Latest / The One Oʻahu Podcast with Mayor Rick Blangiardi / Mayor Blangiardi on his recent Hale'iwa Town Hall meeting and the oldest active baseball field in America

Transcript

Mayor Blangiardi on his recent Hale'iwa Town Hall meeting and the oldest active baseball field in America · The One Oʻahu Podcast with Mayor Rick Blangiardi

• 0:15
  Welcome to the One Oahu podcast.
• 0:17
  I'm your host, Brandi Higa, and today is Thursday, April 17th, 2025.
• 0:21
  Mayor, what are you doing for Easter Sunday?
• 0:24
  Wow. Yeah, that's a good question.
• 0:26
  It's hard to believe it's Easter already.
• 0:29
  It's a reminder that the other day, when we're talking about Palm Sunday
• 0:33
  and having grown up in a very strong Catholic
• 0:36
  background that used to be big days, right?
• 0:39
  And so Easter was always a very, very special day
• 0:42
  was when we got all of our new clothes and they go all the traditions.
• 0:46
  We have big family dinners.
• 0:47
  I have none of that for this Easter Sunday.
• 0:50
  But I think in the spirit of, just the, what the
• 0:55
  what the day represents that just probably, hopefully have a nice,
• 1:00
  restful Sunday and hang around with my wife for a change.
• 1:03
  Do your grandkids still do the whole, like, Easter egg hunt?
• 1:05
  I think they do.
• 1:06
  Yeah. Send you pictures.
• 1:07
  I get pictures that part of a vicariously.
• 1:11
  Yeah take place.
• 1:11
  And yeah, it's always fun.
• 1:13
  In fact, I remember when my daughter was small,
• 1:16
  I asked her favorite holiday and,
• 1:18
  you know, and I didn't know she was going to say Christmas on Halloween.
• 1:21
  And she said Easter.
• 1:22
  And this is when she was really young.
• 1:24
  And we said, do I think we're over in Kauai?
• 1:27
  And she met the giant rabbit over there.
• 1:30
  So I don't know.
• 1:30
  But it's and so it always made it feel while she was growing up
• 1:34
  like Easter Sunday, because she liked it, always added to it.
• 1:37
  But have you grown up the way I did?
• 1:39
  You know, that's it was such a big,
• 1:42
  day in the Catholic Church that Easter was it having gone to.
• 1:46
  I went to Catholic school for 13 years and had nuns and look,
• 1:49
  I went to school in the 50s.
• 1:50
  So this is like old world stuff, you know, but it was very, very traditional.
• 1:55
  So it's always a a big day.
• 1:56
  And I guess what I'm saying this is I feel a little bit guilty
• 1:59
  sometimes I think about how that used to be, especially the big Easter Sunday
• 2:03
  dinner and stuff.
• 2:04
  And I know that they still do that and buffets, in that regard.
• 2:09
  But I just haven't celebrated Easter like that in many, many years,
• 2:13
  especially since my kids grew up.
• 2:14
  But my daughter now has four girls for four little girls,
• 2:18
  and so I'm sure know how much she loves Easter.
• 2:21
  It's going to be a big deal at her house.
• 2:22
  Yeah.
• 2:23
  Well, Mary, since we last sat down with you,
• 2:25
  you had your second town hall meeting of the year.
• 2:27
  On how last week.
• 2:28
  What were some of your takeaways from that meeting?
• 2:30
  Well, you know, the crowd was really good.
• 2:32
  They were very enthusiastic, obviously very supportive.
• 2:35
  They feel very much listened to.
• 2:36
  You know, I think the sharks Cove event is something that they're very excited
• 2:40
  about because it is transformative in a lot of ways compared to,
• 2:44
  their concerns that they had about development, etc..
• 2:46
  And things that we plan to do for our first responders.
• 2:50
  But more than that, I was pleased.
• 2:52
  Again, people acknowledge the fact that,
• 2:55
  you know, we've been responsive
• 2:56
  to them as a community or on a lot of different issues.
• 3:00
  And so it felt really good.
• 3:02
  And in fact, for the second one in a row, our,
• 3:05
  our police department actually got some nice praise.
• 3:08
  And so, you know, for all that we've listened to and their concerns
• 3:12
  especially, you know, I don't know, out in the West Side,
• 3:15
  where we had early on, especially towards the latter part of last year,
• 3:19
  a lot of violence,
• 3:21
  people were acknowledging the fact that we're trying to make a good effort
• 3:24
  to keep people safe.
• 3:24
  And I think that
• 3:25
  that's the biggest thing that I, I took solace in, that people feel like
• 3:29
  we're doing things to, keep them feeling safe.
• 3:32
  Public safety is important.
• 3:34
  And anything else that we can possibly do, whether it's a capital project
• 3:37
  or otherwise, that were out there.
