Latest / The One Oʻahu Podcast with Mayor Rick Blangiardi / DPR Deputy Director Kēhaulani Pu‘u on Kapolei City Lights and other City parks programs

Transcript

DPR Deputy Director Kēhaulani Pu‘u on Kapolei City Lights and other City parks programs · The One Oʻahu Podcast with Mayor Rick Blangiardi

• 0:15
  Welcome to the One O'ahu Podcast.
• 0:16
  I'm your host, Brandi Higa, and today is Thursday, November 13th, 2025.
• 0:21
  This week we're sitting down with Kehau Puu Deputy Director
• 0:25
  for the city's Department of Parks and Recreation.
• 0:28
  Kehau, thanks for making some time for us.
• 0:29
  Thank you for having me. Mahalo.
• 0:31
  And I think this is our first time sitting down with you, right?
• 0:34
  Yes. Okay, so tell us a little bit about yourself.
• 0:36
  Where did you grow up or what part of the island?
• 0:38
  Where did you go to school? Oh, okay.
• 0:41
  Mahalo for the question.
• 0:42
  So I was born and raised in Waimanalo.
• 0:45
  I would just go to at Blanche Pope Elementary and,
• 0:49
  Waimanalo Intermediate and then went on to K-S, Kamehameha schools.
• 0:53
  I'm a 1990 graduate of KS.
• 0:57
  I went to,
• 0:59
  UH, where I got my degree in Hawaiian language and Hawaiian studies.
• 1:03
  After that, I went back to school.
• 1:05
  I got a master's in education from Harvard Graduate School of Education.
• 1:09
  So I went off to the continent for a little bit, came back home and,
• 1:14
  did, my education certificate
• 1:17
  with copper viola, indigenous teacher education program at UH Hilo.
• 1:20
  And so how did all of that
• 1:22
  lead you to this white part by the Department of Parks and Recreation?
• 1:26
  I know, so my background is in education and passionate about education.
• 1:30
  You know, for me personally, I believe education is empowering.
• 1:33
  And I had such a wonderful experience at UHI.
• 1:36
  You know, I had really great kumu.
• 1:39
  From whom I learned so much.
• 1:40
  Teachers like Hana, Nikki Trask, and Lee Clark, mainly Hera,
• 1:45
  Konadu Young and so
• 1:46
  Kumu like, that really inspired me to continue on my journey.
• 1:49
  So while I was there at school, I was also working at Punahou,
• 1:54
  which is a Hawaiian immersion preschool.
• 1:57
  And I did that for a while, worked for up one under.
• 1:59
  They all in different roles.
• 2:01
  Then moved on to CHS where I worked
• 2:04
  in our community education program.
• 2:07
  So we did a lot of in school and other school time programs,
• 2:12
  that were offered across the Pi aina across the state.
• 2:15
  And I had been at cast for 13 years.
• 2:19
  And during Covid, we started to close some of those programs
• 2:23
  and, you know, again, being very passionate about not just,
• 2:28
  you know, education because it's empowering,
• 2:29
  but really serving love and serving community.
• 2:32
  This is why I did the work that I did.
• 2:35
  And so
• 2:35
  during that time when, you know, we started to, relook at some
• 2:39
  of the programs that we were offering, this opportunity came up.
• 2:43
  Laura Thielen.
• 2:44
  She had put out a flier, I guess, and she was in search of a deputy,
• 2:48
  and she wanted to focus on the programing side of parks.
• 2:51
  So not a lot of people know.
• 2:53
  And yet a lot of people do know that we offer a lot of programing,
• 2:57
  as part of the, you know, Parks and Recreation department.
• 3:01
  And I had gone through parks program.
• 3:04
  I went through summer fun at, you know.
• 3:06
  Yeah.
• 3:07
  At the pavilion, which is going to be reconstructed soon.
• 3:10
  Hello.
• 3:12
  And so that's what kind of drew me to come to the city.
• 3:16
  I, you know, I saw this
• 3:17
  as a way to continue to serve community, to continue to serve Malawi.
