On the Campaign Trail

As Mayor, Mufi Hannemann worked hard to get Honolulu active. The first step Mufi took to combat obesity and facilitate healthy lifestyles was to team up with the YMCA in creating a guide to help middle and high school students engage in physical activity. This program, entitled Healthy Honolulu Healthy Together, began in 2008 when the YMCA received a $100,000 grant from the Honolulu County Sports Commission to work with 100 teens to develop and refine this program. Through this, they to divide the lessons and activities for the students into four groups: Staying Active; Healthy Eating; Nurturing a Healthy Mind, Body and Spirit; and Becoming Mentors. When the fully developed plan was put into action in February 2010, Mufi said, “Staying healthy and fit is a very important part of growing up, and we must work diligently and with purpose to educate and support our youth in this area. Being well and fit in spirit, mind and body help our youth excel academically and flourish as contributing members and future leaders of our communities.”

Continuing with this mantra of getting Hawaii fit, on July 19, 2010 Mufi launched “Let’s Move, Honolulu!” This new program is the local edition of First Lady Michelle Obama’s national awareness campaign to fight childhood obesity. “It’s a proven fact that regular exercise and physical activity can result in healthy bodies and healthy minds. Studies confirm that kids excel in school and improve their test scores when they are actively engaged in physical activity,” said Hannemann.

As Mayor, Mufi has shown his commitment to putting programs in place that will give coming generations the information necessary to entrench positive habits that could drastically reduce obesity in Hawaii. Mufi has repeatedly shown that he has the leadership and knowledge to implement programs where Hawaii needs it most.

As Mayor, Mufi Hannemann worked hard to provide Oahu’s residents with better transportation options. Not only did he champion the rail project—which is well on its way to being shovel-ready—but he also vigorously promoted improvements to our bus system. During his tenure, the City & County of Honolulu produced four new transit centers across the island, in Wahiawa, Mililani, Waianae, and on Middle Street.

These transit centers serve as hubs for Oahu’s extensive bus system, allowing residents of each of these communities to transfer from community circulator buses to express buses bound for other parts of the island. This hub-and-spoke system is intended to increase ridership by making it easier to ride the bus and make transfers in a timely way.

The Wahiawa transit center is two stories, and its architecture reflects the surrounding community’s history as the heart of pineapple production on the island. It also has restrooms and ample parking space for people who wish to park-and-ride The Mililani transit center was built into the Mililani Town Center parking lot, and features 10 bus bays, public restrooms, and a community conference room. The Middle Street transit center features electronic boards to provide passengers with information about bus departures and arrivals, a customer service center, two restrooms, and a security office. It will one day be integrated into the city’s rail line. Groundbreaking for the Alapai transit center occurred earlier this summer, and is currently under construction as part of the Alapai Express Bus Terminal.

In the future, these transit centers will play a key role in developing Oahu’s transportation infrastructure to handle a variety of transit options, including buses, trains, ferries, carpools, and bicycle paths.

On April 2, 2007, Mufi Hannemann declared the white tern (Gyris alba), known as Manu-o-Kū in Hawaiian, as the official bird of the City & County of Honolulu. While this achievement may seem minor when compared to many of his other accomplishments such as championing rail, repairing our sewers, or improving our city’s financial health, this action is reflective of Mufi Hannemann’s concern for our environment and his commitment to honoring the heritage of our islands.

Naming the Manu-o-Kū as Honolulu’s official bird was part of a public awareness campaign for Hannemann’s 21st Century Ahupua‘a Initiative, which covers seven major principles: honoring the host Hawaiian culture, developing alternative energy and biofuels, building efficient transportation systems, recycling solid waste, restoring productive agriculture, promoting “green” building, and protecting the forests and reefs.

As the “only remaining conspicuous native bird” to nest in Honolulu, the declaration had the effect of raising the threatened birds’ profile and making tree trimmers and developers less likely to cut down the trees which serve as their nesting sites. Hannemann’s declaration paved the way for the Hawaii Audobon Society and US Fish and Wildlife Service to work jointly to develop guidelines so that City & County maintenance crews could protect the birds if they were found in any of the City’s 250,000 municipal trees.

