State of the City Address

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Aloha. Honolulu is known worldwide for its great natural beauty. But our true beauty really lies within our people - and not only in the positive physical attribues that naturally come forth when the best of all cultures come together in a healthy environment. Honolulu's beauty comes from inside each and every one of us - from that sense of belonging, that sense of caring and sharing, that feeling which is truly Aloha, but it's really much more.

Last September, Honolulu awoke to news of an attack on an American city thousands of miles away. Reactions ranged from shock and grief to concern for the security of our nation, our city, and the safety of our loved ones.

The sorrow we experienced has made us stronger, and wiser, or as the sign put up by students in front of McKinley High School declares, "We may be "broken in heart, but not in spirit."

Today the threat of terrorism still remains, but pain and uncertainty have given way to hope and resolve. Like our country, our community has come away from the tragedy with a clear sense of the things that are most meaningful in our lives: love of family, unity of purpose, and the importance of our strongly held values.

September 11th reminds us of how we pulled together in the aftermath of the attack on Pearl Harbor more than sixty years ago. In both instances we learned that when times get tough, otherwise ordinary citizens are capable of extraordinary things.

We come away from this tragedy with a new definition of what it means to be a hero. Our new heroes are friends and neighbors who live down the street, ordinary working people who come together each day in support of common goals. They are hard-working people who maintain city facilities, collect refuse and drive buses.

They are police, firefighters and emergency response professionals who place themselves in the path of danger for us. Many of them are with us today, please stand and be recognized.

The past four months have seen strangers rallying to support one another in acts of uncommon altruism. Families with little of their own have reached out to help those with even less. And business and community leaders have gone out of their way to help members of our island ohana through this difficult time. These are the heroes of our great community.

Today my report on the State of the City is offered with a special sense of pride in our people. Their actions have inspired us, like my good friend Rochan Pinho, an 11-year-old who is battling inoperable brain and spinal cancer, who made and sold thousands of patriotic buttons, and took his proceeds, $11,000, to New York City for the victims of September 11th.

Each day heroes like them help make our city a little better, a little healthier, and a little safer than it was before. And they personify the values at the heart of our aloha spirit.

I'm proud of this city and I'm proud of her people. And I'm excited about the role I believe Honolulu is positioned to play as a global leader in the 21st Century.

Make no mistake - today we are a world at risk - not just from terrorist bombs, but from regional and global environmental degradation as well. With rapid urbanization occurring worldwide and the corresponding depletion of natural resources and consumption of fossil fuels, water and air resources are deteriorating on a global scale.

Our Asia-Pacific region alone has 3.5 billion people, a number that will explode to 5 billion in the next 25 years. And half of them will live in cities.

It is hard to comprehend what this means in terms of energy use, waste generation and depletion of natural resources. Already, the global cost of addressing the public health issues that stem from environmental degradation is staggering. The inevitable toll of global warming on our environment, as well as our economy, will give rise to new problems impossible to ignore.

Most of these challenges are urban challenges. How we plan and run our cities, the energy we use, the transportation systems we develop, even the land-use decisions we make - these urban issues will determine the future viability of our world.

We must begin living under a new paradigm. We must shift from a consumption/ pollution-based model, to a sustainable model, where our resources and environment are not continually depleted and despoiled, but protected and sustained.

As concerned citizens we don't have to stand passively by and watch events unfold. There is much that we can do to overcome these challenges to the health and stability of our world.

I believe Honolulu can be the model of a sustainable city for America, for the Asia-Pacific region, for the rest of the world.

Several years ago I said in the State of the City address that we should take control of our destiny and chart a path for our City's future. Over the last year, using the community vision plans as building blocks, we've created a vision for our entire island, a blueprint for our City in the decades to come.

This morning I would like to share with you that blueprint for a sustainable future that our citizens have forged, update you on our progress toward that vision, and lay out where I believe we need to go in the years ahead.

The blueprint for our island's future has five key components: sustainable land-use planning, a commitment to protect our environment and natural resources, the rebuilding of our neighborhoods, the development of an integrated transportation system, and the creation of a stronger, more diversified sustainable economy.

Sustainable Land-Use Planning

The key to any sustainable city is good land-use planning. To minimize infrastructure costs and the pollution and congestion from vehicles, our plan calls for curtailing urban sprawl and directing future growth to Kapolei.