• 3:22
  But in a different way.
• 3:23
  And I will be honest, I did not think everything that I would
• 3:27
  end up in this kind of role,
• 3:29
  with the
• 3:30
  city government, I had taught it, you know, leeward for a little bit.
• 3:33
  That was kind of the extent of my,
• 3:36
  experience working in government.
• 3:39
  But I was drawn again to, you know, what Laura Thielen had put out.
• 3:44
  And so I met with her, I interviewed
• 3:47
  and then I interviewed with the mayor and the managing director, and here I am.
• 3:52
  And I will say I'm very happy to be here.
• 3:55
  It's been an amazing experience.
• 3:58
  Laura, this administration has just they're very amazing leaders.
• 4:02
  I've learned a lot and grown a lot in my short time here.
• 4:05
  And now in this leadership position.
• 4:08
  The reason why we asked if we could sit down with you
• 4:10
  is because it's a it's about that time of year,
• 4:12
  and we know that this now falls under your kuleana.
• 4:15
  But it is almost time for a couple of city lights.
• 4:18
  It's hard to miss, actually, if you walk through
• 4:20
  the carpeting is being set up downstairs and they're kind of getting ready.
• 4:23
  So what can folks expect this year for Kapolei City Lights?
• 4:28
  So I'm, you know, very excited.
• 4:30
  I'm especially excited about,
• 4:32
  a couple of grades and just happy DPR, actually, on behalf of the mayor.
• 4:36
  We are the, coordinators.
• 4:39
  And we work with all of our different city departments to
• 4:42
  to plan and put on city lights.
• 4:45
  And I think what makes it a little bit unique is that it is both a city and,
• 4:49
  community event.
• 4:52
  So our event will kick off on
• 4:54
  December 6th at the Saturday here, and,
• 4:58
  we'll have one we'll have our,
• 5:01
  our Christmas tree displays downstairs in the indoor courtyard.
• 5:04
  And that is a combination of both city departments
• 5:08
  who are decorating these lovely Christmas trees, as well as different community
• 5:11
  organizations in some of our neighborhood boards in the area.
• 5:15
  We're also going to have that night our block party.
• 5:18
  So the whole event starts from 5 to 9 p.m.
• 5:20
  and this year our theme is a Season of Stars.
• 5:24
  And it's kind of a nod and complement to Honolulu City Lights,
• 5:27
  whose theme is, navigating by the stars.
• 5:31
  And, so, you know, we're going to try and do what we can to keep with
• 5:35
  that theme and hope that our trees will reflect that. But,
• 5:39
  kind of I am
• 5:39
  all over the place, but December 6th, 5 to 9 p.m.
• 5:42
  and we'll start off with our block party.
• 5:45
  We'll have a lot of different food and craft vendors
• 5:49
  out here in front of the hall.
• 5:51
  And then we have live entertainment from 5 to 9.
• 5:54
  Should I share who's going to be performing?
• 5:56
  Yes, please. So?
• 5:59
  So on the stage will have at 5:00.
• 6:02
  Sons of Yasha at six will have the rapper's 7 p.m.
• 6:06
  pending at 8 p.m..
• 6:07
  Carvel and our MCs are going to be Cassius Keys, Kurt Williams.
• 6:12
  So he'll be making the first half of the block party and then we're excited.
• 6:17
  The second half of the block party will be,
• 6:20
  missed by our own council member, Andrea to Paula.
• 6:22
  Oh, yeah.
• 6:24
  So we'll have block party, our parades going to start a little earlier this year
• 6:28
  at 5:30 p.m., and it's going to start from Kapolei High School.
• 6:31
  And it'll end here past, on a couple of,
• 6:36
  you know, the Royal Hawaiian
• 6:37
  Band will be participating mayor and his cabinet.
• 6:42
  We'll have, a lot of different city vehicles.
• 6:45
  Kapolei High School will also be participating their band
• 6:48
  and some other groups.
• 6:50
  And so, again, the parade is also, a combination
• 6:53
  of both city and community coming together organizations.
