Latest / The One Oʻahu Podcast with Mayor Rick Blangiardi / DPR's Nate Serota on Memorial Day, on-leashed dog parks, and Waipi'o Soccer Complex maintenance

Transcript

DPR's Nate Serota on Memorial Day, on-leashed dog parks, and Waipi'o Soccer Complex maintenance · The One Oʻahu Podcast with Mayor Rick Blangiardi

• 0:15
  Welcome to the One Oahu podcast.
• 0:16
  I'm your host, Brandi Higa, and today is Thursday, May 22nd, 2025.
• 0:21
  And we're joined this week by Nate Serota public information
• 0:24
  officer for the Department of Parks and Recreation.
• 0:26
  Nate, thanks for joining us. Thanks for having me, Brandi.
• 0:29
  I know this is a busy time for DPR.
• 0:31
  So first of all, summer fun registration ongoing now.
• 0:34
  What do you want folks to know? Sure.
• 0:36
  So it started last week. We did it by Geographic Park district.
• 0:39
  Hopefully it went well.
• 0:40
  You know, we've had a couple of these online registrations at this point.
• 0:44
  It's been wildly successful.
• 0:46
  The first year was a little bit rough just because of a new system.
• 0:49
  But it's way better than how it used to be.
• 0:51
  Right. With parents waiting outside.
• 0:53
  A lot of these summer fun locations, sometimes two days in advance.
• 0:56
  Literally lining up like it was Black Friday, waiting.
• 0:59
  And it's it just goes to show their dedication
• 1:01
  and really the quality, the program, the affordability of the program.
• 1:05
  And so, you know, really the registration started last week,
• 1:08
  but it'll it'll stay ongoing until spots fill up.
• 1:11
  So while there are a lot of locations
• 1:13
  that are probably full at this point, your Manoa Valley district parks,
• 1:16
  district park, they're really big popular ones.
• 1:19
  There are still some sites that do have openings,
• 1:21
  and so we'll keep it open really
• 1:23
  until about a week or so before the program starts.
• 1:26
  Because really, we want to try
• 1:27
  and get as many keiki and as many, junior leaders in this as possible.
• 1:31
  And so even if you do
• 1:32
  sign up for a program where it's full, we'll waitlist you.
• 1:35
  And in a lot of cases, the recreation directors will make that suggestion of,
• 1:38
  hey, there may be some space in a park that's not too far away from this one.
• 1:42
  Why don't you, register for that?
• 1:44
  And then what about when it comes to the leaders?
• 1:46
  If people still
• 1:47
  sign up to help run these programs, can they start taking kids off that waitlist?
• 1:50
  Yes. Yeah.
• 1:51
  So you're touching on a great point. Really.
• 1:53
  The more staff that we get for summer fun, the more keiki we can accommodate.
• 1:56
  And again, we aim for about 10,000 kids each year.
• 1:59
  And so you can really try to get these jobs up until a week.
• 2:03
  That's really the final deadline that we can onboard.
• 2:06
  New summer fun aides a week.
• 2:07
  You know, preferably two weeks because about May 21st, May 22nd
• 2:11
  is when we try to get them started so that they can actually help develop
• 2:15
  the programing and really get to know it before it starts in early June.
• 2:18
  Yeah.
• 2:19
  And it is about that time of year again, a call to action
• 2:21
  for members of the public to help.
• 2:23
  So allow for a memorial day.
• 2:25
  What do you want folks to know this year? Sure.
• 2:27
  So the primary, day for our sole day
• 2:30
  from Memorial Day is going to be on Friday, May 23rd.
• 2:33
  We're going to we have park locations across the island, Honolulu, Hawaii.
• 2:37
  Here, Couple Hall is going to have one.
• 2:39
  We have a flier that has all the locations.
• 2:42
  It really for those ones, you just got to show up.
• 2:43
  We're going to have flowers there. We're going to have all the lei.
• 2:46
  I mean, the the needles and the strings.
• 2:48
  So just got to show up.
• 2:49
  It's it's really a great social activity.
• 2:51
  Not only you get to see a bunch of people showing up for Memorial Day, but,
• 2:55
  really, it's just a great way to give back and to show our appreciation
• 2:58
  for those who sacrificed for the benefits that we have now.
• 3:02
  And also, you can do your own solar event, you know, at these locations,
• 3:06
  you can drop off flowers,
• 3:07
  you can drop off pre-made, lay all the fire stations on Friday as well,
• 3:11
  too, are going to accept flower donations until, I believe, about 6:00.
• 3:15
  And actually, even on Saturday, before Memorial Day,
• 3:18
  you can come up to Punchbowl and drop off lei.
• 3:21
  So one of the things that we try to tell, parents, especially parents of kids
• 3:24
  that are, graduating, if you have any of those lei
• 3:27
  from their graduation ceremonies, that are all done,
• 3:31
  give them a second life, donate them to the pool by know the punch
• 3:34
  bowl ceremony, at one of these sites, or just drop them off directly at Punch Bowl.
• 3:39
  It's really a great way of from from what I understand.
• 3:42
  You know, with Project graduation,
• 3:43
  a lot of times you can only take one lei, to that, after graduation activities.
• 3:47
  So it's is a really great way
• 3:48
  to give it a second life and to really show appreciation,
• 3:52
  because we have, about 38,000 graves,
• 3:55
  and provider of that we try to adorn
• 3:57
  with freshly, and so it's really it's a, it's a tall order.