Listen to Amy Hanaiali‘i sing about the Manu-o-Kū here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8j8g_8p2YE

President Obama recently announced that the 2011 meeting of APEC would be held in Honolulu. APEC stands for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, a forum for facilitating economic growth, cooperation, trade and investment in the 21 nations of Asia-Pacific region, aiming at further enhancing economic growth and prosperity for the region and strengthening the Asia-Pacific community. As an inter-governmental group, the APEC opens dialogue and equal respect for the views of all participants.

In order to take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to host APEC, Mufi Hannemann committed the City and County of Honolulu to supporting this event in all ways possible. He visited the White House to demonstrate our city’s advantages as one of the safest big cities in the nation. After that, Mufi worked for months with the East-West Center and State to create an attractive proposal and to secure its acceptance.

The summit is estimated to bring more than 20,000 visitors to our island, as well as a needed economic boost, and tremendous prestige. Mufi Hannemann believes firmly that with a successful APEC conference in November 2011, Honolulu’s reputation as a beautiful place to do business will be further advanced throughout the Pacific Rim region.

As the mayor of Honolulu, Mufi Hannemann worked tirelessly to ensure that Hawaii would always be an attractive destination for individuals to come and spend money. In one such endeavor, Mufi worked collaboratively with Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Chairman Jay Rasulo and Walt Disney Imagineering Executive Vice President (How’s that for an amazing job title?) Wing Chao to bring a Disney Resort on the Leeward Coast at Ko Olina. Then Mayor, Mufi, recognized the unique opportunity in having a Disney resort come to Oahu and showed true determination and commitment in ensuring that this opportunity became reality. After months of collaborative planning and ‘imagining,’ Disney announced their decision to bring a resort to Hawaii.

This resort, recently named `Aulani, will cover 21 acres of oceanfront property to house 350 hotel rooms and 480 timeshare vacation villas. The resort will also include a spa, a conference center, a kids’ club and a wedding lawn with a view of the ocean.

But this resort will do far more than just attract more visitors to Oahu: Disney estimates that the `Aulani will create 1,000 new jobs. Bringing 1,000 new jobs to Oahu seemed especially attractive to Mufi when he said, “This unique project should help boost our economy and provide jobs that are badly needed, especially in the Leeward area.” With Hawaii’s unemployment rate sitting at 6.9%, Disney’s decision to invest here is surely welcome. On a whole, throughout this project Mufi and his team recognized what the potential impact of having a Disney brand resort on Oahu would bring not solely for visitors, but also for all of us here on Oahu.

Working together with Governor Linda Lingle, Senator Daniel Inouye, and the entire Hawaii congressional delegation at the time, the former Mayor spearheaded the fight to save one of the nation’s most historic and iconic military shipyards. A 112-acre facility 2,500 miles from the closest West Coast base, the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard plays a vital role to both the State’s economic vein and America’s national security. The Shipyard is one of the largest industrial employers of the state with 4,300 civilian employees earning an average income of $75,000 and 800 military employees. In addition, the Department of Defense, U.S. Navy, its frontline commanders, and the Chamber of Commerce Hawaii all recognize the critical role the Naval Shipyard plays in the defense and security of the nation. It offers a fully equipped, efficient, and secure military base that supplies complete repair and maintenance services to all classes of ships, including aircraft carriers in the heart of the Pacific.

Seeing the impending problems to the people of Hawaii and the nation, Mufi Hannemann flew to Washington D.C. to lobby the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission (BRAC) to save Pearl Harbor. He was heard, and the BRAC voted to keep the Shipyard off the list of endangered military bases. The Enterprise Honolulu estimated that this victory saved the state roughly an excess of $1.3 billion annually.

