Blangiardi announces reelection bid for Honolulu mayor

Feb. 13—Four years to the day from his announcement that he would run for his first political office, Mayor Rick Blangiardi announced Monday that he'll seek reelection.

Four years to the day from his announcement that he would run for his first political office, Mayor Rick Blangiardi announced Monday that he'll seek reelection.

The last time he declared his desire to preside as the city's top elective officer, his supporters gathered at the Old Stadium Park in 2020. This time around, Blangiardi—a former University of Hawaii football player, former UH assistant football coach and retired television executive—declared his candidacy inside his new campaign headquarters in a ground-floor suite at Davies Pacific Center in the downtown business district.

"Today, Feb. 12, marks four years to the day that I publicly announced my candidacy for mayor, " Blangiardi, 77, told those in attendance, including members of the media, community leaders and city staffers. With wife Karen Chang by his side, he also was joined by Honolulu Managing Director Mike Formby inside the colorful room replete with a wall mural depicting aspects of Hawaii's history. Among the campaign signs, there was one with an apparent election-year slogan : "Working for You."

"Four years ago none of us knew we were just a few weeks away from COVID, " said Blangiardi, "and the tremendous adverse impacts that that dreaded virus would bring to us."

Despite the inability to do face-to-face campaigning during the early days of the pandemic, Blangiardi would win the 2020 mayoral election against his prime challenger and fellow first-time candidate, Keith Amemiya. The campaign fight included sizable amounts of money—including a notable, nearly $1 million donation from influential super political action committee Be Change Now in an independent effort to elect Blangiardi.

He was sworn into office Jan. 2, 2021.

But Blangiardi noted that soon after taking office he was faced with "an overwhelming sense of responsibility unlike anything I had ever experienced before, " in governing more than 1 million residents.

"Today, four years later, after more than 37 months in office, I am filled with a sense of excitement and anticipation that I've also never known before, " he said.

Meantime, as of Monday, five other contenders to the office of mayor have appeared.

According to the state Office of Elections, the mayoral challengers so far are David Asing, Karl Dicks, Reginald Nakamoto, Kevin Pila and Alexander Schoo ­lov. The deadline to file as a 2024 candidate for mayor—or any other city, county, state or federal race—is June 4.

This year Hawaii's primary election will be held Aug. 10, while the general election will be held Nov. 5.

For his part, Blangiardi said, if reelected, he will continue to tackle the island's triple crises of housing, homelessness and public safety. Chief among them, Blangiardi said he'd "want to address the housing issue " directly.

"We all know we have a housing crisis. We all know that we're facing outmigration. It's one of those things people want to talk about—about people giving up because they've lost their ability to stay, not because they want to leave here. That's something that we've got to do something about, " he said.

The mayor added he was "really proud of the work that we've been able to make and the progress that we've been able to make in that sector over the last couple of years."

"It took us a while to understand it. There really wasn't much of a (city ) Housing Office when we were coming into office, and now we're on record as saying before we're done we will build 18, 000 housing units, if not more, " Blan ­giardi said.

Others who gathered in support of Blangiardi claimed his administration's nearly four-year effort to reduce ongoing problems, including crime in places like Waikiki and Chinatown, were working.

Speaking as an individual, Waikiki Neighborhood Board Chair Robert Finley said he believes that "Waikiki is much better off today than it was before the mayor took office."

He added that Blangiardi and his administration had taken the time to ask questions and then worked "to fix the wrong, " namely through the city's "Safe and Sound Waikiki " program, which started in late 2022 through the Mayor's Office, Honolulu Police Chief Arthur "Joe " Logan and Prosecuting Attorney Steve Alm to combat crime and connect the homeless with social services.

"I was very impressed, " Finley said.

Likewise, Downtown-­Chinatown Neighborhood Board member Chu Lan Shubert-Kwock said she believes that the Blangiardi administration has done more to try to solve crime, street violence, drugs and homelessness pervasive in the Chinatown area than any other mayor had done in the past 14 years.

"This mayor came with his team and walked through all of the dirty, ugly places that people avoid. They took notes. And then they did as best they could, " she said.

Moreover, former Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle thanked Blangiardi for the first time he ran for mayor. "We knew he had the potential, " she said, "but now we know it's not just words, it's actions."