• 4:01
  And we are really blessed
• 4:02
  to have an amazing community that helps support us with that.
• 4:05
  So this is fresh.
• 4:06
  They select flowers and tea leaf from graduation.
• 4:09
  But if you do choose to make your own or if you come to the solely site,
• 4:13
  can you talk about the length?
• 4:14
  Because this doesn't need to be a full necklace, correct?
• 4:17
  Yeah.
• 4:17
  So it's really it's only 10 or 11in when it's time, just,
• 4:20
  you know, 20 to 22in untied.
• 4:22
  So a typical necklace, it will be about 30 to 34in.
• 4:25
  So it's really, you know, a fraction of that.
• 4:28
  So you'll see
• 4:29
  it just needs to be big enough to fit around the American flag
• 4:32
  that the Boy Scouts or,
• 4:33
  the Scouts, I should say boy and Girl Scouts are putting on the grades there.
• 4:37
  So, you know, you can really maximize, the flowers that you have,
• 4:40
  the string that you have, by making just the, ten 11 inch lei.
• 4:44
  And all of that, like you said, to get ready for the Memorial Day ceremony.
• 4:48
  This year, every year, actually open to the public.
• 4:50
  What is your message for those interested in showing up to the Mayor's
• 4:53
  Memorial Day ceremony?
• 4:55
  We're going to have really
• 4:56
  similar protocol to what we had last year where Olelo is going to live stream it.
• 4:59
  So if you can't make it up there, by all means you can watch it online.
• 5:03
  If you do plan on coming up, parking is gonna be very limited.
• 5:06
  The majority of the parking inside of the National Memorial Cemetery
• 5:10
  will be reserved for VIPs.
• 5:12
  So we have offsite parking locations at Stevenson and Lincoln.
• 5:16
  But then we also do offer that bus shuttle service from other party transit center.
• 5:20
  Typically we have, three
• 5:23
  shuttles that will go from either party
• 5:25
  to punch bowl, from about 7 to 8:00 or 7 to 815.
• 5:29
  And then we have 2 or 3 that go back there.
• 5:32
  So, it's free to park at either party, but then the regular bus fares do apply.
• 5:36
  So, a couple of ways to watch it.
• 5:38
  And then also, you know, it's weather dependent.
• 5:40
  So, well, the ceremony will happen, rain or shine.
• 5:43
  But, you know, the circumstances of how you can enjoy it on
• 5:46
  site will change, because sometimes it's a beautiful sunny day.
• 5:49
  You can get a little warm inside of the crater.
• 5:51
  Sometimes it's a little bit rainy.
• 5:53
  So. Umbrellas. You can bring those as well.
• 5:55
  And so it really, it's,
• 5:57
  it's such a privilege for us to be able to organize this ceremony.
• 6:00
  A lot of moving parts.
• 6:01
  But we really it's one of our legacy events that we really take to heart.
• 6:06
  You know, that we saw you on the news recently pushing a campaign,
• 6:09
  as you know, that's near and dear to my heart as well.
• 6:11
  But the push for more leashed dog parks.
• 6:15
  Can you talk about that?
• 6:16
  Sure.
• 6:16
  So, you know, the last couple years we realized that,
• 6:20
  the only 15% of our parks.
• 6:23
  Can you legally have a dog on leash or off leash?
• 6:26
  So we have about 305 designated park locations, and that's not
• 6:31
  including the beach right of ways and the pedestrian, access routes.
• 6:35
  And so only about 46 have on leash or off leash privileges legally.
• 6:40
  So a lot of people, what happens is they'll walk their dogs through a park.
• 6:43
  And you can always traverse through a park even when it's closed.
• 6:46
  But a lot of people want to stay in a park with your leash dog.
• 6:49
  And that privilege really is only allowed in less than 15% of our parks right now.
• 6:53
  What you'll see
• 6:54
  typically in a lot of those other parks is you'll see a sign that says no animals.
• 6:58
  Whereas in a leash dog park, you'll see, you know, leashed animals only.
• 7:01
  And so what we're trying to do
• 7:02
  is expand the amount of parks that have that on leash privilege.
• 7:06
  But we want to hear from the community.
• 7:08
  So we want to know where they think this privilege should be extended, where
• 7:12
  maybe we should think about, you know, keeping it as it is,
• 7:15
  and just kind of get the overall sentiment from the community on what
• 7:19
  the kind of behavior there is they're seeing out there,
• 7:21
  what we've heard so far, you know, going into this,
• 7:24
  we knew that there were going to be two major concerns, from the people
• 7:27
  from a lot of the communities, one, what do you do about irresponsible
• 7:30
  alcohol, the owners that don't pick up after their dogs, the mess.
• 7:35
  And then two, what about, dangerous or unleashed animals?
• 7:38
  So for the dog mess, what we're looking to do is we are
• 7:42
  considering having dog poop bag, dispensers at certain park locations.
• 7:46
  Kind of like a pilot program.
• 7:48
  And so, we are looking at potentially having those at a few locations
• 7:52
  to see how it goes, because there actually are a few of those around town already.
• 7:55
  There's some private parks that have them.
• 7:57
  The Waikiki Business Improvement
• 7:59
  Association has installed a few along the alleyway and in Waikiki.