• 6:58
  And the parade is very well attended by our community.
• 7:02
  Plenty ohana, all the keiki.
• 7:05
  They really come out and they really enjoy it.
• 7:07
  So we hope people will come out again this year.
• 7:09
  Is there anything new this year?
• 7:10
  Well, something that we are working on, I haven't gotten an update is
• 7:15
  we may have like a static car display.
• 7:19
  So we've had, in the past all these, you know,
• 7:22
  those nice classic cars and stuff participate in the parade.
• 7:25
  So we've blocked off one street, to be able to show them off
• 7:30
  throughout the entire, you know, duration of our event.
• 7:34
  So that is something new and little bit different.
• 7:39
  Indoor
• 7:39
  in our in our courtyard here at Copley.
• 7:43
  Haley. What? We'll have Saturday.
• 7:45
  You know, we're going to have some take crafts and some games,
• 7:48
  and there'll also be somebody performing in our courtyard at, 6:00.
• 7:53
  Monk, I have a so we'll have the entertainment outside and the block party,
• 7:56
  and we'll have some stuff going on in the hallway, in the courtyard as well.
• 8:01
  So you mentioned that opening night.
• 8:02
  What is the schedule and hours for Kql?
• 8:04
  Is it just one couple of hours open, or when can folks come see the tree?
• 8:07
  And then when does that end?
• 8:09
  So that's a great question.
• 8:10
  So our tree lighting ceremony we are I think it's scheduled for 615.
• 8:16
  But we may tweak that a little bit.
• 8:18
  We wanted to kind of coincide with the ending of the parade
• 8:22
  so that other spectators can come join us for tree lighting.
• 8:26
  So that'll happen that night.
• 8:28
  But throughout the month of December, if that's what you mean by your question.
• 8:32
  So throughout the month of December, the holiday will be open
• 8:35
  from Monday to Thursday from 7:30 a.m.
• 8:38
  to 8:00 PM, so the public can come and enjoy the lights and the tree.
• 8:42
  Check out the indoors, what's happening inside?
• 8:45
  And then Friday, 7:30 a.m.
• 8:47
  to 10 p.m.
• 8:48
  so we're open a little bit longer on Fridays.
• 8:51
  And then on the weekends and holidays, we'll be open from 10 a.m.
• 8:56
  to 10 p.m.. Okay.
• 8:57
  We can come in, check us out.
• 8:59
  And then if folks want more information or just to see this again,
• 9:02
  is there a website or should they have. What they can do?
• 9:05
  Like, you can just Google
• 9:06
  couple City Lights 2025 and it'll take you to our website.
• 9:10
  The information is on our Parks and recreation website.
• 9:12
  So it'll take them there and they can check it out.
• 9:15
  And not just Kql, but for the folks in the community
• 9:18
  who want to celebrate the holidays, there's actually more going on
• 9:22
  at your park facilities. There's programs.
• 9:24
  Can you talk about that?
• 9:25
  Yeah.
• 9:25
  So, a lot of our parks, you know, our sites,
• 9:30
  we call them our sites, but our parks,
• 9:31
  they put on smaller community events as well.
• 9:34
  So a lot of the neighborhoods are,
• 9:37
  you know, kids,
• 9:38
  community members who are in close proximity to the park
• 9:41
  or already participate in our clubs or programs.
• 9:45
  They usually come out to enjoy our events.
• 9:48
  So we'll we'll likely have things happening, during Christmas.
• 9:53
  We just had a bunch of our parks put on some really great holiday events.
• 9:57
  One of our events that I,
• 9:58
  our district park had about a thousand people in attendance,
• 10:02
  and we worked with they worked with a lot of other different community
• 10:05
  organizations to put on a trunk or treat, event.
• 10:09
  So I would encourage public like if you're interested
• 10:12
  in what's happening in your community,
• 10:15
  to go check out our DPR website and just you can see what's happening
• 10:19
  and social media, we have an amazing program information officer.
• 10:23
  He's very active on social media, so he's always putting stuff out.