It calls for preserving open space and agricultural land, and recapturing our coastal areas. In short, our blueprint keeps the country, country.

From Waimanalo to Waianae, and Laie to Hawaii Kai, our citizens have developed sustainable community plans that set forth these goals for their communities. The plans define urban growth boundaries, establish the physical character of our neighborhoods, and set limits on building heights to protect public view plains. They also provide urban design guidelines that embrace the unique character of our neighborhoods and ensure their sense of place.

We've seen the mistakes made by other cities that have lost their natural resources and cultural heritage. We will not allow that to happen on our island.

To avoid that fate, the City is moving to preserve valuable open space. Along the windward side, we will acquire 218 acres of Heeia Kea, and almost 900 acres surrounding Mount Olomana. And, on the North Shore we will consummate the purchase of the 1,875-acre Waimea Valley Park. These unique and culturally significant lands will be forever protected and held in trust for park use by the people of Hawaii.

We also have a finite amount of shoreline on this island. We've got to protect it and make it available to our people.

With the help of the windward community, we'll acquire additional shoreline properties at Waiahole-Waikane, and open them up to provide dramatic panoramic vistas of the windward coast. And, along the leeward shore, the two-mile stretch of the Ulehawa shoreline will be further improved and beautified.

To keep our island green and to make us more sustainable, we must also have a viable agricultural industry. Over the last 30 years, more than 70,000 acres of active farmland on this island have been lost, much of it to urbanization. Once urbanized, these prime agricultural lands are lost forever.

Concentrated land ownership and speculative land pricing have made it increasingly difficult for farmers to acquire affordable agricultural land. Therefore, later today I will be releasing for community review, a bill that will lock 87,000 acres of land into agricultural use in perpetuity.

Protecting Our Environment

Sustainable cities of the future must be able to recycle their resources instead of wasting them.

Honolulu has made great strides in recycling. Our H-Power plant turns garbage into electricity, and each year we recycle 30 percent of our solid waste, turning green waste into compost, glass into roadways, and cans into reusable metals.

But, in order to become a truly sustainable city, we have to be on the cutting edge of recycling technology and reduce the amount of waste we put in the landfill.

Therefore, I am proud to announce today the City's bold technological initiatives to dramatically increase our recycling efforts and reduce the amount of waste we send to the landfill by 80 percent.

These are the actions the City will take: First, we will increase the capacity of H-Power by 50 percent. That way solid waste that used to go to the landfill will be recycled or used to generate electricity.

Second, we'll build a municipal solid waste separation facility at the H-Power site. Today, thousands of tons of refuse are sent to the landfill instead of to H-Power because unrecyclable and incombustible materials are mixed in with the loads.

With this new facility, we'll be able to accept this refuse at H-Power and process out the combustible and recyclable materials, dramatically reducing our landfill needs.

Third, the City will acquire seven additional acres of industrial land at the H-Power plant for the creation of a new recycling technology park. And we'll enter into public-private partnerships to develop cutting-edge alternatives for waste disposal.

The first project will be to develop the potential of plasma arc technology, which will allow us to process up to 50 tons of refuse each day. The plasma arc system will create hydrogen, the non-polluting fuel of the future, that will power vehicles and reduce our dependence on fossil fuels.

At the recycling park, we'll also work with the private sector to develop a plant to make building materials from municipal waste. Automobile components, treated lumber, and other materials that used to clog our landfill will be recycled and made into useable building materials.

Sewage sludge from the wastewater treatment plant at Sand Island is also currently being dumped at the landfill. This will be stopped. I am happy to report that we have now awarded a contract to the private sector to build a facility to transform this sludge into a valuable soil amendment that will be sold.

Once the facility is fully operational in 2004, sludge from the Sand Island plant will no longer be taken to the Waimanalo Gulch landfill. Much of the waste that is taken to the landfill today is ash from the H-Power plant. It has been safely demonstrated throughout North America, that this ash can be effectively recycled into asphalt. The City will move to acquire the necessary permits and approvals to begin recycling ash from H-Power for our highway construction projects.

Once these initiatives are all in place, Honolulu will be a world leader in recycling and waste reduction.