• 8:03
  And from their observational data, it's really helped to,
• 8:06
  have people clean up the messes.
• 8:08
  And then also with the dangerous dogs, we're, we're lucky that the legislature
• 8:12
  passed a law at 224 last year, and that goes into effect this July,
• 8:17
  which basically codifies what is a dangerous dog,
• 8:20
  kind of identifies what it is,
• 8:22
  and then also strengthens the penalties against the owners.
• 8:24
  If your dog attacks another dog or attacks a person.
• 8:27
  So a couple of things that kind of help to hopefully quell those concerns.
• 8:32
  But by all means, what we're looking to do is expand this privilege for responsible
• 8:36
  dog owners, but then also put it back on them with,
• 8:39
  you know, you're getting this new privilege.
• 8:42
  With it comes a new responsibility where you've got to look after your dogs.
• 8:46
  This is a community effort.
• 8:48
  You know, we want to make sure that you're,
• 8:50
  looking out for each other as well, too.
• 8:51
  If you see, fecal matter on the ground, pick it up.
• 8:54
  Most dog owners have, you know, bags on their leashes already.
• 8:58
  So, you know, just to kind of create a great,
• 9:01
  a better mentality around around dog owners because this is,
• 9:06
  in our opinion, this is an appropriate use of dog of a park property.
• 9:10
  We want to encourage people to walk their dogs through the parks.
• 9:13
  We want to encourage people to have that amazing bond that you have,
• 9:17
  with your canine companion in our parks.
• 9:19
  Those are great memories,
• 9:20
  and those are great sentiments that we want to encourage.
• 9:23
  Yeah.
• 9:23
  You know, when it comes to other municipalities, you know, of our size.
• 9:27
  Is this common where parks just do not allow even leashed dogs?
• 9:31
  Or are we kind of we're along normal where.
• 9:34
  We, we're a bit behind on that.
• 9:35
  Most municipalities, it's it wasn't.
• 9:37
  It's not even a second thought.
• 9:38
  Like it's just there, you know, any park your dogs allowed there?
• 9:42
  I think in a lot of circumstances, they tend to have they may have more off
• 9:46
  leash dog areas.
• 9:47
  And that's something we're considering as well too.
• 9:49
  But just with an off leash area, we do have to build that infrastructure.
• 9:52
  So we got to put a fence around there, to, you know, designate the area.
• 9:56
  We typically like to have irrigation there so that we can have, water access
• 10:00
  for the pooches as well.
• 10:01
  So with these on leash dog parks, you know,
• 10:04
  we put the call to the neighborhood boards.
• 10:06
  Hey, here's the list of parks in your area.
• 10:08
  Here's the parks that have privileges.
• 10:10
  I think a lot of them
• 10:11
  were surprised to find that, you know, there's very few in their neighborhoods.
• 10:15
  And then ask them, hey, let us know from this list
• 10:17
  which ones you would like to see this privilege extended.
• 10:20
  And really, what it comes
• 10:21
  down to is, it's not really to extend that on these privilege.
• 10:25
  It's just a matter of changing the signage and then changing and then adding
• 10:28
  the park to the list that we have online and in our rules.
• 10:31
  So it's really it's quite logistically a simple thing to do.
• 10:35
  But again, it's kind of a change in the culture.
• 10:37
  We want to try and encourage
• 10:39
  more of the responsible behavior for dog owners in our parks.
• 10:42
  And so this is this effort.
• 10:44
  We're trying to make it really comprehensive to really shift
• 10:47
  the mentality when it comes to dog owners in in parks.
• 10:51
  So what happens now?
• 10:52
  I guess there's kind of this request for comments, information, whatever.
• 10:55
  Do you look at it like at the end of the year
• 10:56
  or when do you kind of make a decision on this?
• 10:58
  We're hoping we gave the neighborhood boards a deadline by the end of August.
• 11:01
  So September, we're hopefully going to use that month to compile the information
• 11:05
  and look to see, which parks we should extend these privileges.
• 11:08
  And it's not just the neighborhoods as well too.
• 11:10
  We actually we are having a lot of internal discussions as well.
• 11:13
  Because, well, certainly while the neighborhood boards
• 11:15
  and the people who attend those meetings know their areas well,
• 11:18
  our park staff know these areas as well too.
• 11:20
  And so we want to get input
• 11:21
  from as many different municipalities and jurisdictions as possible.
• 11:25
  The Humane Society has been a big help on this as well too.
• 11:27
  They've given us a lot of information about, you know, the waist bag
• 11:30
  dispensers, what other municipalities are doing.
• 11:33
  And so we're trying to, again, incorporate as many different opinions in it
• 11:37
  as possible.
• 11:38
  But, you know, to be honest, like any government decision,
• 11:40
  not everyone's going to be happy with it.
• 11:42
  So, you know, we've gotten a lot of people in support of this effort,
• 11:45
  a lot of people who don't like it.
• 11:47
  And that's that's fine.
• 11:48
  And that's the democracy that we live in where we're going to have
• 11:51
  a difference of opinions,
• 11:52
  but we're going to try and find that middle ground where we do try to extend
• 11:55
  the obvious dog privileges in a lot of our parks.
• 11:58
  And full disclosure, of course, Nathan and I both have dogs.
• 12:01
  Nate, your dog as well, I don't know, 100 pounds on my dog, but they they get oh.
