbers that, you know, 70,000 died at the time of impact.
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Another 70,000 died before the end of 1945.
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The devastation of that city, the ramifications of that.
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It was a somber as it could possibly be, you know, and
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and very just thought provoking, soulful, respectful.
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I was so glad I went to be able to represent my, you know, they,
2:30
of course, were really good to me.
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I mean, I think I got to present a wreath on behalf of Hawaii,
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but really the city kind of it really the state.
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And quite honestly, I think the United States,
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I think it was all elected official there from the United States.
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And they took notice of that and they made a big deal out of it.
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Not that I want anybody make a big deal out of it, but they were so appreciative.
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And that made me feel
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all the better about being there.
2:54
Yeah.
2:55
The importance of you being there in person, is incredibly remarkable.
2:58
If you had to kind of put together a trip report, take us back to the first stop.
3:02
What do you think got accomplished in Shibuya?
3:05
Well, I think what we did was, you know, we really established some possibilities
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of sort of things.
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We're working on this a particular project called Shoe Boy, a font that I think
3:13
we could do here in a way involving disabled people that may have started.
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It's a really interesting program on graphic design and,
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it's really very cool, and it's probably too much to try to accomplish here,
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but I just thought the connection with mayor, you know, I met him.
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I like, you know, he actually came from the private sector.
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He had a marketing background.
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He's really an idea guy.
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He's not taking the traditional approach.
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You can see his energy.
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You could see the projects he's working on.
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You know, we've had we've made no small plans here either.
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And he's in Sheboygan, which is undergoing an incredible,
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I've never seen urban development when what they're trying to get done
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and what they said they're doing, the presentations we had.
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But, so that was exciting, you know, I mean, they're there. And,
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I thought that to go also to our newest sister city,
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knowing full well how well, how proud they are to have on Hulu as a sister city
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and, and, you know, just the whole dynamic.
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It was good.
4:12
It was warm. It was. And you know, and they've been over here now.
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They've come in the past since we became Sister Cities.
4:18
Really making a concerted effort,
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was also good for us.
4:21
Had a couple of business
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meetings is to have met with JCB, the credit card company, and JL.
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All the top people talked about what we're doing with the Japanese
4:29
visitors, how things are going.
4:31
It was just it was really was good.
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You know, every hour was something. Yeah.
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And they booked us a whole lot.
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And, and was all very engaging and people could not have been more generous
4:45
in their spirit and their welcoming, because we were there.
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And it was so for everything we think about with respect to hospitality,
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you know, the aloha spirit we extend people
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definitely got the Japanese version.
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And it was really great.
4:59
Yeah, yeah, I echo that.
5:01
Did you get to ride the Shinkansen or any you did any,
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any I guess, reaction to, to their urban transportation, I did.
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Well, let me tell you right now, nothing I had a great,
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great flights going and coming.
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If I could have taken that train all the way to Hawaii.
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And. Well, that was really an incredible experience to be very comfortable.
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You know, it's smooth and we were on it long enough to really appreciate it.
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It's nearly a four hour,
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train ride between
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Shibuya and Hiroshima and,
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and, you know, being able to see the countryside that way
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and just be able to look out the window almost like a little kid, if you will.
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But it really, as opposed to flying there, you know, you really had that sense.
5:39
You could see a lot of stuff.
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It was just, you know, and they run right on time.
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I mean,
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and we knew that we were told that we you have to be there or at least with you.
5:49
Right.
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So I will tell you one thing that I did see, because it's been established
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there for a long time, even with the transit system inside
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it here at Hiroshima and Shibuya,
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a lot of the tod, you know, how people over time now
6:03
and create housing so they could live near the rail line?
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People take, you know, there's a lot of people
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on all of their public transportation.
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There's cars too, there's no question.
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And we drove enough.
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We're driven enough around to, to be in traffic, if you will.
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But it reminded me of a major, you know, northeast urban city,
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having grown up in Boston, having worked in New York,
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how people treat public transit, I mean, it's definitely big.
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So as we get ready now in the next phase of rail, October 15th,
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almost two months from today, when we open up
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and we start to get to pass two employment centers
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and have our express line
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busses waiting there at Lagoon Drive to take people to downtown
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to take people, workers into Waikiki and really make it convenient for them.
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We'll go into a whole different phase now on how we market the rail.
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With respect to ridership and building ridership, but simultaneous,
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we have a lot of real estate stuff going on too, as well.