Every driver on Oahu is familiar with swerving and slowing down to avoid foot deep potholes throughout the islands. When you unavoidably cross a hole or metal plate in Honolulu, all you can do is wince and pray your tires will remain whole another day. In the early 2000s, the City and County avoided its responsibility to our tires and the damage to our roads accumulated. Upon entering the Mayor’s office, Mufi Hannemann recommitted the City and County of Honolulu to improving the roads by declaring “a war on potholes”. In the last 5 years, Mufi’s administration repaved or rehabilitated 1,000 lane miles of road and filled 355,000 potholes. Also Mufi initiated development of a new method of preventing potholes called “slurry seal”. Potholes form when rain erodes cracks in the road. The slurry seal is an asphalt and sand mixture meant to fill those cracks which will lead to those tire-shredders. Mufi Hannemann recognizes the importance of healthy roads. Because without functioning infrastructure, citizens continually pay for car repairs and tourists question paradise.

In 2006, Mayor Mufi Hannemann traveled to the Big Island to hand then-Hawaii County Mayor Harry Kim the keys to several donated City buses.  In a meeting with Mayor Kim after the event, the two discussed collaborating on county issues; something they felt had been missing in intergovernmental relations.

From this meeting Mayor Hannemann pushed to establish the Hawaii Council of Mayors, a collaborative roundtable representing the major counties across the islands—Kauai County, Maui County, Hawaii County, and the City and County of Honolulu.  The mayors discussed wide-ranging concerns and came up with legislative proposals that they could all support at the Legislature and finally formalized a cohesive legislative package to be presented united as the Hawaii Council of Mayors.  The mayors then met with House and Senate leaders in January 2008, leading the legislators to remark that it was the first time in memory that all the mayors had come together to offer a package of bills.

The four mayors also have been active on matters outside the legislative front.  They were involved with the recent round of collective bargaining negotiations with the United Public Workers and HGEA.  They joined the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau on tourism promotions in mainland and overseas markets and lobbied in Washington, D.C., for federal support and initiatives being backed by the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

Recognizing that Hawaii is more than just Honolulu, Mayor Hannemann utilized his unique ability to foster collaboration across the islands to strengthen the bonds between the islands and to push for a better Hawaii.  The Hawaii Council of Mayors marked a major milestone in progress for Hawaii as it is the first time Mayors across Hawaii have been able to work closely and together upon issues of mutual interest.

“While each mayor pursues specific interests, the Hawaii Council of Mayors has given focus to our mutual interests.  Our ‘all for one, and one for all’ approach, whether it’s legislation, tourism marketing, or collective bargaining, has enabled us to speak as one clear and strong voice.  Our collaboration is unprecedented in island politics, demonstrating that geography is not a barrier to communication, effective working relationships, and the pursuit of goals that benefit all the people of Hawaii,” said Mayor Hannemann.

The cohesion of the Hawaii Council of Mayors was tested earlier this year when the State introduced House bill 2598, also known as the Transient Accommodation Tax Bill.  The Transient Accommodation Tax bill would have taken millions of dollars in hotel room tax money from the counties which would have resulted in the cutting of county services and the raising of property taxes.  However, through the hard efforts of Mayor Hannemann and his fellow mayors, lawmakers voted against the passing of House bill 2598.  The Hawaii Council of Mayors demonstrated that their collaboration was not just a show, but when faced with real issues the Mayors were able to effectively work together to achieve key goals and agendas.

The time spent with the Hawaii Council of Mayors has granted Mayor Hannemann a close working relationship with the neighbor islands and their mayors—an important trait that would seamlessly translate if elected to governor.  Additionally, as the former Mayor of the City and County of Honolulu and a member of the Hawaii Council of Mayors, Mayor Hannemann has an in depth understanding of the pressing needs and concerns of the entire State of Hawaii and not just the island of Oahu.