• 12:05
  She's 40 pounds. Yeah, yeah.
• 12:07
  Six year old, Pitbull next.
• 12:09
  She's a great girl.
• 12:10
  Your, your dogs as well too.
• 12:12
  Yeah. Tucker.
• 12:13
  See that was. Yeah. I remember his name. Yeah, yeah.
• 12:16
  Speaking of parks, Nate, what's the latest as it relates to,
• 12:19
  the white, pure complex this summer? Sure.
• 12:21
  So we just announced that in June,
• 12:24
  we're going to be doing a full month long closure of the White Peel soccer complex.
• 12:28
  And this is actually kind of a continuation
• 12:30
  of what we've been doing over the past couple years
• 12:32
  where we give the whole soccer complex a month or so, to really recuperate.
• 12:37
  So, you know, our our beautiful weather here in Hawaii is such a blessing,
• 12:40
  but it creates a really unique maintenance problem where our maintenance
• 12:44
  kind of concern, where
• 12:45
  we don't really give our fields or outdoor facilities time to rest,
• 12:50
  where you'll see
• 12:50
  in the continent
• 12:51
  where they have seasons, where there may not be as much sports activity.
• 12:55
  And so it's a beautiful thing to be able to have all of these recreational
• 12:59
  activities available year round.
• 13:00
  But again, it it really puts a strain, particularly on the field, if you don't
• 13:04
  if you don't have time to fertilize, aerate
• 13:06
  and do an intensive field work on these, larger grass areas,
• 13:10
  they're not going to be really up to par when it comes to the quality
• 13:13
  and white Peel soccer complex is really it's the premier soccer area
• 13:17
  for the entire state.
• 13:18
  And we host statewide tournaments.
• 13:20
  We host international tournaments. University of Hawaii.
• 13:22
  University of Hawaii, women's
• 13:23
  team as well too, the fantastic, wahine they have there.
• 13:26
  And so it's we really want to keep it at that level.
• 13:30
  And so this is what the this closure is.
• 13:32
  And we're really blessed to not only have, you know,
• 13:35
  this has been going for a little while and the community's really
• 13:38
  come on board with it and understands why we're doing it.
• 13:40
  But also having a really great group of volunteers and adoptive park,
• 13:44
  organizations down in Ypo help out a lot with the maintenance.
• 13:48
  Because it's it's big. It's a big area.
• 13:50
  And the more help that we can get, the better, not just to help
• 13:54
  with the maintenance, but it also creates that sense of ownership and pride.
• 13:57
  So there's more people that are, you know, looking after it and that are
• 14:01
  you know, know what's going on
• 14:02
  and can assist us in the maintenance, both it and also keeping an eye on it.
• 14:06
  Yeah. Yeah.
• 14:07
  Well said Nate.
• 14:08
  And you know I kind of want to go to the flip side of that
• 14:10
  because you're right.
• 14:11
  Those volunteers, your own maintenance staff at the park,
• 14:13
  I know that they take tremendous pride in their job.
• 14:15
  But when it comes to our public spaces, mayor was really worked up about this.
• 14:19
  And I know that you were as well
• 14:20
  with the situation out in Wahiawa with the play apparatus.
• 14:24
  What's the latest there?
• 14:25
  Yeah, yeah, that was really unfortunate news how we had
• 14:28
  just renovated the it had reopened in about mid-March.
• 14:31
  A lot of the renovations were to what we call the resilient surfacing.
• 14:34
  So it's that bouncy surface you see on the bottom.
• 14:37
  This was the first one where we had done a new kind of technique, where we had
• 14:41
  put these really cool graphics on there.
• 14:43
  There was like a lizard
• 14:43
  that had, the one through ten on it so kids could learn, the numbers.
• 14:48
  And so really disheartening to see that someone torched it.
• 14:53
  Unfortunately, as well, this wasn't the first case of arson recently
• 14:56
  that we've had at Wahiawa.
• 14:57
  There was a, in August of last year of 2024, there was an arson case
• 15:01
  where a storage unit for a football league, got damaged as well, too.
• 15:05
  So it'd be interesting to see, if those are related.
• 15:08
  It just a no win situation when something like this happens, you
• 15:12
  know, especially a keiki play apparatus like that, that was just renovated.
• 15:17
  But by all means, rest assured we are going to rebuild.
• 15:21
  Recently the our,
• 15:23
  maintenance guy
• 15:24
  who handles a lot of our outdoor court and, playground, renovation efforts,
• 15:28
  let us know that the contractor went out there and said that, you know,
• 15:31
  some of it can be salvaged.
• 15:32
  So it's not it's not a complete loss.
• 15:35
  But we are going to prioritize rebuilding that because, you know,
• 15:38
  we want to try and turn a negative into a positive where,
• 15:42
  you know, getting it fixed as soon as possible.
• 15:44
  The botanical Garden folks over.
• 15:46
  And while he reached out to us, as soon as they heard about it, saying,
• 15:48
  hey, we've got some volunteers, let us know how we can help.
• 15:51
  So it's really been great to see the outpouring of support
• 15:54
  that we've seen, from the community, when they saw the news about,
• 15:58
  the irresponsible and just downright
• 16:02
  disrespectful, actions of one or a few.