Another sustainability initiative is underway at the Kailua Wastewater Treatment Plant. Co-generation, will take the methane gas, a by-product of the treatment process, and create enough electricity to make the plant self-sufficient. That will save us $24,000 each month.

Next, we'll transfer the technology to Honouliuli, a plant more than twice Kailua's size.

Co-generation will also be used at City Hall, one of the many initiatives championed by Councilman Steve Holmes. It will power the new energy-efficient cooling system at Honolulu Hale, and save $125,000 in energy savings a year.

We'll soon be using bio-diesel, reprocessed cooking oil, to power City cars.

And we are installing light emitting diodes in our traffic signals, which will slash their energy consumption by 90 percent.

By the way, the chandeliers above us, that have been here since 1928, were outfitted last Friday with new low-wattage bulbs that use 83 percent less electricity.

Restoring Neighborhoods

Restoring neighborhoods and revitalizing them economically is important to our quality of life, and has emerged from the vision process as a critical component of our blueprint of sustainability for the future.

Healthy neighborhoods need good land-use planning and efficient transportation systems. They need to be clean and safe and have parks and green spaces for families to grow. They need to have their own identity.

All over the island, neighborhoods are being revitalized, as community vision projects become reality.

Kaimuki is being transformed with wider sidewalks and trees to create a pedestrian friendly environment for storefront businesses.

Kailua is attracting more business by regaining its small town feel with landscaped medians with canopy trees.

In Pearl City, a new youth center is creating a home for healthy after-school activities featuring a computer lab and cyber center for teens.

In Waipahu and Kalihi and soon in Ewa, the Weed and Seed program, a cooperative effort between our law enforcement agencies and the federal government is cleaning out drug dealers and planting the seeds of community rebirth.

And skateboard parks are being built in communities around the island to provide our children with safe and appropriate recreational opportunities.

In the coming year even more neighborhood revitalization will occur.

In Aiea, the old Sugar Mill will become the site of a new town center with places for people of al ages to gather. Hawaii Kai will benefit from a major new recreational complex at Koko Head District Park, and Sunset Beach will develop a community center to serve as a gathering place for that neighborhood.

On the slopes of Punchbowl, portions of Dole Community Park will become a training site for Hawaii's Special Olympians, thanks to the efforts of Council Chair Jon Yoshimura and Easter Seals of Hawaii.

At Waialua, the historic bandstand will be re-established to serve as a focal point for outdoor entertainment and large community gatherings, and we'll begin planning to transform Kapalama Canal from an ugly drainage basin to an aesthetic and recreational resource.

In every community on the island, citizens are stepping forward to help transform their neighborhoods into attractive and prosperous, sustainable communities.

Sustainable Transportation System

The livability and environmental quality of any great city is largely determined by its transportation system.

Less than four years ago we set out to design a transportation system that would bring us into the next century. We held hundreds of meetings around the island as part of the Trans 2K vision outreach program. People responded with their ideas for a sustainable approach to island-wide mobility. We now see those ideas taking shape.

The core of our island-wide transportation plan features a regional bus rapid-transit system coupled with state-of-the-art electric transit that will run from Kalihi to the University of Hawaii and Waikiki.

This BRT-Electric system will use non-polluting vehicles that carry more people and make less noise. Our goal of having public transit carry 20 percent of commuter trips on Oahu is well within reach and we can do that without raising taxes.

This high-capacity, non-polluting transportation network is a smart investment in our future - one that will put us on the path to sustainability.

Much of the credit for our progress on this important project goes to the Council and to our congressional delegation. I would like to acknowledge Senator Inouye and Congressman Abercrombie for their leadership and support.

In transportation, we've done the studies. We've done the planning, now is the time to move forward. Therefore, in the coming budget, I'll provide for the electric transit system's first phase of construction from Iwilei to Waikiki. Our objective is to have the first section operational in three years or less.

We simply can't afford to delay the development of this transit system: Traffic problems on this island must be dealt with and they must be dealt with now.

Our ultimate goal for our island must be a transportation system that's not dependent on fossil fuels, but one that uses renewable energy resources such as solar, electric and fuel-cell technology. To move us in that direction, we'll begin immediately to bring a fuel-cell bus to Honolulu for testing on our city streets.