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So when stuff were initiated like it, Eveleigh and some other projects,
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but we've been involved in, you know, Kevin, OJ,
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I hit up housing and land management and a number of projects here.
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So, you know, in some ways you,
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you really can't see the future, but you, you, you can't predict it.
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But, you know, the stuff that we're doing is going to lend itself,
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especially when you go
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and you see how things are established that a place where
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they've been doing it for a while,
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you can just see how things are gonna unfold here.
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It's very exciting.
7:27
Yeah. Tailing on that.
7:28
Looking to the future, this is kind of concurrent, but,
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you know, past lagoon and past airport, we're talking about City center guideway.
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And you were there earlier this week as you helped break ground.
7:36
Yeah. On that center.
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Why was that so significant?
7:40
Why is that so significant?
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Well, you know, that's we put we talk about a stake in the ground.
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We put machines in the ground. Right. We're going to do that.
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That's that is going to be, the end of the first phase,
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the end of segment three, not the end of rail.
7:56
Right.
7:56
But what we're anticipating there, unlike right now, which is in East
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Coppell, a certain middle of a field, I don't know why they ever did that.
8:03
Why you going to come across Lee?
8:05
Yeah.
8:06
This is going to be different because that entire area
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is going to be developed into mixed use across the street.
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So this takes us to the doorstep of Kakaako through downtown,
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like you say, through the third Employment Center, Bishop Street.
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And also what we hope to be and will be iconic stops along the way,
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starting with Eveleigh, with the station there, Chinatown, Bishop Street,
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and then, you know, taking it in
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and into where we want to go into Kakaako.
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What I like about it is, is that,
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there's a completion to it, you know, this, this that represents
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18.75 miles.
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It represents the fact that we now are fully operational with rail.
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As I said, ridership will begin to pick up, not a able to take people
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where they want to go and make a cost effective and cost efficient for them.
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But it also it speaks to the success
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of this first phase, a $10 billion project.
9:01
Costly, if you will, but it's proven, especially by the time we get there.
9:06
Our planning on being there in 2029.
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It's only four years away and we're about to begin.
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I talked to Tutor Perini, the construction company, and so the a lot
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like I kena probably one of the most sophisticated
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engineering projects the state has ever had happen.
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And that takes nothing away from all the building
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that's been done here and all the other things.
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But this
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building, a bridge through downtown Waterloo, is pretty sophisticated stuff.
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So we spent the last year and a half to utility relocations underground.
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There's been so much it's going into it.
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So I think what I'm trying to get at is that
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this is is going to be despite
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its rough start for a number of years, the frustration,
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the cost overruns, all the other things that aggravated people.
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We're now to a success mode with it, and we demonstrate that we can build it.
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We can build a time we where we're staying on budget,
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we know what it's going to represent in the lives of people.
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Is Kahuku, Dow said yesterday.
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You know, we're not really building this for anybody in this crowd today.
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This will be future generations. Think of keiki.
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But I think, you know, hopefully, we'll all get to benefit, from it.
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And, and it's going to be a great contribution.
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It should be a part because
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it should have been done a long time ago, number one, that not even a system.
10:24
I'm going back.
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I can remember government met mayor of governor,
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mayor Rossi talking about the rail line he wanted to do.
10:31
Going to be invited to have breakfast at Michelle's.
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It's years and years ago getting up there with all that stuff never happened.
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But now we're making this happen and it's the first of its kind in America.
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It's autonomous. It's it's sleek, it's good.
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I think it's something people can be really proud of.
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We just got to get it established, to have it become the reality.
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So, I feel good about the fact that we're taking something
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that was really off track, just like that pun
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got it back on the track at the FTA back, and hopefully will win back the hearts
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and minds of those people who write it
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and use it and say, wow, this is really cool.
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And then all the other things have fallen to that, right?
11:08
Yeah, mayor, I want to stick in this district.
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And this is kind of unfortunate, but we had a scary incident in Chinatown
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last week, an acid attack that left a man with severe chemical burns.
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This is scary because it was seemingly unprovoked.
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I mean, it's still under investigation, but have you
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been briefed on this incident?
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And what's your message to the public? It's. Chinatown is still safe.
11:26
Yes, Chinatown is definitely safe. I was just there last night.
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I took somebody around, was making a film on Chinatown.
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Really good Hollywood producer.
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And commenting because, she happens to live here too.
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She's here every six weeks or so.
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She has her own place, but she's L.A., she travels and
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and we we went around the streets and
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look, stuff like that can happen anywhere, any time.