• 16:06
  So, yeah, well, well, well, more power for,
• 16:09
  you know, vandalism is unfortunately a part of our daily work and Parks
• 16:13
  and Rec, you know, but this this is a particularly egregious case,
• 16:17
  that we hope to, you know, HFD and HPD can can find the culprits.
• 16:21
  Yeah. You mentioned Wahiawa Botanical.
• 16:23
  I want to move over to Kaneohe because over here, we were out there
• 16:26
  when we announced that fishing is back and native, if I'm not mistaken.
• 16:29
  Were you the one to catch the first fisher? That first call.
• 16:31
  I was really close.
• 16:32
  I think my
• 16:34
  myself and Councilmember Kia, I know.
• 16:36
  Okay.
• 16:37
  Yeah, I think she got me by a fraction of a second.
• 16:40
  It was great though.
• 16:41
  You know,
• 16:42
  it was really awesome to see that man, that mayor, caught a fish as well, too.
• 16:46
  It took a.
• 16:46
  Little, but we're going to be there all night and, well, you.
• 16:48
  Know, it took a little bit of time, but, you know, I think he really enjoyed
• 16:50
  the fact that he just got time to relax and just wait for a fishing.
• 16:54
  He doesn't get that is out of line.
• 16:55
  Yeah, I can imagine he's a busy man.
• 16:57
  And so, yeah.
• 16:59
  Fishing returned earlier this month.
• 17:01
  The reservations, you know, filled up within a matter of minutes,
• 17:04
  which is a great sign, you know, don't worry.
• 17:07
  Just like a lot of our reservation systems,
• 17:09
  like for a Koko head shooting complex, which we'll talk about in a little bit.
• 17:12
  If you don't make a reservation or don't get one of those time slots.
• 17:15
  We do reserve walking space.
• 17:17
  So if you have that time
• 17:19
  period, like, oh, this is the only time me and my kid can go down there,
• 17:22
  go ahead and, you know, show up.
• 17:23
  And you know, the earlier the better because that those walk in spots
• 17:26
  might fill up.
• 17:27
  But by all means, we try to keep it as accessible and open as possible.
• 17:31
  The reservation system is really just a way to help us manage the crowds
• 17:34
  because, pre-pandemic, when we had the program,
• 17:38
  it was really, there was hundreds of people down there,
• 17:41
  and it was it was a little more difficult to manage, particularly
• 17:44
  because we like to offer little bamboo poles and the non hooked barb.
• 17:48
  Lines, hooks, to, you know, for people who don't have fishing lines.
• 17:53
  But if there's, you know,
• 17:54
  too many people, we, you know, obviously run out of those.
• 17:56
  So this way we're able to manage the crowds a little bit more.
• 17:59
  So we have the amount of facilities, the amount of hooks and poles
• 18:03
  so that everyone can enjoy fishing.
• 18:05
  Yeah, I guess I didn't realize that folks can bring their own poles.
• 18:07
  Can they also use their own bait?
• 18:09
  Is there anything we shouldn't be bringing into home here?
• 18:12
  Yeah, there's you know, I can't remember off the top of my head.
• 18:14
  I know we were. You're encouraged. Like bread.
• 18:16
  Like white bread is really encouraged.
• 18:18
  I think there's, you know, the division of aquatic resources with the state
• 18:23
  really helped us out with a not only was the reservation system
• 18:26
  something we worked on while was closed, the fishing,
• 18:29
  but we also worked with them da with the state,
• 18:32
  to train us to train our staff on about the fish,
• 18:35
  the aquaculture, you know, what bait to to use and not use.
• 18:39
  I think they're just kind of discouraged worms
• 18:41
  just because it can be a little icky and it's, you know, a little,
• 18:45
  can be tough on the kids putting form on a hook. Right?
• 18:47
  So bread is kind of the, the preferred bait as well.
• 18:51
  Yeah. It does, I mean, we yeah, we were successful.
• 18:53
  And sticking with botanical gardens, there's something exciting
• 18:55
  going on at some of our botanical gardens this summer.
• 18:58
  Yes. Music. Yeah. So the,
• 19:01
  summer concert series is coming up fast, you know?
• 19:04
  No, we've been doing it for a long time. Okay. Yeah. Oh, yeah.
• 19:06
  Just like most things that took a break during the pandemic.
• 19:09
  But, you know, we've we've been doing it, it's a good question.
• 19:11
  How long we've been doing that for?
• 19:13
  But. Yeah. Foster Botanical Garden.
• 19:15
  I'm not sure if home all here has it, but then Wahiawa Botanical Garden
• 19:18
  as well, too.
• 19:19
  We're going to be posting that a little bit more information about that soon.
• 19:22
  About the lineup that we have.
• 19:23
  Really good diversity of music.
• 19:25
  It's always a really great way to experience Foster Botanical Garden.
• 19:29
  You know, we're actually not that far away from Midsummer
• 19:31
  Night Gleam as well, too, right?
• 19:32
  That would probably be, typically we like to do that the third Saturday of June.
• 19:37
  So I believe that's around June 19th or 21st.
• 19:41
  And so, yeah, we're by all means, we're very much planning ahead,
• 19:44
  even though we've got a really busy month of May.
• 19:47
  You know, we always plan those big events months in advance.
• 19:49
  So I know the Foster
• 19:50
  Botanical Garden staff are excited to, to get, Midsummer Night's Clean going.
• 19:55
  We we had it, for the first time since the pandemic last year.
• 19:58
  Yeah, it's a huge success.
