3 new members sworn in at year’s first City Council meeting

A melodic chant, the national anthem and “Hawaii Pono‘i” all helped to usher in the City Council’s first meeting of 2023, as three first-time Council members and a returning Council chair were formally sworn in to office at Honolulu Hale on Tuesday afternoon.

With about 100 people in attendance including Gov. Josh Green, Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke and Mayor Rick Blangiardi among other city, state, union and local business leaders, Hawaii Supreme Court Chief Justice Mark Recktenwald administered the oath of office to Matt Weyer, District 2, an area that covers Royal Kunia, Wahiawa, along the North Shore to Kahaluu; Tyler Dos Santos-Tam, District 6, downtown through Nuuanu and Kalihi Valley; Val Aquino Okimoto, District 8, which encompasses Pearl City through Mililani town and Mililani mauka; and Tommy Waters, who was reelected in the November general election to continue to serve District 4, covering Waikiki through Kaimuki to Hawaii Kai.

In separate unanimous votes, Waters retained his top seat as chair of the nine-member panel, Council member Esther Kia­‘aina held on to the Council’s vice chair post, and Council member Radiant Cordero was selected as the panel’s new floor leader. Kia‘aina represents District 3, which includes Kaneohe, Kailua and Waimanalo; and Cordero, District 7, which spans Kalihi, Salt Lake and Sand Island areas.

In the coming year the Council is expected to tackle ongoing, critical items facing the city like affordable housing, homelessness, crime, the troubled rail project and transportation, the effects of climate change on the island’s shorelines and ensuring protection of the natural environment overall as the city continues to grapple with siting a new solid-waste landfill and calls for the closure of the Navy’s Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility, among other issues.

At the meeting, members of the Royal Hawaiian Band performed “The Star-Spangled Banner,” and kumu hula Mehana­okala Hind offered a rousing oli, or chant, which called for the protection of Oahu’s natural water supply. Hind asked all those gathered in the chamber to join her in the chant as well and to repeat two words: e aloha‘e.

“Don’t worry, don’t make nervous, don’t walk out, it will be OK,” Hind quipped to the amused crowd. “All I ask is that sound come out of your mouth. … You cannot move on without aloha.” She added that protecting water was of utmost importance to those in the room and living around the island. “I want us all to support and rejoice around water.”

Soon after, Tyler Iokepa Gomes, deputy to the chair of the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, delivered a message of aloha focusing on transitions as well as past challenges the city faced a century ago — maintaining that many of those problems are similar to those the community faces today.

“I think in a time of transition … one of the core values that has been carried on from a hundred years ago till now, passed down from our kupuna and predecessors, is mahalo i ka mea loa‘a — be grateful for all you have, and take that moment and that space and that time to celebrate.”

Others from the public also spoke at the meeting. For her part, Choon James, a real estate broker and former Honolulu mayoral candidate, criticized a draft of Resolution 22-295, which specifies various conditions for submitting public testimony, among other matters.

“The public testimony should be open throughout the entire life” of the bill or resolution, Choon said in written testimony. “There have been many times when I’ve been able to read and want to submit thoughts but the window of opportunity to submit written testimony is closed. Diversity of thoughts and additional information” should be encouraged in decision-­making pertaining to any issue, she said.

Also during the meeting, Waters thanked those in attendance, namely state and local leaders for their service to the community, and gave his own message about the Council’s responsibility to act toward the public’s benefit on an island that is 600 square miles in size and has a population of 1.1 million.

“I’m stoked. This is truly a wonderful day,” Waters said, adding that cooperation between the state and city is key to addressing critical community concerns. “It’s so important to be able to work together, because if we work together there is nothing we can’t accomplish. … The people elected us to get things done. That’s what we intend to do here on the City Council: work hard to get things done.”

The Council’s next meeting is scheduled for Jan. 25.