We're proud of the City's public transit system, and this year the best bus system in America celebrates its 100th year of service. But as good as our system has been, we know it can be even better.

We're now in the third year of converting our routes to a hub and spoke system. Already we've increased ridership and the number of circulator routes in Leeward Oahu to ten, and when Central Oahu is implemented next year, seven more circulator routes can be started.

Another of our goals is to transform Honolulu into a bicycle friendly city. Since completion of the Bike Master Plan, four segments of the lei of parks bike system have been built and two others are under construction.

More than 250 bicycle stands have been installed on our city streets, and each of our 525 city buses now has bicycle racks. In the years ahead, we're planning new bikeways for Ala Wai and Young Street, and the first of several bike staging areas will be constructed this year in Waialae-Kahala.

People wanted to slow down traffic in residential neighborhoods. In response, the City's Traffic Calming program was started in 1998. Four years later, we have plans in place for more than 40 neighborhoods throughout the island. These calming techniques will slow traffic down and make our streets safer for pedestrians and cyclists.

Building a Sustainable Economy

For our city to be truly sustainable, we must also have an economy that is sustainable.

Our tourism industry is vital to our prosperity, but as we grow the industry, we need to insure that the natural environment visitors come to see, and the Hawaiian culture they come to experience are not diminished in the process.

In fact, we need to ensure that the development of our visitor industry actually enhances our environment and preserves our culture. We've made great headway in that regard with our revitalization of Waikiki. Working together with the Waikiki Improvement Association, the neighborhood board, the vision group and the Hawaiian community, we are returning the "Hawaiian sense of place" to this historic part of our island.

The restoration of Kuhio Beach, the Bandstand, the Natatorium and the development of the Historic Trail, have all been done with the sustainability of our visitor industry in mind.

From the elegant bronze statues of the ali'i that now grace the parks, to the sacred memorial for the iwi kupuna, we have made a commitment to the perpetual preservation of the Hawaiian culture.

Each evening we showcase Hawaiian music and dance at the hula mound under the historic banyan tree. And with programs such as Brunch on the Beach and Sunset on the Beach, tens of thousands of local families are coming back to Waikiki to share cultural events with visitors from around the world.

In the coming year, cultural programs in Waikiki will be expanded, as will the Rediscover Oahu program that brings visitors and residents into communities around the island to support local businesses.

In order to help our small businesses, we need more activities in these outlying communities that both our visitors and local families can enjoy. Activities that also preserve our history, culture and environment.

In the coming budget, we will propose a number of new initiatives in this vein, many of which have emerged from the vision process. The first is the expansion and development of our botanical gardens, including improvements to Koko Head, Foster and Wahiawa botanical gardens, and the addition of Waimea Valley Gardens to our lei of green.

These gardens will promote environmental stewardship and serve as gathering places for the study and enjoyment of unique plants and flowers. Our goal is for people to come from around the world to see the spectacular gardens of Oahu.

To draw economic activity to Kapolei and provide cultural activities for our families that live there, we will begin planning for a Leeward Amphitheatre.

To attract visitors to the North Shore, design work will commence for a World Surfing Museum in Haleiwa.

To showcase our agricultural heritage and to recapture our scenic shoreline, the first phase of reconstruction of the historic OR&L railroad, from Aiea to the Waianae Coast, will get underway.

The development of sports tourism continues to be a critical component of our sustainable economic plan.

The Waipio Soccer Complex, home field of the UH Wahine Soccer Team, and Central Oahu Park sports facilities have already attracted numerous sporting events to our City.

In July we are the proud host of the 2002 AYSO National Championships. It is our goal and desire to host the qualifying matches for the next World Cup Soccer Tournament.

The completion of the championship tennis center this year at Central O'ahu Park, will allow us to attract national and international tennis tournaments such as the Davis Cup to our city.

Planning and design of our aquatics center is already underway, and when completed, it will attract students and competitors from around the globe to train for international swimming and diving events.

Also planned for completion this year, are two additional baseball fields and a softball quadraplex at the park.

While tourism will always be an important component of our economy, I believe our true destiny is to be a center for knowledge-based industries in the Asia-Pacific region.