• 3:38
  So it was a it was a good evening.
• 3:41
  People were very, very nice.
• 3:42
  For those that weren't at the meeting or maybe didn't see, the star on
• 3:45
  Hawaii news now, what is the latest with acquiring that property?
• 3:49
  Well, we're in negotiations and and pretty close,
• 3:52
  I think, to coming to a settlement once we get that done.
• 3:55
  We've been at the table now for, well, since we got the green lights on this
• 4:00
  for a while, and I'll, I'll probably have an update, but,
• 4:03
  we fully intend to close this deal, and we're going to close this deal,
• 4:07
  and I think, I might add, the lawyers just, you know, cross some T's and eyes.
• 4:12
  I think we're there on the financial end of it.
• 4:14
  So I feel pretty confident.
• 4:15
  Sticking with our first responders.
• 4:17
  Yet a special moment honoring members from our Honolulu ocean safety.
• 4:20
  Yeah, I think that set the tone for the evening.
• 4:22
  We started out recognizing our lifeguards.
• 4:24
  And, you know, you can see they're all kind of folk
• 4:26
  heroes out there, you know, you know, the way the audience responded to them.
• 4:30
  And it was really just nice to to recognize them.
• 4:32
  And of course, we recognized,
• 4:35
  Liam out there and the guy who was saved.
• 4:38
  So it was all pretty good.
• 4:39
  Yeah, the McNamara's there, kind of whispering things to you
• 4:42
  that we weren't able to catch on the mic.
• 4:43
  What was the family saying to you?
• 4:46
  So grateful they were.
• 4:47
  You know, this was a very harrowing rescue
• 4:49
  that went on even for the most experienced. And so,
• 4:53
  the fact that they wanted to get that done,
• 4:57
  I guess men I'm not saying that they did anything more for them than they would
• 5:01
  for anybody, but the fact that they were on the receiving end of a rescue
• 5:06
  was really dramatic, because, you know, these are the guys who typically rescue,
• 5:10
  you know, so it's like that was just very spiritual, like, you know, very,
• 5:16
  very much one with the whole thing, if you will.
• 5:19
  Yeah.
• 5:20
  Where are complaints regarding the new landfill site keep coming?
• 5:23
  Yeah.
• 5:23
  With with no one coming to the table with any alternate locations, no solutions.
• 5:28
  Is that frustrating to you to having to keep explain the process?
• 5:32
  Was this much frustrating?
• 5:33
  We sure like, you know, in a situation like this we can't overcommunicate.
• 5:37
  But the one thing and that I thought that actually,
• 5:40
  you know, that came up the other night and then I went through
• 5:44
  a thorough explanation and then there was no pushback to us. No.
• 5:47
  You know, and and people really seemed to be I saw heads nodding
• 5:51
  turn on the stand and the bottom line, is if, in fact,
• 5:55
  we go ahead with the site that we've selected
• 5:57
  based on what may or may not happen at the ledge, you know, articulation
• 6:02
  and our confidence in creating an aquifer,
• 6:06
  I mean, creating a landfill over an aquifer some 800ft above
• 6:10
  was the technology available to us in the science that we know, etc., etc..
• 6:15
  You know, we're not do anything that's going to harm anybody.
• 6:17
  And, but that said, there's still that overall sensitivity.
• 6:22
  The ledge is still in session.
• 6:24
  We'll see what comes out of it, what we're left with,
• 6:27
  I've told them that we are looking at have been looking at alternatives.
• 6:30
  You know, because there's that talk out there as it is right now.
• 6:34
  We have a very different landfill.
• 6:36
  You know, when you talk about air power and 95% of that infill is ash.
• 6:40
  And if you go out there, it's not like a dump with piles of, you know,
• 6:44
  you can just imagine it, all kinds of stuff that you would see
• 6:47
  and seagulls flying around and rats running around the dumps of yesterday.
• 6:52
  This is not anything like that.
• 6:55
  But, there's
• 6:56
  still that, that sensitivity, you know, to that in a community.
• 7:00
  And so,
• 7:02
  you know, I stand by a commitment that we're going to move it
• 7:04
  out of the West Side.
• 7:05
  We'll see what the legislature does and how that forces it.
• 7:08
  And I started to make the point about alternative technologies,
• 7:12
  and we started looking at them.
• 7:13
  And they exist in the world.
• 7:14
  The problem is they're very expensive.
• 7:17
  And when you look at these alternative technologies, they're being sponsored
• 7:21
  and paid for by countries, you know, I mean, they could talk about
• 7:25
  what they're doing in Japan or what they're doing in New Zealand.
• 7:29
  These are big, expensive projects.
• 7:31
  And and we don't have that kind of subsidy, you know, where we're
• 7:35
  we're saving the whole state is the city and county of Honolulu.