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And, so we talk about all the work we put into Chinatown.
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The cameras or whatever.
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And some person, obviously deranged decides to do that,
12:02
and nobody's really briefing on it, whether it was targeted or otherwise.
12:06
You know, Chinatown now, is we've got a lot of people off the streets.
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We're not completely done there.
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We got security cameras up there.
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The merchants are really appreciative.
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We keep it clean, we power wash it. We do.
12:18
You know, it feels very, very different than just a few years ago. So,
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it makes me upset when stuff like that happens, because.
12:27
Because we we
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would try to charge that, just charge us all of downtown.
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It's the urban core.
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It's what we want to have happen so people can feel like they can live.
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I know it's so cliche, but live, work and play in an area and feel good about it.
12:42
So yeah.
12:44
You mentioned getting folks off the streets.
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It was on the front page of the paper earlier this week that signs are now up,
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kind of dissuading homeless individuals from camping there.
12:53
Well, it's illegal now to camp there.
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And look we're going to be really aggressive.
12:58
You know, we have the benefit of some interesting legislation
13:02
that's been passed, by the federal government.
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But what makes it good for us is
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that we're not just going to be aggressive in picking them up.
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We've got to take people, too.
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And I was reading one of the lady's comments is looking at the alleyway.
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You know, these are not the shelters of yesterday,
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you know, with bedbugs
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or where people were being abusing them and all kinds of things.
13:23
We're putting people in good places.
13:25
We have people hired there to provide wraparound services, whatever.
13:29
You know, we have a mobile crisis, Union Corps.
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So look, you know,
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it's like we declaring war on the homeless,
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or am I criminalizing homelessness?
13:38
But we are going to be aggressive because you don't want to be giving people
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the options
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that we seemingly
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have been giving them forever, who really can't make a clear choice on their own.
13:47
And quite honestly, they really kind of like that lifestyle
13:50
because whether they whether they're drug addicted or mentally ill
13:53
or in some cases really sick, you know, they live in their own little world
13:56
and, and we're trying to get help them and we're doing that.
13:59
We're providing all kinds of services, unprecedented medical services,
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especially, you know, one of the things that we have, which is we've,
14:08
dealing with them medically, how many of them are sick?
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Many of them are even terminal.
14:12
But the doctors tell me more than 60%.
14:15
Just a question of how long.
14:16
While the cancer, lung diseases, organ failures, different, different things
14:20
that, you know, it's sad.
14:22
And so this is about being humane.
14:24
At the same time,
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as I've said repeatedly, if you look at the numbers that I know,
14:28
our chronic homeless numbers gone up or had gone up to 12%
14:32
during Covid, up to some 2500, they,
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I want people off the streets want to lower that number
14:38
because we know that represents, you know, but at the end of the day,
14:42
what we're doing with people here is really trying to help them. And,
14:47
and we've even, you know, we've reactivated the ad litem program.
14:50
Now we get representation in courts where we're we're giving them
14:54
good medicines where this is just, you know, trying to help them.
14:58
But at the same time, this is why I went back to the the numbers
15:02
at 4500, which is the total point in time count.
15:05
The last one, okay, which basically remained flat during Covid.
15:10
I'm really proud of that because we didn't have a spike
15:12
in homelessness like so many of the US cities did,
15:14
just because of the moneys we gave out rent, utility relief.
15:17
At 4500 years, you doubled that.
15:20
It's still less than 1% of our, population.
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Yet the other nine are so.
15:25
But so, so this is a problem that we we get it.
15:28
It's it's it's not overwhelming.
15:30
What we're trying to do is get on top of it.
15:33
You know, we're dealing with, as I've talked before,
15:36
about the influx of people flying in here, we're flying people back.
15:40
Maybe not one for one, but we're we're combating that that way.
15:44
We've cleaned up Waikiki.
15:46
We know all the homeless people down there. It's under 100.
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They're under close surveillance.
15:50
We've got a lot of criminal activity down there
15:52
with, guys have just been chronic abusers.
15:55
We arrest them, they go to jail for a couple of days, they're back.
15:59
But we're dealing with that part.
16:02
We've increased our police patrols.
16:05
So what I think is going to happen, I don't know if we could end homelessness.
16:09
Let people talk about that.
16:11
I just want a I said before, functional control.
16:14
I want to be on top of it versus being on top of us.
16:17
And I think we're going to get there.
16:18
We have the capacity in the shelters.
16:20
We've created the beds, things like honu.
16:23
We've got moneys that were appropriated.