• 10:27
  So if there are events happening here, post that for people to see.
• 10:31
  And, you know, speaking of events, I was just actually out
• 10:35
  at an event with you out in Warren I for the mayor's Arbor Day ceremony.
• 10:39
  What were some of your takeaways?
• 10:41
  Man, that was awesome.
• 10:42
  That was a really great ceremony. So,
• 10:46
  you know, Arbor Day is a day set aside
• 10:47
  for planting and caring for trees, but, you know, it's a cultural thing, too.
• 10:52
  And I feel like that's, you know, more important.
• 10:54
  I shared that a little bit.
• 10:56
  I was able to see a short speech at the Arbor Day ceremony.
• 10:59
  You know, opportunity to malama and aloha aina.
• 11:03
  You know, there's definite benefits to planting trees.
• 11:06
  It provides shade, right? Helps to address climate change.
• 11:09
  But our kupuna, you know, they they did that.
• 11:13
  That was just part of everyday life.
• 11:15
  And so, this was an amazing opportunity.
• 11:18
  I would add for Hulu Park in my Ili,
• 11:22
  we planted 14 trees.
• 11:24
  Combination of local mayor and, Ali, which I love. Ali,
• 11:30
  and one other tree.
• 11:31
  I can't remember what the tree is,
• 11:33
  but because the first to our native trees is very significant to our culture.
• 11:36
  And so, And that was an amazing event.
• 11:39
  So it happened in collaboration with community.
• 11:43
  So, covalent oak on that allow public charter school.
• 11:47
  Their students and cool came out and they helped to do the planting.
• 11:51
  They did some, you know, opening and welcome protocol
• 11:55
  to start off or kick off the ceremony.
• 11:58
  We had
• 12:00
  a lot
• 12:00
  of, we had a few organizations come out also to support us.
• 12:04
  Our city departments, first of all, our agencies,
• 12:07
  Division of Urban Forestry,
• 12:10
  our nursery, for our culture
• 12:13
  and our gardens staff all came out.
• 12:16
  They put on a little mini fair for the students who came.
• 12:19
  I want to, you know, mention Council member Andrea
• 12:22
  to pull the support of this event, as well as Samantha Descartes,
• 12:26
  Senator Smith at the court, and and Representative Darrius Keeler.
• 12:29
  You know, they've been very active out in our community, helping us to to plant
• 12:35
  and, you know, replant trees, helping connect us with community organizations.
• 12:40
  And so, you know, we appreciate all of their support.
• 12:43
  But that was yeah, that was just a really great day.
• 12:47
  I thought,
• 12:49
  you know,
• 12:49
  after the planting, the the keiki from the school, they stayed had lunch,
• 12:55
  prior to they, they got to go and meet the different community orgs
• 12:58
  and our city agencies that were there and, you know, learn more about,
• 13:04
  just, you know, about environment, environmental education.
• 13:08
  You know, malama aina, those kinds of practices.
• 13:12
  Telling on that while we're talking about putting trees in.
• 13:16
  There was recently an effort to take trees out
• 13:19
  for the fight against the coconut rhinoceros beetle.
• 13:22
  Where are we in that fight?
• 13:24
  So we've done, we've done
• 13:26
  a lot of tree removal across the island.
• 13:29
  And, because I live in that community.
• 13:33
  So I did share that.
• 13:34
  I was born and raised in Waimanalo, but I'm a resident of now, locally now.
• 13:39
  And so
• 13:40
  out in that side of the island, you can see the, the impacts
• 13:44
  of the, of the coconut rhinoceros beetle, even within my neighborhood.
• 13:48
  You know, we have these very old, beautiful
• 13:50
  coconut trees that are just devastated by crab.
• 13:54
  And so same thing is happening in our parks.
• 13:55
  So we've done some tree removal.
• 13:59
  You know, from in several parks
• 14:01
  across our, our, our district,
• 14:04
  at Keoni or EO, which I think is known as tracks.
• 14:10
  Miley beach Park for cutie.
• 14:12
  And so right now our division of Urban forestry
• 14:16
  team has been going out to the neighborhood boards.