• 7:39
  And it's not the United States either, etc..
• 7:41
  So, we're going to examine anything to see what's cost feasible if we have to.
• 7:47
  But as I said the other night, and we all know it, in fact,
• 7:50
  I, I've been so aware of this myself every time at home
• 7:53
  when I just fill up a garbage bag
• 7:55
  and I going to throw away the garbage, I'm thinking, you know,
• 7:58
  this thing feels like a waste. 10 pounds.
• 8:00
  It wouldn't take much over the course of a year to get 2,000 pounds.
• 8:03
  We we talked about the fact that on our island,
• 8:07
  on average, we produce 100, million tons a year.
• 8:12
  100 million tons is one ton per person on average.
• 8:17
  So that's a lot.
• 8:18
  And what are you going to do with that?
• 8:19
  And that's just one year. So it's cumulative.
• 8:22
  And so we,
• 8:24
  you know, we have to solve this problem.
• 8:26
  And I think we have a good solution.
• 8:29
  And again, the only sensitivity is that I don't think
• 8:31
  a word that anybody sensitivity had read and held not happened.
• 8:35
  But that was 100ft over the aquifer
• 8:37
  and construction of tanks that were built in the early 40s.
• 8:41
  There were a single line that said over the wall, gravitational to.
• 8:45
  Because of the size of the tanks, these tanks are as big as the Statue of Liberty.
• 8:49
  Imagine that filled with fuel
• 8:50
  and the pressure on the bottom, and the force with which it would have.
• 8:54
  What we're talking about creating is totally different.
• 8:56
  And I just would add one last thing.
• 8:58
  The technology we have today is so much more refined and capable
• 9:02
  than what we put in what was put in 35 years ago.
• 9:05
  And when in our culture, we've never had a leak there.
• 9:08
  Today's technology, in fact, we were going to double line it.
• 9:11
  We're going to actually quadruple line it because it's a double line to begin with.
• 9:14
  So my confidence in this is great.
• 9:17
  It's just, you know, it's like anything change is hard.
• 9:21
  People.
• 9:21
  You know the old you know they don't want it near them.
• 9:24
  Why can't it be somewhere else.
• 9:26
  But honestly this is in central Oahu in a pretty remote area.
• 9:30
  And people brought up the case about the fact it's on the dole area.
• 9:33
  We're using up agricultural land.
• 9:35
  It's a very small amount of agricultural land,
• 9:38
  and we have lots of it out there, lots and lots.
• 9:42
  And honestly, it's not going to take away, having food on people's table.
• 9:47
  Mary, you also went out to Hawai'i Island last week for mayor.
• 9:50
  All the latest state of the county address. Yes.
• 9:52
  What did you like from his speech?
• 9:54
  Well, you know, he's, it for four months now.
• 9:57
  He's very enthusiastic and, took a lot of pride in,
• 10:02
  announcing a lot of firsts that they feel like that
• 10:04
  they've gotten off to some real, a real fast start.
• 10:07
  And so, you know, we listened and, he has a real challenge out there, in a sense.
• 10:12
  And he and I spoke about it, you know, Hilo and Kona, not exactly neighboring.
• 10:17
  You know, it's not like going out to Hawaii Kai.
• 10:19
  And so you've got you've got distance there, you know, it's one island
• 10:23
  and but it's almost like two different counties on what the needs are,
• 10:27
  responsibilities and the time that it takes to be able to physically
• 10:31
  because of the geographical distance, the linear distance.
• 10:35
  So, I wish him, I wish him all the luck in the world.
• 10:39
  He's got some big issues.
• 10:40
  I'm surprised that he talked about TMT, and, and being,
• 10:46
  part of one himself.
• 10:48
  He's very much pro TMT and,
• 10:51
  you know, that's a subject that's been sensitive, to say the least.
• 10:54
  It's been somewhat dormant.
• 10:56
  John the Freeze and John Kimmage,
• 10:58
  you both been working on that with the Hawaii community.
• 11:00
  But he's pretty much out there talking about the fact that he feels
• 11:04
  he can be a catalyst to actually get it built.
• 11:07
  In the meantime, the deconstruction will have to take place as well.
• 11:10
  He talked about that, creating jobs and,
• 11:13
  very verbal vocal advocate,
• 11:16
  on, on the construction of TMT, which I've really not heard
• 11:19
  from the community leader.
• 11:20
  So he's put himself out there as a mayor.
• 11:24
  Construction is underway for a place.
• 11:26
  Yeah, kind of an interesting concept when you think about first time
• 11:29
  homeowners, especially,
• 11:30
  you know, our our nurses, our teachers, our first responders.
• 11:33
  Well, that's what we loved about the project,
• 11:35
  you know, that we talk about, again, not my neighborhood.