Our biennial Asia-Pacific Environmental Summit has helped establish Honolulu as a world leader in such fields as urban planning, architecture, engineering and environmental science. This year we'll open the Asia Pacific Urban Technology Institute in Kapolei,

which will bring leaders from Asia to our city for technology training, and jobs to our economy.

To further establish ourselves as "America's Gateway to Asia," we are in active discussions with the Chambers of Commerce of the five South American Cone Countries - Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Paraguay - to establish Hawaii as a center from which South America can open markets in the Asia-Pacific Region.

With us today is Professor Tavares, representative of the Chamber of Commerce of Brazil. Professor, we look forward to working with you on this effort.

Keeping taxes low is also part of our economic revitalization strategy. In the coming year, real property tax payments on Oahu will be $46 million lower than they were in 1994.

In the weeks ahead, I will again be urging the City Council to extend our seven-year real property tax holiday for all new construction, including residential.

And for the second year in a row, I will be advocating lowering the apartment/condominium rate as part of our three-year plan to bring it down to the low residential level.

Despite the fact that in the coming year collective bargaining pay raises will increase by $24 million, in the coming budget, I will ask for no increases in real property tax rates in any category.

In Conclusion

The views and values of Hawaii's people are embodied in the plans I've outlined today - values at the soul of our progress as a city: rooted in history, respectful of ancient traditions and buoyantly optimistic of Honolulu's place in the new century.

I share this vision for the future of our island, and I'm excited by what lies ahead for all of us. Like you, I'm especially encouraged that we are ready to showcase Honolulu as an international model of sustainability.

Imagine what this means for Oahu and its people. In a few short years, virtually all of the refuse and waste generated on our island will be put to practical use through recycling. Our homes will be far more energy efficient than they are today, and we'll be generating much of the electrical power we need with renewable energy sources such as solar, geothermal, and state-of-the-art ocean-wave and current technologies.

Perhaps as soon as a decade from now, our vehicles will be powered by fuel-cell and hydrogen technologies that will be energy efficient and create no pollution. As a global leader in the development of alternate energies, we'll be sharing our knowledge with Pacific Rim nations and the people of the world.

The University of Hawaii and other world-class institutions we create will be beacons of learning and research, attracting the finest minds in marine science, bio-technology and urban ecosystems.

Think of what this means for the island child born in the 21st Century. Little Lauren Arakaki, for example, came into the world not quite two years ago. She will be raised in a safe and clean neighborhood surrounded by beautifully landscaped parks and open spaces. She'll have access to an integrated transportation network of buses, bike lanes and noiseless transit systems.

She and her friends will have all the benefits of our nurturing, multi-ethnic, multi-lingual community. And the economy they inherit will provide secure and satisfying jobs when they're ready to raise families of their own. Because after all, that is what this is all about - the children, the future, the collective Vision we have developed for Oahu that will make us "all that we can be".

Friends, you and I and little Lauren live in the finest city in the world. A city where national and international athletic events will soon be held on a regular basis, diplomats and scholars from throughout the region will gather to discuss the major issues of our time, and clean and diversified knowledge-based industries will provide the economic stimulus to supplement our visitor industry.

This is our shared vision for the future of Honolulu, and I'm proud to have had the opportunity to work with you to start making this shared vision a reality.

Our city is a place where all things are possible, where the only obstacles keeping us from our goals are imaginary roadblocks of complacency and mediocrity.

We can't afford to limit our horizons. Our destiny demands that we embrace new ideas, big dreams and high aspirations. Today, I call upon you to set aside fear of failure and uncertainty and imagine the greatness of our City's future.

I say to you, that if the people of Honolulu dare not dream bold dreams, then we will fail not only ourselves but our children.

Together, let us embrace the infinite possibilities that will help define our future.

We stand on the frontier of unprecedented opportunity for Oahu and her people, sure of purpose and mindful of the legacy of place and prosperity that is our children's birthright. With great freedoms come greater responsibilities, with great blessings come greater opportunities.

And it is incumbent upon our generation -- you and me -- to make sure that we make the most of these opportunities, so that we can reach our destiny and leave to our children, and our children's children, a better place.

If we summon the will to act on their behalf with a confidence befitting the people of a great city, we will have distinguished ourselves as responsible stewards of this island that we love. Aloha.

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City & County of Honolulu