• 14:19
  On the way.
• 14:20
  And they coast as well as North Shore, where we've done some tree removal
• 14:24
  to engage with community, to get some feedback, because we
• 14:28
  are we are, going to implement a replanting effort.
• 14:32
  And so we don't want to just come in,
• 14:34
  you know, and plan what we think is best for the community.
• 14:37
  We want to provide some options and get some feedback.
• 14:39
  So they've gone out to the neighborhood boards.
• 14:42
  Have provided options, right.
• 14:44
  Based on what we know, will thrive in those environments.
• 14:50
  And I just, you know, getting,
• 14:52
  you know, but not all buy in and feedback from the, the neighborhood boards.
• 14:56
  Also, you know, we're looking to partner with communities who can help us
• 14:59
  with planting and, help us malama those trees.
• 15:03
  Usually these trees need to get watered for the first.
• 15:07
  I think I'm learning from our arboriculture section, but,
• 15:11
  to first two years, they need constant
• 15:13
  watering in order to, you know, root well and to grow.
• 15:17
  And so, we definitely have park staff for that,
• 15:20
  but we also look to communities to help us do that.
• 15:23
  They've been meeting with the neighborhood boards just last month and this month.
• 15:28
  And, I believe we're going to start that replanting come 2026, early 2026.
• 15:33
  You mentioned watering, and I know that this is difficult
• 15:36
  because of things like vandalism, but irrigation always helps.
• 15:40
  And when it comes to places like all of that,
• 15:42
  that looks a little different these days.
• 15:43
  Can you talk about the improvements that have been made there? Yeah.
• 15:46
  Oh my gosh.
• 15:47
  So there's so we had a,
• 15:51
  capital improvement project that had been, I guess,
• 15:53
  on the books for a while, but prior to this administration coming in.
• 15:57
  And so we were finally able to execute that.
• 16:00
  I believe two years of also that.
• 16:02
  So there's, you know, the community out there on the,
• 16:05
  you know, formerly known as Hope wash.
• 16:07
  They're very passionate about that place.
• 16:09
  And they have advocated so strongly, the neighborhood board.
• 16:15
  You know, Senator Fevella,
• 16:17
  David, of course, so many of the the members,
• 16:21
  Julie Alder Reyes and again, the neighborhood board been very strong,
• 16:26
  in advocating not just for on it, but for the entire community.
• 16:31
  So, yeah, we executed,
• 16:34
  I guess, the first part of a, capital improvement project, which was to
• 16:39
  reconstruct the ball field out there and do some reconstruct the irrigation.
• 16:43
  And so that's finally coming to a close.
• 16:45
  You know, it's it's looking better.
• 16:47
  So that that's going to close out soon.
• 16:49
  And then also, they've done we're constructing a new comfort
• 16:53
  station out there, which is also going to be completed very soon.
• 16:57
  In addition to that, our staff have gone out there and done some brush clearing.
• 17:01
  You know, really trying to make improvements much,
• 17:05
  much needed long awaited improvements in the area.
• 17:08
  So Mahalo.
• 17:10
  The other neighborhood board and, you know, other
• 17:13
  politicians out there for being strong advocates for for that park.
• 17:17
  You know, you mentioned improvements.
• 17:19
  I want to move on to Kaneohe, where for homology,
• 17:23
  you know, it's never had a master plan.
• 17:25
  Where are we?
• 17:26
  And making sure
• 17:27
  that that park is preserved, not just, you know, for the near future,
• 17:30
  but beyond that.
• 17:32
  It hasn't had a master plan in that park.
• 17:35
  I don't have the stats.
• 17:36
  Do you know what the number of visitors are?
• 17:38
  It's, thousands.
• 17:40
  And I think during Covid,
• 17:42
  I don't want to misquote, but I want to say, like, you know, over
• 17:45
  30,000 visitors came through that park and went through that garden.
• 17:50
  Park through that aina.
• 17:52
  And, we've contracted, a company to come in and to help us do some planning.