• 11:39
  You know, actually, that site is where
• 11:41
  my parents lived in 1965 when they first came to Hawaii.
• 11:44
  I made reference to that that day.
• 11:46
  I was familiar with that site, but then it was a cluster of buildings.
• 11:49
  But my parents lived right on Kapiolani before they bought their house
• 11:52
  up in Saint Louis Heights.
• 11:53
  And so I used to always drive by there and remember that,
• 11:57
  you know, and then, of course, now it's all gone.
• 11:59
  But you walked into that light, you see what three acres looks like
• 12:03
  in the fact that they're going to construct 600 homes there.
• 12:06
  The fact that, these are all well, it's the whole market range.
• 12:09
  It goes from a low of, you know, down to 60%.
• 12:12
  Am I up to 140?
• 12:14
  So the market prevailing, condos in there, but
• 12:18
  85% of sold all the local people, many of whom are first time homeowners.
• 12:22
  This is just a great project because that location is extremely convenient.
• 12:27
  And I has such great faith and a lot of Kobayashi and
• 12:30
  and her family that they're going to build something
• 12:33
  esthetically really pleasing and do just a really good job.
• 12:36
  They're really good that way.
• 12:37
  And the other thing I want to talk about, I want to give a shout out to Randy
• 12:40
  Araki from Commercial Plumbing and Alina, you know, they,
• 12:44
  this whole thing about converting greywater into potable water
• 12:47
  and what they're going to do in this water treatment that they invested
• 12:51
  in, that they're not passing on, it's being used throughout,
• 12:55
  on the mainland.
• 12:57
  They wanted to bring the technology to Hawaii.
• 12:59
  We had to get a lot of people to sign off on that, starting with the Department
• 13:02
  of Health, our own N.v Department of,
• 13:05
  BP and the Board of Water Supply.
• 13:07
  Everybody signed off.
• 13:09
  And so this project has within it also,
• 13:12
  a really nice,
• 13:14
  you know,
• 13:17
  a really nice
• 13:18
  evolution, if you will, and construction in that,
• 13:21
  this will save over 11 million gallons of water a year.
• 13:24
  It's a nice conservation, move.
• 13:26
  And they're investing it.
• 13:28
  So, this project was all said and done.
• 13:31
  Should be really, really.
• 13:33
  It's also going to gentrify the area.
• 13:35
  And so, you know, nothing's been built in that area in a while.
• 13:38
  And those buildings were pretty tired.
• 13:40
  They were tired when my parents were living in there in 1965, the water.
• 13:44
  Yeah, they were, they really were.
• 13:45
  They were way back when they looked old.
• 13:49
  You might say that, you know, but they were.
• 13:51
  And so, yeah, that's how it come. Yeah.
• 13:55
  This week you got to
• 13:56
  honor folks like our dispatchers for public safety.
• 13:59
  Tell our communicators we,
• 14:01
  you know, we had so many high profile emergency events to start the year.
• 14:04
  What made this year's, proclamation ceremony so different, so special?
• 14:09
  Well, I think, well, precisely that, you know,
• 14:11
  you see what can happen when you're dealing with,
• 14:15
  some really terrible disasters.
• 14:17
  All the emotional was incredibly, dramatic, if you will.
• 14:21
  But so wasn't, you know,
• 14:22
  the loss of Jeff on the fire that we have other fires that take place.
• 14:27
  Look, the thing about, dispatchers over there, when you think about it,
• 14:31
  and they take in some 975,000 calls a year, almost almost a million calls.
• 14:37
  When somebody says, you got to call 911, or you yourself call 911,
• 14:41
  it's never a good thing.
• 14:43
  It's something is bad.
• 14:44
  And of course, there's different degrees of bad, right?
• 14:47
  People call for different reasons.
• 14:50
  Sometimes it's just, you know,
• 14:51
  homeless situation, but oftentimes it's something that's critical.
• 14:55
  If you think about it, our, you know, first responders are,
• 14:59
  our ambulances last year, we're not 110,000 calls,
• 15:02
  that many calls required and is 70,000, of which 40,000
• 15:09
  involves our fire department as well, another 30,000.
• 15:12
  Our fire department was sent out for a different fight.
• 15:15
  I mean, think about those in terms of thousands of calls
• 15:18
  in the course of the year.
• 15:20
  You can do the math and subdivide the number of days.
• 15:23
  I mean, it's ongoing and what that represents.
• 15:26
  So these are really and we hear ambulances all the time.
• 15:30
  This is just, you know,
• 15:33
  stuff that requires really quick thinking, understanding good communications.
• 15:37
  And they do such a good job of it.
• 15:38
  I mean, but then again, it's never the good part of life.
• 15:41
  I think of that every time I hear an ambulance.