• 20:00
  We're looking to do a similar thing where we do, online registration.
• 20:03
  I had time.
• 20:04
  We did learn some lessons from that first round, so we'll hopefully have it.
• 20:06
  We'll have some good improvements to that.
• 20:09
  But that's a really cool event to be able to see all the lights and displays
• 20:12
  that they put up in that beautiful ten acre botanical garden, right?
• 20:15
  Yeah. You're right.
• 20:16
  You mentioned it's still me.
• 20:17
  You and your team put together a remarkable lady ceremony over there.
• 20:20
  It could be Colony Park.
• 20:21
  Thank you.
• 20:22
  What made this year's event special?
• 20:24
  You've been with DPR for a while.
• 20:25
  What made this year's event specialty?
• 20:27
  You know.
• 20:28
  Well, not only were we blessed to have beautiful weather, it was a lovely trail.
• 20:31
  One day, it was actually just fortuitous to.
• 20:33
  We had that heavy rain on Tuesday all day for it to dry out Wednesday.
• 20:37
  So everything was just really lush and green.
• 20:39
  The Lake Court this year is fantastic.
• 20:41
  You know, all the courts have been fantastic.
• 20:44
  All the ladies.
• 20:45
  And we had one, Lake King, back in 2020.
• 20:48
  But this Lake court really has been impressive to me.
• 20:52
  And just how in touch they are, with the culture and with perpetuating it.
• 20:56
  They all are extremely fantastic
• 20:59
  ambassadors of aloha and of of the native Hawaiian culture.
• 21:02
  But just to see they're really pouring their hearts into it.
• 21:06
  And I saw that and a lot of the hula displays,
• 21:10
  particularly actually the lesser known part of Lei days.
• 21:13
  The is May 2nd, actually, the day after lei day.
• 21:16
  What we do is we go up to Moana all at the Royal mausoleum
• 21:19
  where Hawaiian elite are buried,
• 21:21
  and we take the fresh flower lei from the lei contest, and we place them
• 21:24
  on all the graves of the elite there and over at Kauai Church.
• 21:28
  And so there is a display, you know, the Lei Court will dance hula,
• 21:31
  give all the, and be the first ones to, place to lay on the graves.
• 21:36
  And it's just such a great way to show reverence, to the people who came before
• 21:40
  us, the elite and the Kanaka Mowgli, who came before us, and really,
• 21:45
  helped with, you know, perpetuate the lei making culture.
• 21:48
  It was the 97th lady celebration.
• 21:50
  But lei has been given in Polynesian culture for generations, right?
• 21:52
  And even really, almost
• 21:54
  every culture has got their own form of giving flowers and appreciation.
• 21:58
  Lei bouquets, what have you.
• 22:00
  So this is just really Hawaii's international symbol of aloha.
• 22:04
  And just a great way of kind of exemplifying and symbolizing,
• 22:08
  what it is, to give aloha where, you know, when you make a lay, you're,
• 22:12
  you're putting your mana, you're putting part of yourself into it.
• 22:14
  So similarly,
• 22:15
  when you receive it, you're receiving part of that person who made that lei.
• 22:20
  And so this Lei Day celebration was really
• 22:22
  it was just a fantastic day over Kapiolani Park.
• 22:26
  We're so thrilled to put it on.
• 22:27
  Every year, it's an all hands on deck type of effort with.
• 22:30
  And that's arguably one of our marquee events, within the department.
• 22:34
  And you see it with the amount of staff
• 22:35
  that we put in there and the hard work that they put into it.
• 22:38
  Lei contest was fantastic.
• 22:40
  Had a bunch of about 137 lei as part of that contest.
• 22:45
  The, the bandstand performances were all Hawaiian.
• 22:47
  Band always knocks that out of the park.
• 22:49
  And so, you know, we're really blessed to have such amazing
• 22:53
  Hawaiian cultural practitioners, who, you know, give so much to help perpetuate
• 22:58
  the culture and to extend it to folks who may not know as much.
• 23:02
  You've been to a couple of the mayors town hall meetings, and I don't think a week
• 23:05
  goes by or DPR doesn't get a question complaint concerned.
• 23:09
  That's, praise.
• 23:10
  What are some of your takeaways from the meetings that have gone on so far?
• 23:13
  You know, it's every one of the town halls, as you mentioned.
• 23:15
  We get so many questions and concerns.
• 23:17
  The variety of concerns, I think it is, is always, impressive to me.
• 23:22
  You know, parks are like little microcosms of society, right?
• 23:25
  Like we're everything that happens in our world happens in our park.
• 23:28
  So same thing, right?
• 23:29
  You'll see people, at Wahiawa, we had questions about playgrounds.
• 23:33
  We have questions about maintenance.
• 23:35
  We have questions about bathrooms.
• 23:36
  We have questions
• 23:37
  a lot of that have been coming up about the the dog park effort as well too,
• 23:41
  which is great.
• 23:41
  It kind of we want to have these community discussions.
• 23:44
  But, you know, just to let everyone know before we go to these town halls,
• 23:48
  we really do our homework.
• 23:49
  We have we have internal meetings with our staff
• 23:51
  where we try to figure out what are some of the concerns
• 23:54
  that are going to come up from the community.
• 23:55
  So we want to be prepared
• 23:56
  because we do our best to try and answer those questions.