In June of 2008, former Mayor Hannemann and the City and County of Honolulu were nationally recognized for the community initiative, “Honolulu Chinatown Revitalization Project.”  The Chinatown Project was awarded the “Best Practice in City Livability” from the U.S. Conference of Mayors, an annual award honoring mayors and their cities for developing programs that enhance the quality of life in urban areas.

Mayor Hannemann took a keen interest in Chinatown’s revitalization during his tenure as a member of the City Council, and has continued his efforts to support the Chinatown community in his capacity as Mayor.  Under Hannemann’s leadership, the Council in 1997 designated criteria for Art Enterprise Zones.  Incentives provided by this designation, and the assistance of the Hawaii Arts Alliance, led to the formation of the pioneering ARTS at Marks Garage (ARTS), which quickly became a magnet that attracted other arts businesses, resulting in Chinatown’s becoming a true Arts Enterprise Zone.

Chinatown today has 39 art galleries, more than 50 restaurants, chic specialty shops, and trendy clubs and lounges.  The arts sector has attracted interest among art buyers locally and even internationally and stimulated business for area businesses.

In partnership with the City, ARTS launched the “First Fridays Gallery Walk” that now has the enthusiastic participation of the area’s merchants and gallery owners and draws 5,000 to 10,000 people to Chinatown in a single night each month. Mayor Hannemann then fortified Chinatown’s resurgence by convening the first-ever Chinatown Economic Summit in June 2006, resulting in new City-community partnerships focusing on improving Chinatown’s physical environment, enhancing its quality of life, and boosting economic activities.

In addition to his continued interest in enhancing public safety and services in Chinatown, initiatives that have helped with the neighborhood’s revitalization included raising $40,000 for community revitalization grants, a unified “Month in Chinatown” celebration, free Wi-Fi internet throughout Chinatown, securing $300,000 for heritage tourism infrastructure to properly present Chinatown’s heritage and culture to visitors, and the Kukui Children’s Center—a $3.5-million Community Development Block Grant from the City to develop a center for families and abused children which will serve as a model center for Hawaii

An often overlooked yet vital duty of the Mayor of Honolulu is to not only provide services for the people of the city but to also ensure that all components of the city government are operating effectively and efficiently—which ultimately impacts the level of service provided for the people of Honolulu.  Upon taking office, former Mayor Hannemann prioritized the application of core business strategies learned from his time as CEO for C. Brewer, one of the largest agricultural businesses in Hawaii, to the city government to reduce financial waste and operational inefficiencies.  A better run government allows for better services accompanied by financial soundness.

Understanding the growing importance of modernizing the aging systems within the city government, former Mayor Mufi Hannemann implemented a new enterprise-wide software solutions based on Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for use throughout all departments.

“These new software applications will improve public safety and allow city projects to be handled more efficiently, and with more accountability,” Hannemann said.

The introduced software applications will primarily enable city employees to view high resolution satellite images of locations across the island serving a multitude of functions for many departments within the City and County of Honolulu.  This function will enable departments to provide services more efficiently to both increase public safety and to be more effective in daily operations.

The new GIS system upgrades to the city’s wireless 911 emergency response system will now enable first responders to view high resolution, variable perspective imagery to help pinpoint the location of the mobile 911 caller.  This will increase public safety for Honolulu residents by providing first responders additional situational awareness when responding to emergencies—further enhancing the capacity of Honolulu’s nationally accredited fire and police departments.  During the Hannemann Administration, Honolulu has been ranked consistently by the Federal Bureau of Investigation as one of America’s safest cities.

The GIS system will also be adopted by the Department of Facilities Maintenance to streamline and facilitate work management for street resurfacing and sidewalk maintenance. The department will gain the ability to check on the status of a sidewalk repair project simply by calling up the images on the computer.  The system is expected to be expanded to deal with more than 50 other public works functions, such as graffiti removal, serviced by the department.

The Geographic Information Systems is representative of former Mayor Hannemann’s philosophy towards running an organization and is one of many initiatives enacted during his time as Mayor to further improve the City and County of Honolulu and the well being of the people of Honolulu.