• 17:58
  And part of that planning is also engaging with our community.
• 18:02
  You know, we want to figure out what kinds of programs, what kinds of facilities
• 18:06
  we need to put into place, how do we, you know, preserve and even,
• 18:10
  you know, hopefully generate more revenue for that for the gardens.
• 18:13
  And so that's something that we have,
• 18:16
  just kicked off.
• 18:17
  In fact, just last week we had a meeting, committee engagement meeting.
• 18:21
  It was held at one of our community college where the public was invited
• 18:24
  to come, and hear the process and provide some input.
• 18:29
  What's the latest with the mono pool?
• 18:33
  It's going through its second phase of construction.
• 18:36
  You know, all of our pools, they need.
• 18:38
  They need some love.
• 18:39
  And so we've been working hard through our CIP process to,
• 18:44
  you know, to to get our pools updated and repaired quickly.
• 18:47
  And so over at Manoa, we are going to be,
• 18:53
  installing new diving blocks,
• 18:57
  and doing some repainting there.
• 19:00
  Repainting the pool bleachers also.
• 19:03
  If we keep moving into town, put a whole square is getting a dog park soon.
• 19:07
  Yep. Pretty soon.
• 19:08
  By the end of this month, we'll be opening the dog park there.
• 19:11
  And I know that you were with us, but when we do the mayor's town
• 19:14
  hall tours, that's kind of a question we get often.
• 19:16
  You know, my neighborhood needs a new dog park.
• 19:18
  So for those who are interested or, you know, maybe even
• 19:21
  want to see if that's even viable,
• 19:23
  what's the best way for them to go about requesting a dog park in their area.
• 19:26
  So they can email us at at our DPR email at parks@honolulu.gov.
• 19:31
  Oh my. I believe that's the,
• 19:34
  email.
• 19:35
  And we do take those things under consideration.
• 19:36
  So we get things, you know, through council members who are requesting
• 19:40
  through people who are,
• 19:43
  sending us emails through 311.
• 19:46
  And we do take those under consideration.
• 19:48
  Also like it's great to have the support of the neighborhood board.
• 19:51
  If you're proposing a dog park, especially if it's, you know,
• 19:55
  if it's in an existing park, of course, then,
• 19:58
  you know, that's the best way to to,
• 20:01
  I guess, request or, you know, put your desires forth and
• 20:05
  we'll go and assess, you know, if that the spacing, the utilization
• 20:09
  of the park, it's not difficult to, create an off leash park.
• 20:13
  It's mostly like fencing, irrigation.
• 20:16
  You know, if we put in, like a little,
• 20:18
  some water fountains for the dogs and stuff.
• 20:21
  It it's it's fairly simple to construct them, you know, we do them in-house.
• 20:27
  But, yeah, it's it's, we'll see a matter of, of asking.
• 20:31
  And then again, we're going to assess if that's the best place for a dog park.
• 20:35
  So as we've gone through these issues that I've brought up, you went from a job
• 20:39
  in education to this leadership role has this job and everything that you expected.
• 20:44
  It has been more like, I'm just asking.
• 20:47
  Yeah. Yes.
• 20:48
  And then more I, I feel very blessed just to be asked.
• 20:53
  I feel very blessed.
• 20:55
  I again, I have learned so much, you know, especially from Laura.
• 20:59
  She's been an amazing mentor.
• 21:02
  I love this mayor. He.
• 21:03
  Especially when we have cabinet meetings, I feel like, you know, we're the team
• 21:07
  and he's the coach, and he very much approaches things that way.
• 21:10
  But he's also very straight up, you know, and straightforward, and I
• 21:12
  appreciate that.
• 21:14
  But this job, this
• 21:16
  this leadership position has just given me so many opportunities.
• 21:20
  I've met and worked with so many different people.
• 21:24
  You know, I have learned to go to city council and stand in front of them
• 21:28
  and provide testimony, something I was I never, ever did before.
• 21:32
  I get put into uncomfortable positions, like doing this
• 21:35
  because it's not comfortable for me.