16:24
Like I said, for services.
16:26
We have the capability of picking them up.
16:28
We have now legal protection, if you will, that if we think somebody
16:32
is really a danger to themselves if they don't want to go, we can now
16:36
take them before you leave them on the street.
16:38
Are very so afraid of the ACLU, ACLU and violating somebody's rights.
16:43
Well, nobody has a right to sit out there
16:45
or for that matter, defecate on sidewalks in public
16:48
or take their clothes off and run down the street.
16:50
Everybody's supposed to go where they're homeless.
16:51
That's okay. It's not.
16:53
And I think we're addressing all of that as aggressively as we can
16:57
for the sake of our community.
16:58
But more than anything, to help these people because they need help.
17:02
And so, like I said, a month of criminalizing it,
17:05
but I'm also not going to sit there knowing full
17:07
well that we lose about 300 people here on the street.
17:10
They're literally dying on our sidewalks and suffering on our sidewalks
17:14
because the street is not a home and we're looking the other way
17:17
for some reason that doesn't even make sense.
17:19
So we're addressing it head on.
17:22
Switching gears, the Honolulu City Council approved
17:24
five people to serve as members of our Ocean Safety Commission.
17:28
Well, what can you tell me about those individuals?
17:30
What are words expected of them? Well, I got before council.
17:33
I said, you know, along the way of trying to establish a ocean safety commission,
17:37
we found five wonderful people and they all were passionate.
17:41
They come from a bit
17:41
with different backgrounds, but they have an interest in water sports.
17:45
They're they're they're,
17:47
they're passionate and respectful of not just the ocean, but our lifeguards,
17:51
they all understand, appreciate the incredible courage
17:55
because they're all familiar with the various waters for in the North Shore.
17:59
You know, we have some most beautiful beaches.
18:01
There are some most dangerous
18:02
beaches in the world that could be very unforgiving, you know,
18:06
you can drown pretty fast in our waters.
18:08
So these guys are continuously saving lives in the ocean, in parking lots.
18:14
Told people not to go in there and when wanted a commission
18:17
of people who could help with.
18:21
I hope now that we've separated and it's sort of a rebirth
18:24
because lifeguards have been around for a long time, over 100 years,
18:29
that we treat the men and women, the first responders, our ocean safety
18:33
teams, these brave people who are willing to put it on the line
18:36
at any point in time.
18:37
That's the thing pronounced in first responder.
18:40
It's you.
18:41
You never know.
18:42
It could be a Wednesday afternoon or Thursday morning, or where
18:46
all of a sudden you're in something where your own life is at risk, too,
18:50
you know, and and they're out there in the spirit of trying to save somebody.
18:54
And they do.
18:54
So I want to make sure we're going to get ready to open up the situation.
18:59
Kailua is the first in the loan facility
19:01
that's been built for the city, and 107 years, you know, I'm proud of that.
19:05
We're we're down the road on Shark's Cove.
19:07
We know we want to build the North Shore.
19:09
We we've worked on giving them good pay raises, recruiting.
19:12
We've got, you know, we're doing everything we can.
19:15
And that was the reason why we separated them so that we could
19:19
say, hey, you guys deserve to be a standalone entity
19:23
supported by a good commission that will help fight for them.
19:26
Not unlike police, not unlike our firefighters, and certainly
19:30
not from like EMS.
19:31
They deserve to be, you know, in their own category.
19:34
And I, I think it's one of the better things we've gotten done
19:37
our administration that I think is going to have a very long and lasting
19:40
effect on for the better.
19:43
Mayor, I've had a hard time the last few years pulling the trigger
19:46
to pay hundreds of dollars
19:48
for the full season pay per view package for you at football. Yep.
19:51
It seems like I don't have to labor over that decision anymore.
19:54
No, I want to congratulate madly.
19:56
You know,
19:56
I must tell you that, you know, I've been vocal about that for a long time,
20:00
and I've actually had the benefit of talking to Matt, talking it through.
20:04
Look, you know, we all know the situation.
20:07
You know, the loss of a stadium suddenly now going into the sixth year after that,
20:11
the impact that that's had on the fan base, you know, and I go to the home games
20:15
and, you know, we've been averaging less than 10,000.
20:17
That's not good at all, under the circumstances.
20:21
But then to have a concept where you're not even selling out a small stadium,
20:24
15,000 Bailey putting two thirds in there, and then they had this pay
20:29
per view concept, which I never saw Spectrum's numbers.