• 15:43
  Somebody is in the in their in in trouble having to be rushed to a hospital
• 15:48
  many times it's life saving situations.
• 15:50
  So these people we're dealing with in high pressure,
• 15:54
  very important responsible because you you listen to them.
• 15:57
  We've all seen it.
• 15:58
  And you and I of the media, you you listen to the tapes of 911 calls
• 16:03
  and you hear the panic in people's voices.
• 16:05
  You know, the recordings are what they're calling about.
• 16:08
  And and then in turn, they send out the right people
• 16:11
  to try to deal with the problem this is about is,
• 16:14
  a nerve wracking, pressure packed, important thing
• 16:19
  that happens day in and day out, morning to night.
• 16:22
  And they're there and and they do a really good job
• 16:26
  and I don't have to and I'm not over dramatizing it.
• 16:29
  They're actually saving lives all the time.
• 16:31
  And so I don't know, the first time I heard about 911 calls,
• 16:35
  I must have been a long time ago.
• 16:37
  I should look at the origin of it,
• 16:39
  but it's one of those things we all walk around with knowing full
• 16:42
  well that that's sort of a safety valve if something really bad happens,
• 16:46
  if you were walking to your own house and something and you had to call
• 16:51
  nine one,
• 16:51
  you just had that kind of reliance and that confidence that if I do that
• 16:54
  and get through, when I get through, that somebody is going to help.
• 16:58
  That's really powerful.
• 16:59
  And so those people who are frontline to do that, my hat's off to them.
• 17:03
  That's that's really, really important work.
• 17:06
  And it all starts with them.
• 17:07
  Before even anybody's dispatched,
• 17:09
  before our first responders, our ambulance drivers are EMTs.
• 17:12
  Get involved.
• 17:14
  It's it's right there in that moment when somebody is called in and said help.
• 17:18
  And they're they're it's it's pretty pretty pretty remarkable stuff.
• 17:23
  You signed Bill 50 into law relating to parades and street festivals in Waikiki.
• 17:28
  Were you aware of this issue prior to that? Bill?
• 17:30
  I, I like everybody else.
• 17:32
  I can't say I mean, sorry, nice try and get into Waikiki.
• 17:35
  Inconvenience you get. There you go.
• 17:37
  What is this all about?
• 17:38
  It was some nondescript.
• 17:40
  I mean, it had gotten so bad.
• 17:42
  There were basically eight.
• 17:43
  There was.
• 17:43
  May is 18 events, which is more than one a month, obviously.
• 17:48
  I'm yet to insult anybody.
• 17:50
  But you think about that.
• 17:51
  You know, some of these months were very disruptive.
• 17:54
  And, you know, none of these people have come to visit,
• 17:57
  much less local people trying to go to Waikiki
• 17:59
  or the businesses down there really would be benefiting other people.
• 18:02
  It just, you know, so we ended up at six events, three legacy events, things
• 18:07
  that are worthy of having called our sit down and then
• 18:10
  three other ones that will be negotiated and, and I will see who they going to be.
• 18:14
  But, you know, it should be something when you do it, it should be the exception
• 18:18
  and not the norm, and not with that kind of frequency that was that disruptive
• 18:22
  and something that maybe a lot of people that want to participate in, both tourists
• 18:26
  and locals, you know, we had the Aloha Week festival and I go, okay, they come.
• 18:30
  And the incredible fireworks display, and that brings a little bit of Japan
• 18:34
  to whatever people that are there visiting.
• 18:36
  They could see the benefit of that.
• 18:37
  But some of the other stuff that was going on
• 18:39
  was some of the street stuff that was just happening.
• 18:42
  You're thinking, who let this happen?
• 18:44
  So I was excited to sign that bill, and I thought, even myself,
• 18:49
  I can just say this,
• 18:49
  that even six was too many, but I think we can live with that one
• 18:53
  every other month versus more than one a month, six months of a year.
• 18:57
  Well, but these local vendors,
• 18:58
  I mean, there's something to be said, too, about spreading the wealth.
• 19:00
  You know, these kind of festivals can happen in Copper Lakes.
• 19:03
  Thank you. Brandy. Yes.
• 19:04
  Absolutely. Right.
• 19:05
  This we're going to do we're not trying to be anti celebration.
• 19:08
  In fact the Italian fest it was right for the second year.
• 19:12
  Our mother Waldron Park was a huge success.
• 19:14
  So there's a good example
• 19:16
  in different areas in different parts of the island and stuff.
• 19:19
  And and that's such an important part.
• 19:22
  So we're not against that just has to be the right kind of setting.
• 19:25
  But Carla cow to close that down.
• 19:28
  No, it
• 19:28
  I was just back there last week and again over to an affair at the Royal was nice.
• 19:32
  I got into Waikiki relatively easy.
• 19:34
  But, you know, you got to be at a point where you never know.