• 21:39
  Those public speaking, I don't like to be on camera at all.
• 21:43
  But it has been a blessing.
• 21:45
  And then working with, you know, different community members,
• 21:50
  just not a technical stuff to and I've learned a lot as well, like about
• 21:54
  capital improvement, about the budgeting process, you know, and parks in general.
• 21:59
  Yeah.
• 21:59
  So it I actually I feel truly blessed to be
• 22:02
  a part of this administration and, to have the leaders that we have here.
• 22:06
  It's been it's been more and I'm hamakua
• 22:10
  because, again, never thought I would see myself here.
• 22:12
  I thought, yeah.
• 22:13
  Never thought I would see myself in this position.
• 22:16
  You mentioned the mayor and you mentioned Laura.
• 22:18
  But, you know, I've asked some of the other directors and deputies this as well.
• 22:21
  But is there anyone, like, do you have any mentors
• 22:24
  or is there anyone whose leadership style you like or try to mimic?
• 22:29
  I don't know about mimicking.
• 22:30
  I think I might, yeah.
• 22:34
  I think all my life experiences have, you know,
• 22:36
  contributed to the person that I am today.
• 22:40
  I definitely look to Laura as a mentor.
• 22:44
  You know, she's been again.
• 22:46
  She's been amazing.
• 22:48
  Michael moved from,
• 22:50
  I get that who I mentioned earlier.
• 22:53
  I just, again, life changing the things that I learned.
• 22:57
  Especially about myself as a Native Hawaiian art history.
• 23:00
  How does culture play a role in the way that you lead?
• 23:05
  I try my best to, lead by values.
• 23:09
  You know, the values that I, I Hawaiian values, Christian to.
• 23:14
  So, yeah.
• 23:15
  And by the things that I do see my interactions, I always try to
• 23:20
  do so, you know, operate
• 23:23
  like live and work by those values.
• 23:26
  And I would say that's how it plays a role. I try to bring that,
• 23:29
  cultural perspective.
• 23:30
  I'm not a culture expert.
• 23:32
  But I do try to bring what knowledge
• 23:36
  I have to the work that I do and in the way that I interact with people
• 23:40
  and the way that I approach, you know, approach issues or react to them.
• 23:45
  Okay.
• 23:45
  How is there anything that we missed?
• 23:48
  I want to just give a shout out to the Department of Parks and Recreation.
• 23:52
  We're huge and we do a lot.
• 23:55
  You know, we have our our parks, maintenance and recreation services.
• 23:58
  We have over 300 parks.
• 24:00
  You know, we have all the pools and the gyms, the shooting
• 24:03
  range, the skate parks that, you know, so much that we manage.
• 24:07
  And then we have our urban forestry side where we have all the botanical gardens
• 24:12
  that we manage.
• 24:13
  You know, we take care of the city and the park trees and,
• 24:18
  all the planting efforts that are done.
• 24:20
  So, we're, you know,
• 24:23
  we're we're we're big and we carry lots of kuleana.
• 24:27
  I think we're like over 800
• 24:30
  civil staff, civil servants.
• 24:33
  And they work really hard.
• 24:34
  And and it's not easy, especially when we think about all the,
• 24:38
  all the challenges that our communities are faced with today.
• 24:41
  And you know, we are we see them playing out in our parks.
• 24:45
  And so I just, you know, want to say I have so much respect
• 24:49
  for this department for all the people that work in this department.
• 24:53
  They work really hard.
• 24:54
  And, and it's it's not an easy job.
• 24:56
  So I just want to maybe do that and, and give my aloha and mahalo to DPR.
• 25:02
  Yeah. Okay. Well thank you so much for your time.
• 25:04
  Thank you.
• 25:05
  And for any information about those programs you mentioned,
• 25:08
  you can always head over to DPR Instagram page at Honolulu
• 25:12
  Underscore Parks or on their Facebook page at Honolulu Dot parks.
• 25:17
  Mahalo again to Kiyo for her time.
• 25:19
  Mahalo to you for listening.
• 25:20
  Until next time. Aloha.