20:32
But at the end of the day, as I've said repeatedly,
20:36
this is a state football team.
20:38
We're unique. We're an island state.
20:39
We're a state that people take extraordinary pride in.
20:43
The teams that Hawaii fields.
20:45
We're a state that people love football, but we're also a state
20:48
that 60% of our population lives paycheck to paycheck.
20:51
And the thought of people
20:52
having to pay for home games, knowing full well that that's discretionary income.
20:56
Not a lot of people have that.
20:58
And so what's happened over the course of time?
21:01
Not only have people not subscribed to pay per view, which has not been good,
21:06
but at the end of the day, they've also lost share of money.
21:09
They've lost interest.
21:10
I know I have four season tickets,
21:11
I don't know how many people I have to ask all the time to
21:13
to get four people to come to the game with me.
21:16
You know, I have one constant after my son moved away.
21:18
I mean, it's it's not top of mind.
21:20
So what this is going to do and this is great
21:23
for the psyche of the players, the coaches and the fans.
21:26
Now the people, the, the the players can feel like,
21:29
hey, we've got a statewide television audience watching us
21:32
because the kids know they're not stupid.
21:33
They know that you pay per view is not a big crowd.
21:36
They come out there and they
21:37
they know that when they go to the mainland,
21:38
they play in front of two and three times as many people as at a home game.
21:42
Right now.
21:42
You know, we just have a home field advantage in the crowd.
21:45
If nothing else, forget all the logistics of traveling.
21:48
So now, if done right, you know which I believe they will
21:53
in promoting it, create awareness,
21:55
retail the product, put it on a screen, let people see it, let them participate.
21:59
Make it inclusive, not exclusive.
22:01
That will drive attendance, that will drive interest,
22:04
that will win back share of mind, that will win back audiences.
22:08
As we get ready, hopefully to open up the game.
22:09
Don't make it something that's so far removed, people don't know it's on.
22:13
And the other competing thing that people have to realize
22:15
in the world of college football, we could talk about this all day long,
22:18
but one of the other things that's happened
22:20
with the consolidation of the super conferences
22:22
and the extended television contracts, you have football games on
22:26
now from early morning tonight, really quality competition
22:30
because of the mega conferences and who's playing it.
22:33
It's almost like on any given Saturday what you just have to wait
22:36
a whole season for a playoff football bowl.
22:39
Both.
22:40
So you have a lot of competing influences for people's time
22:45
and interest, and they weren't having to pay for that other stuff.
22:48
So understanding that they could love the game and then watch something else.
22:53
So this is the idea of winning back.
22:55
And I am so proud of Matt for having the courage to do.
22:57
It's a one year deal.
22:59
But we had a lot of conversations about this.
23:02
He came to me because he knew how vocal I've been on this for years now.
23:06
And, I think it's a turnaround. And,
23:10
I know myself,
23:12
that,
23:14
I'll probably end up watching one game
23:16
because that Mike schedule's crazy this fall, but I'll probably end up even.
23:20
And I'm going to feel really good about I wish I could watch it live, you know,
23:24
and I think that's that's something else that hasn't happened live at the same time
23:27
back in the old days used to do it same day delay.
23:29
But that's when we were putting 48, 50,000 people in the stadium.
23:32
This is going to be about winning back an audience.
23:35
Okay.
23:36
And the year that they do this, let's see.
23:39
So you know,
23:39
you kind of circle games on the calendar where you you think that's a W.
23:43
So we have like Sam Houston Portland State maybe friends.
23:46
I would say you know Sam Houston's a sleeper.
23:50
They're pretty good I don't know if I Sam Houston how.
23:53
Do you see them this year.
23:55
Wow how I see rainbows.
23:57
Yeah the rainbows here.
23:59
I think Timmy's best team.
24:01
And I think more wins and losses.
24:03
Best teams for.
24:04
Wins and. Losses. More wins and losses. First winning season,
24:07
first wedding season.
24:09
Yeah, I think, and I think I really feel it.
24:13
They jump Stanford in the opener They're actually favored by a point and a half.
24:18
But I think they jump them I really do.
24:20
You know I was at UCLA game last year.
24:22
They had them for three quarters.
24:23
There just wasn't enough belief in that team.
24:26
And they they got a little bit cold in the fourth quarter
24:29
I think I think I think they they a surprising okay.
24:35
So just over a week from now forget about watching on TV.
24:37
You heard the mayor.
24:37
We should probably get our butts in the stands for you. Yeah. You should.