• 19:38
  It could take you an hour just to get into.
• 19:39
  It was crazy. And, you know.
• 19:41
  You also signed Bill one into law relating to sidewalk dining.
• 19:44
  Yeah, that one just kind of makes good sense.
• 19:46
  Yeah.
• 19:47
  It's you know, I think we even said
• 19:49
  we're not trying to be too flippant that it was a no brainer, but honestly,
• 19:53
  that was something that came out of Covid,
• 19:55
  that that was one of the things that just said, you know, we have to make this law
• 19:59
  because it really allows the restaurants themselves
• 20:02
  to expand their own square footage.
• 20:04
  It's a really good dining experience for people.
• 20:06
  It's novel.
• 20:07
  We certainly have all the weather and even the restaurants now in downtown,
• 20:10
  but not just downtown, on Hotel Street, but elsewhere.
• 20:13
  Encourage outdoor dining. You know,
• 20:17
  when we think about
• 20:17
  having picnics and backyard barbecues, it's all about backyard dining.
• 20:21
  Why not even have the benefit of those people who want to sit outside,
• 20:25
  be able to do that? And it just adds so much.
• 20:27
  It makes the streets quaint. It makes them safer.
• 20:30
  We can patrol because when people are active, you know, it keeps people away.
• 20:34
  And it's just seemed like the right thing to do.
• 20:36
  And like I, I've been fortunate to have, you know, been places
• 20:40
  like New York and Paris and stuff and see how they capitalize on that.
• 20:43
  And why wouldn't we be doing that? Well,
• 20:47
  you were on hand to announce the return of fishing at home all year.
• 20:51
  Yeah, but I felt, Yes.
• 20:53
  Tell us before I tell you my athletic ability.
• 20:56
  I don't even know if you.
• 20:57
  I know fishing is athletic to some degree, but I was, like the last guy
• 21:00
  to catch a fish.
• 21:01
  I didn't understand that.
• 21:02
  They said, oh, yeah, just drop your pole in the water.
• 21:05
  And it's such a cool thing.
• 21:06
  And I know people have taken their kids there, and I heard so many great,
• 21:09
  wonderful stories about about fishing at whole, well hear that?
• 21:16
  And so I thought I was would be.
• 21:17
  So I go in there, I dropped my, my line in the water.
• 21:20
  And I swear to you, because it's so clear, you could see the fish that come up.
• 21:23
  They look at mine, they swim away, they bite somebody else's.
• 21:26
  I could, I couldn't.
• 21:26
  I was like, finally the guy had to come over to help me.
• 21:31
  I was. Like, God, it's on the water.
• 21:33
  Yeah, yeah, whatever. And he just. And then.
• 21:35
  Then we ended up catching a tilapia.
• 21:38
  Okay.
• 21:39
  But it was, But I was the last person, so.
• 21:42
  But it was okay. But it was fun.
• 21:43
  And I can see how kids would be thrilled to go down there and do pole fishing.
• 21:48
  And it's safe with the family, just so it's such a beautiful place.
• 21:52
  Every time I go in there, I think and I actually said that day
• 21:56
  at the press conference, if there's a heaven on earth,
• 21:58
  you got to show me some place better than this,
• 22:00
  because this is just that gorgeous.
• 22:01
  It's takes your breath away. It's just that beautiful.
• 22:05
  You're the mayor of the city and County of Honolulu.
• 22:07
  Yeah. Now, with a pretty cool claim.
• 22:10
  We have the oldest active baseball field in the world.
• 22:14
  In Cartwright Neighborhood Park. How cool is that?
• 22:16
  It's beyond cool.
• 22:17
  I don't have to come up with something else, because this is
• 22:20
  this is the ultimate in bragging rights.
• 22:21
  And especially for Hawaii.
• 22:23
  We've had incredible.
• 22:24
  I mean, look, I mean,
• 22:25
  we have that legacy because that's why we have the oldest baseball field.
• 22:28
  And Alexander Cartwright is the father of modern day baseball.
• 22:31
  And it dates back to the 1800s and all of that.
• 22:35
  But, since that time, the game has been played by generation
• 22:39
  upon generation from kids play little League to softball.
• 22:43
  Clearly leagues and people just loving the whole idea of of,
• 22:48
  you know, the game itself in general.
• 22:50
  And and we've also had great success at is one
• 22:54
  so many you know, national championships, world championships.
• 22:57
  Little league jam.
• 22:58
  Championships.
• 22:59
  Our own baseball team has had incredible,
• 23:02
  you know, great run, great great, great runs in baseball.
• 23:05
  So the sport is loved here.
• 23:08
  It's played here.
• 23:10
  It's across the islands and all kinds of,
• 23:14
  all across all of our districts and neighborhoods and in both fields.