• 23:59
  That and there I know mayor.
• 24:00
  That's why he brings his 40 member cabinet up there. Right?
• 24:02
  He wants to be able to try and establish the a solution then.
• 24:06
  And they're not always possible.
• 24:07
  You know, some things are quick solutions.
• 24:09
  Some things are more long term.
• 24:11
  But where we can we want to try and resolve it then and there.
• 24:15
  And it's great.
• 24:15
  You know, myself, and my coworker, we kind of split in the director
• 24:20
  will divvy up the, the town halls, and we,
• 24:24
  we we really we stay late like most of the other cabinet members,
• 24:27
  because we want to hear all the concerns we give our cards, we write down,
• 24:30
  we follow up to make sure that we got them the information that they needed
• 24:33
  and to connect them with the resources that they're looking to get.
• 24:36
  So it's just a really great conduit for us to connect with the community.
• 24:39
  And for me,
• 24:40
  I mean, that's that's the primary goal of my job is to connect the community
• 24:44
  with what we do, to let them know about the activities that are happening.
• 24:47
  And so it's really just another great avenue for that.
• 24:50
  You touched on earlier, the Coco Head shooting complex.
• 24:52
  A lot of work has been put into that facility over the last few years.
• 24:55
  Yes. That's correct. Yeah. So we had the closures,
• 24:58
  the extended one, that which was from fall 2022 to spring 2023.
• 25:02
  And during that closure, we did a lot, a lot of maintenance and,
• 25:05
  kind of deferred upkeep of that of the the shooting complex.
• 25:09
  It's the only outdoor public shooting complex on the island, really
• 25:12
  popular, arguably the most affordable because it's free, you know,
• 25:15
  you really just had to bring your own firearm, ammunition and targets.
• 25:19
  The gun clubs do operate separately and they'll have some fees,
• 25:22
  but really, they're pretty nominal.
• 25:23
  And so we've been doing not only that closure do we have
• 25:26
  a lot of intensive maintenance, but we've been doing a lot of upkeep.
• 25:29
  Kind of revised our whole maintenance standards and,
• 25:33
  scheduling since the closure.
• 25:35
  And so we have a closure that's coming up in June where it's just the weekdays.
• 25:40
  So it's from June 2nd to 23rd.
• 25:43
  Typically the pistol and rifle ranges will be open Wednesday, Thursday, Friday.
• 25:46
  So it's going to be close for those three weeks then.
• 25:48
  But we are going to keep it open on the weekends
• 25:50
  because the work that's being done is not going to happen on the weekends.
• 25:53
  It's arguably the most popular time
• 25:55
  for people to go and enjoy the shooting complex, so it will be open at that time.
• 25:59
  And the reason that we're closing it is we're doing some site surveying ahead
• 26:02
  of some more, longer term improvements that we're going to be taking
• 26:06
  probably sometime in 2028.
• 26:07
  So it's a long ways away.
• 26:09
  We'll certainly put out more information
• 26:10
  about what that project, those long term improvements entail.
• 26:14
  Because basically what happened during the closure was we really saw
• 26:18
  the maintenance that needed to happen.
• 26:19
  And so we worked our best
• 26:21
  to use our in-house staff and contracts to get that done quick,
• 26:24
  because we understood having that extended closure was a huge impact on the
• 26:28
  the firearms community and the archery community.
• 26:30
  And so, that those were some of the,
• 26:33
  projects that we had to take care of then in there
• 26:35
  and that we were able to do on an emergency basis these longer term
• 26:38
  ones are ones that, you know, will require a little bit more in-depth analysis,
• 26:42
  things like really rebuffing that wall between the, pistol and rifle range.
• 26:46
  We did some repairs to it, but that really needs to be, rebuilt in re rehashed,
• 26:51
  doing some LED remediation against the, the berms where people fire into it,
• 26:55
  and then just,
• 26:56
  and building some stairwells as well too, upfront
• 26:59
  between the, parking lot in the rifle range, it's really just a berm.
• 27:02
  It's just a hill.
• 27:03
  So we want to be able to make it more accessible for people to access there.
• 27:07
  How long have you been doing this job?
• 27:09
  It's been, it was four Independence Day weekend, in 2016.
• 27:14
  So coming up on nine years.
• 27:17
  What do you love most about this job?
• 27:19
  Again, just connecting with the community, man.
• 27:21
  It's you know, so I started at Ktvb.
• 27:24
  I was there for ten years.
• 27:26
  And the reason I got into journalism is I really want to I'm a firm believer that,
• 27:29
  you know, in a democracy for it to thrive, we need to have people who are informed
• 27:34
  with correct information.
• 27:35
  And that's,
• 27:36
  you know, the best decisions are made with the most accurate information possible
• 27:40
  and getting it to the right people. And in a timely manner.
• 27:42
  And so when this job opened up, this was just a way for me to be able
• 27:47
  to further empower people with the correct information, with the right information,
• 27:52
  so they can enjoy their lives as much as possible and make informed decisions.
• 27:56
  Because really, nothing good comes from running from the truth.
• 27:58
  You know, it comes out eventually.
• 28:00
  So it's better to address problems as soon as you can be honest
• 28:04
  about them, and then work together to try and find those solutions.
• 28:07
  And so with the Department of Parks and Recreation,
• 28:10
  I've been able to focus particularly on these parks.