24:40
You know, I talked to you.
24:41
I talked to Matt that as of last Friday, they had over 11,000 seats
24:45
sold, which is good.
24:47
The shooting for 15.
24:48
They really want to kick off the season that way.
24:52
Look, I at the end of the day, it's been a long road.
24:55
It's been frustrating.
24:56
You know, before Timmy, there was Graham for a couple of years.
24:59
We had Covid, you know, again the stadium I mean we've been on a downer
25:03
compared to the upper you know historically having been involved with US
25:07
football now for 60 years, say in 1965.
25:11
Okay. That gives me some skin in the game, right?
25:14
I mean, I've been involved as a player coach, an announcer.
25:17
A fat head of. The.
25:18
Most important that.
25:19
All of that, all of that. Right.
25:21
So I'm telling you, it's been a long time coming.
25:24
We gotta revitalize and get back on how we used to feel.
25:28
Football season. We're on the attack.
25:29
Everybody's up and you know the team is going to play great and you know,
25:33
I still remember when I was coaching we didn't lose very many games.
25:37
But but when we did the other team limped out of the stadium.
25:40
The game was so physical, you know and everybody loves that.
25:43
And and that's Hawaii football, you know.
25:46
And so I want that feeling back.
25:48
It's good for our community.
25:49
I'm saying that now as a mayor and as a fan, this is good for our community.
25:53
And we need we need to have that energy going.
25:57
And, football has a great catalyst to it.
25:59
And that's our high school football games.
26:00
Don't get me wrong.
26:01
But watch football when when it's when it's humming.
26:05
And this is what I love about the the statewide statewide.
26:09
So people can well participate because they can watch.
26:12
There's a lot of pride over them. But they couldn't do it before.
26:14
Not very many people can fly over the cost of doing that.
26:18
And, you know, even if you watch family and stuff.
26:21
So this is this is a good move.
26:23
This is a rebirth. This is a,
26:26
regeneration of good things to come.
26:29
And it starts with this football season.
26:32
We're going to switch to another sport now.
26:34
Tomorrow, our Honolulu Little League team. Oh.
26:37
LED once again by coach Gerald Ota. Yes.
26:40
Begin their run in this year's Little League
26:41
World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Yeah.
26:44
What's your message for those boys?
26:45
Well, I just wanted baby. I'd say it just win.
26:48
I don't want a basket with cheer for them.
26:51
Already have visions.
26:53
You have visions of sugarplums in your head.
26:55
Visions of throwing a huge parade for these guys.
26:58
I just pray. I wish them the very best.
27:01
I mean, they again, you talk about doing Hawaii proud.
27:04
I remember just a couple of years ago, I mean, everybody felt that it permeated.
27:08
Everything was so good.
27:10
It was so good for our community and kind of and and so these guys are
27:14
you got a lot on their shoulders as all the other teams do, too.
27:18
But, you know, there's a real belief they can win it.
27:21
And, and because they've already proven teams could do that.
27:24
So we're going to hope for the best.
27:26
Pray for the best.
27:28
These guys pull it off man will celebrate it.
27:31
Well there this is the one Oahu podcast.
27:34
So for one final thought well. I love what we've been talking about.
27:36
You know, we're talking about stuff that's all positive today.
27:39
And I want to keep it on the positive.
27:41
You know, we got 833 days left in office excluding weekends even.
27:45
I work on weekends and holidays, even though we work on holidays.
27:48
But the working days, if you will.
27:50
And the reason why I say that we're not counting down to get out of here.
27:53
My message to our team is just so
27:55
everybody knows we want to make every day count.
27:58
We're not wasting time.
27:59
There's no manana stuff.
28:00
It's like, now, what's important now is a great day with the acronym for
28:04
that is win.
28:05
What's Important Now.
28:06
And we got a lot of urgency about the things we want to get done.
28:09
And we're not going to let up.
28:10
As I've told our team, I even said it publicly.
28:12
I believe in my not my address.
28:15
When we get sworn in, you know, we're going to sprint past the finish line.
28:18
So we're excited.
28:19
I love having all the surrounding stuff.
28:21
It just adds an energy.
28:23
And we live in a great city, a great place.
28:25
We all know that it's a privilege to be here.
28:27
We want to make it as good as possible.
28:29
That's my message for today. Mayor.
28:31
Thank you for your time.
28:32
You got it.
28:33
And mahalo to all of you for listening.
28:35
Hope you get to relax a bit for the three day holiday weekend.
28:38
And until next time for both.