• 23:18
  So, I think the fact that we can make that claim is incredible.
• 23:22
  And I'm really proud.
• 23:23
  And, you know, it all started with a conversation saying
• 23:27
  it doesn't seem logical that if Alexan, the country was the father of modern day
• 23:31
  baseball, that the oldest field would be in Massachusetts,
• 23:35
  that just and especially knowing that he didn't
• 23:37
  go back to Massachusetts to do that because once he got here,
• 23:40
  because he got so seasick coming over here, he never left.
• 23:43
  He didn't go want to go back on a boat?
• 23:44
  And this was before they had airplanes to fly you.
• 23:47
  Right. So,
• 23:50
  so after some discovery and really good due diligence
• 23:53
  and historic research and talking with, you know, guys
• 23:57
  who could authenticate it and historians and books
• 24:00
  that had been published and so on and so forth.
• 24:02
  In fact, some of them, you know,
• 24:05
  were here,
• 24:08
  coming in for this, this is really a big deal for us.
• 24:11
  This is really a big deal.
• 24:12
  I'm I'm excited to see how it takes off.
• 24:14
  I've joked about this, but I'm determined.
• 24:17
  Given our media background, I'm going to.
• 24:19
  This is a great story that should be told nationally.
• 24:22
  We've got to get on.
• 24:23
  I love to get on network news, but I really if I had a target,
• 24:26
  it would be it would be a great story for 60 minutes
• 24:29
  because I think America would go, they would love this story
• 24:32
  because baseball's played everywhere they would like.
• 24:34
  It is such an affection for Hawaii.
• 24:36
  We don't take that for granted.
• 24:38
  And then to think that the newest state
• 24:41
  is the site of the origins of what was America's pastime.
• 24:44
  The oldest game is like this.
• 24:47
  This is got all the marketing stuff you could ask for.
• 24:50
  I want to capitalize on it.
• 24:51
  So yeah, we're just beginning our campaign to let America know
• 24:55
  that this was the first place of baseball.
• 24:59
  Did you have a favorite baseball player growing up?
• 25:01
  Well, I grew up in Boston, really walking
• 25:03
  distance to Fenway Park during the 50s.
• 25:06
  And, you know, guys like Ted Williams and those guys were playing. And,
• 25:12
  you know, I don't know if we were as kids because you didn't
• 25:14
  have the kind of coverage and media, the kind of hero worship.
• 25:17
  But I certainly grew up in an era when World
• 25:19
  pick collecting baseball cards and and doing all of that stuff.
• 25:23
  And so while the Red Sox were not winning baseball championships,
• 25:27
  we had guys like that and even guys like Mickey Mantle and stuff,
• 25:31
  they just these legendary names.
• 25:33
  And then when Roger Maris broke Babe Ruth's record and yeah, you just
• 25:37
  it was just sort of that and, and I and I played baseball all the way
• 25:41
  through high school.
• 25:41
  And I actually played on not one but two state championship teams.
• 25:45
  We had really good teams.
• 25:47
  And so for me, the game I went on to play college football.
• 25:51
  Coach Street and I played college high school football, obviously. But,
• 25:56
  baseball
• 25:56
  was a sport that I really loved as a kid, grow as a catcher.
• 25:59
  But I, I loved playing it.
• 26:02
  We had a lot of success with it.
• 26:03
  So I love the game, I love it, I love playing the game.
• 26:06
  I'm not really a guy, even though it's nice to sit in the stands
• 26:10
  and watch a game so much, and I'll get to do that as much anymore.
• 26:14
  But I still really appreciate it, and I'll find myself watching highlights
• 26:19
  and all kinds of things because of especially today
• 26:21
  with the athletes that are playing the game.
• 26:23
  I mean, especially at the pro level.
• 26:25
  I mean, you you got some incredible stuff going on there, you know, and, and
• 26:31
  and like all the other sports, I mean, the people have gotten bigger, faster,
• 26:35
  got new bats now
• 26:36
  and baseball guys are hitting balls beyond anything anybody thought you'd see.
• 26:40
  And I just I just have an appreciation, love for the game.
• 26:43
  It's a great game.
• 26:44
  And I love the fact that, we get to brag about it.
• 26:48
  Maybe it's a generational thing, but you know how kids nowadays,
• 26:51
  they'll almost mimic their favorite player.
• 26:53
  So when they get up to the plate, they'll do the same routine
• 26:55
  or even, like, as a catcher.
• 26:56
  Yeah, they'll do certain things to signal,
• 26:58
  you know, just like their favorite player.
• 26:59
  You didn't have a guy like that that you tried to.
• 27:01
  No, I try I'm trying to think.
• 27:03
  I mean, I'm trying to think of when I was a kid,
• 27:04
  Yogi Berra, I think, or Yogi Berra was there.