• 28:14
  And as you mentioned, with the town halls, you know, the fact that people
• 28:17
  are coming up to having 2 or 3,
• 28:19
  sometimes a half dozen questions at these town halls regarding parks,
• 28:23
  it shows that people are really, really passionate about our park locations.
• 28:27
  And so we want to channel that passion into something positive, right?
• 28:32
  The the Arsenault, the Wahiawa playground,
• 28:36
  of course, something negative.
• 28:37
  Let's channel that into something positive.
• 28:39
  We have volunteers cleaning up the area where we're able to fix it soon.
• 28:42
  Koko head shooting complex. The closure.
• 28:44
  Yeah.
• 28:45
  So it's a closure for renovations, but it's something that's going to improve
• 28:48
  that facility in the long term.
• 28:49
  Same thing with white soccer complex.
• 28:51
  So I think people are really understanding that, you know,
• 28:54
  to improve these facilities. It's going to take a little bit.
• 28:56
  It takes work, takes time.
• 28:58
  But ultimately it's something that's going to benefit the community.
• 29:01
  And it's just getting that word out there. Right.
• 29:03
  So a lot of times if you don't put information out there,
• 29:06
  the coconut wireless is going to fill it up, right?
• 29:08
  Someone's going to have a story to tell.
• 29:10
  And it may not be the most accurate.
• 29:11
  So it's just getting that the right information out there.
• 29:14
  So people know what's going on in their parks.
• 29:16
  So that they're not surprised when they show up to their favorite court.
• 29:19
  And it's closed for renovation for a month.
• 29:22
  And, you know, they they probably want the renovation to happen,
• 29:25
  but they're taken aback because they were planning
• 29:27
  on playing pickleball there that afternoon.
• 29:29
  So just trying to get ahead of, of,
• 29:32
  really keeping the public, informed about what's going on.
• 29:36
  So they can again make informed decisions and,
• 29:40
  enjoy the outdoors as much as possible.
• 29:43
  Nate, is there anything we missed?
• 29:46
  There's always something going on.
• 29:47
  The parks department.
• 29:48
  One thing we didn't touch on, so we had mentioned, summer fun registration.
• 29:52
  On top of summer fun or, you know, most popular keiki program.
• 29:55
  We do have regular seasonal classes.
• 29:57
  So in the parks department,
• 29:59
  we have three seasonal class opportunities in spring, summer and in fall.
• 30:03
  And so the week after summer fun registration.
• 30:05
  So actually, we're, you know, Thursday when this airs, we'll have will be
• 30:09
  the registration for district four, which is the North Shore.
• 30:12
  And when Ward sides opens at 5:00.
• 30:14
  And so we offer classes.
• 30:16
  So summer fun is a lot for keiki and teens.
• 30:18
  Our regular seasonal classes are for all ages, from keiki to kupuna.
• 30:22
  Wide variety of classes learn to swim, basketball, mahjong, arts and crafts.
• 30:27
  You know, everything from board games and dancing to outdoor
• 30:29
  activities, even some ocean recreation stuff at like, one or Holly. Eva.
• 30:33
  And so, really encourage people to check out that catalog of classes.
• 30:37
  Similar to summer fun.
• 30:38
  Some of them are really, really popular.
• 30:40
  So when registration opens up at 5:00, I would recommend, you know, being logged
• 30:44
  in, having all of your information. Right.
• 30:45
  So you can log in, get your class and and get signed up
• 30:48
  because you might get waitlisted if you're a little too late.
• 30:51
  But one thing, when I was researching that announcement for this
• 30:55
  seasonal classes, I got some great information
• 30:57
  from our information technology department,
• 30:59
  showing that last year, in 2024,
• 31:02
  we had 3552 different classes or programs that we had, including summer fun.
• 31:07
  Yeah.
• 31:08
  And over 82% of those were free, no charge at all.
• 31:13
  And even the ones that we do charge the roughly 17%, extremely affordable.
• 31:17
  And the cost really, for the most part, are normally just for materials,
• 31:22
  because there may be some arts and crafts that are a little more expensive,
• 31:25
  or if it's like transportation or things like that.
• 31:27
  So really, what we offer in the department is such an affordable,
• 31:33
  accessible amount of diverse and amazing programs.
• 31:36
  I really just hope that people can connect with that.
• 31:38
  And, you know, take advantage
• 31:40
  of these amazing opportunities that are afforded to them
• 31:42
  because parks are we see them as the equalizer where,
• 31:45
  you know, it's so, so many parts of living in Hawai'i
• 31:48
  are expensive and difficult, and we want parks to be the opposite of that.
• 31:52
  We want them to be easy, accessible and affordable.
• 31:55
  And so I think we're doing a really good job of, of trying that, are
• 31:59
  really, accomplishing that goal of, you know, making them parks for everyone.
• 32:05
  Well, thank you so much for your time.
• 32:06
  Thank you.
• 32:06
  Ready?
• 32:07
  Nate Serota from the Department of Parks and Recreation.
• 32:09
  And the next mayor is town hall meeting is scheduled
• 32:11
  for tonight, May 22nd at Radford High School at 6:30 p.m..
• 32:15
  That's for those who live, work and play in Pearl city.
• 32:18
  I air Salt Lake Collegiate in downtown Chinatown.
• 32:20
  We hope to see you there. Mahalo for listening.
• 32:22
  And until next time, Aloha.