• 27:07
  Yeah, yeah. What you were talking about.
• 27:09
  But. Yeah. No, us
• 27:12
  that's true.
• 27:13
  You know, I, you know, we didn't have the kind of media coverage,
• 27:16
  you know, you had, you know, as a kid grew from Boston.
• 27:18
  I think the Red Sox might have been on one game a week or something like that.
• 27:22
  But, you know, you had to go to Fenway, which we did when I was a kid in the 50s.
• 27:27
  We could go to Fenway $0.50 for a daytime doubleheader for kids under 12.
• 27:32
  And we used to go and hang out in there all day.
• 27:34
  And, I remember my mother giving us a dollar, and you could buy, a hotdog,
• 27:40
  a Coke for $0.35, you know, and,
• 27:44
  and so we would be in there and, it was like
• 27:47
  that summer days and, you know, it's that kind of magic of it now, I think.
• 27:51
  I don't know how much it cost to get into Fenway just to sit out on the
• 27:55
  outfield, but,
• 27:56
  you know, the
• 27:57
  parks weren't that full, and we had the Roman a place.
• 28:00
  So you going, you buy these tickets and we go sit somewhere else?
• 28:03
  It was just a the the days of the summer of my youth.
• 28:07
  I can remember that as a kid growing up.
• 28:10
  Great memories, great love of the game.
• 28:12
  Let's say Rick Blangiardi, you're about to go for your at bat.
• 28:16
  What's your walkout song?
• 28:18
  I don't that's it.
• 28:19
  We've had some call.
• 28:20
  So we have we have walk outside.
• 28:22
  But I will tell you, I had guys say, get ahead, get ahead.
• 28:26
  I mean that was.
• 28:27
  That was the.
• 28:28
  Year to hit the damn ball. Yeah.
• 28:30
  It was like that. Yeah.
• 28:31
  It was like that. One where this is the one Oahu podcast.
• 28:34
  So for one final thought.
• 28:35
  Well, you know, as I look back into this,
• 28:37
  is this kind of that look back which just reflecting on
• 28:40
  what we've just talked about, I feel really good about,
• 28:42
  you know, the town halls, the respect and response we gained from a public.
• 28:46
  And we got more to do and looked like things perfect.
• 28:48
  But you know, where I think people know now as we begin our second term,
• 28:53
  we're serious about listening to the community,
• 28:55
  the kind of bills we're putting into law, which is, you know, kind of, like I said,
• 28:59
  cleaning up Waikiki and not just, you know, and outdoor dining
• 29:04
  and some of these other the things that we're working on
• 29:07
  or for that matter, even the forefront of this whole thing about,
• 29:10
  cut right field, you know, all this is good, positive stuff.
• 29:13
  And so, as you said earlier, we started off this year
• 29:17
  in a really tough way in 2025 at the same time.
• 29:20
  And I recently talked about in our state of the city, we are shifting.
• 29:24
  And I said during my inaugural address
• 29:25
  in January 2nd that we're shifting from planning to execution,
• 29:29
  and we're starting to see things like Cooley Place and other things
• 29:32
  that we're doing really begin to take hold.
• 29:34
  And there's a whole lot more announcements that will be coming out and things
• 29:37
  that we're doing,
• 29:39
  in the ongoing construction of the rail.
• 29:41
  And we're going to be opening up in a few months all the way to Mayo Street.
• 29:44
  And how that's going to change the dynamic
• 29:46
  through the two gates past Pearl Harbor and in the airport and so on.
• 29:49
  I see this I feel the momentum of our city,
• 29:52
  and despite the confusion and the uncertainty right now
• 29:55
  because of what is happening out of Washington and,
• 29:58
  you know, all this sort of, you know, talk about tariffs
• 30:01
  and the financial impact, and concerns which are legitimate.
• 30:05
  Don't get me wrong.
• 30:06
  Operationally, right now, I feel really good about who we are.
• 30:09
  We will be on the team we have in place
• 30:12
  and the things we want to do for our great city.
• 30:14
  And where we live.
• 30:14
  So, I'm, I'm, I'm living each day with that sense of purpose
• 30:18
  and direction, and I feel very confident about good things to come.
• 30:21
  And, mayor, thank you for your time.
• 30:23
  You're welcome.
• 30:24
  And the full Holly, the town hall meeting is up now on Mayor
• 30:27
  Blangiardi YouTube channel.
• 30:28
  Our next meeting is on April 24th at Mililani High School.
• 30:32
  That's for those who live, work and play in Mililani, Wahiawa, Waipahu, or peel.
• 30:36
  Set for 7 p.m..
• 30:38
  So come back if you have a question for the mayor
• 30:39
  or any members of his cabinet, we hope to see you there.
• 30:42
  Mahalo for listening. And until next time, Aloha!