Mayor requests state-level support for city programs

Jan. 23—Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi's administration Monday sought state-level support, including more funding, to expand the city's Emergency Services Department, affordable housing projects and transit-oriented development around the island.

Presenting to the state Legislature's committees on Ways and Means and Finance in the Capitol Auditorium, Blangiardi said the need for more support was due

in large part to increased city

expenses.

Those stated costs include

projected city employee salary increases as a result of various collective bargaining unit negotiations; the first full year of operations of the city's rail project, Skyline; adding more staffers to the city Crisis Outreach Response and Engagement, or C.O.R.E., program, which aids the homeless; and granting hazard pay to city workers employed during the COVID-19 pandemic, among others.

Among the state legislation the city hopes to see lawmakers support, Blangiardi highlighted a few bills.

Those include Senate Bill 2220, dealing with Employees' Retirement System benefits and

contributions, which partly considers lowering the vesting of retirement benefits to five years from its current 10 years.

The mayor asserted support for this bill would help Honolulu attract new hires to local government jobs.

"I think we've been very transparent in the considerable vacancies in our departments despite the aggressive program to reform the way we recruit, hire and retain our employees," he said.

Likewise, Blangiardi noted Senate Bill 2222, which seeks appropriations of $3.5 million to fund fiscal year 2024 to 2025, as a

grant-in-aid to EMS, in order to extend C.O.R.E. services beyond

urban Honolulu.

"They are going to expand services to Central Oahu, the North Shore, Leeward and Windward regions on Oahu," he said, adding that funds would pay for up to 16 positions. "We think this is the first big step, and having a mobile crisis unit mitigates calls to 911."

Blangiardi also highlighted House Bill 1808 and Senate Bill 2337, which pertain to affordable housing development.

In particular, SB 2337, if enacted, would allow all counties in the state "to exercise the same powers as the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corp. for purposes of developing, constructing, financing,

refinancing or providing mixed-income projects and mixed-use developments."

Moreover, SB 2337 would authorize "units in low- and moderate-income housing projects to be made available to households with higher incomes if there is an insufficient number of persons or families who meet income qualifying requirements," the bill states.

The mayor told lawmakers the city's "plan, and our commitment to our communities, is to construct activated, affordable housing with mixed-income, mixed-use projects."

"Currently, the law as written does not allow the counties to use affordable housing bonds to develop iconic affordable housing projects in TOD (transit-­oriented development)

communities, where our residents have access to commercial retail services, institutional, educational, industrial and government uses," he said. "It precludes us from doing that."

At the meeting, several lawmakers questioned the Blangiardi administration over city programs and issues with the services it provides around the island.

Among them, state Sen. Kurt Fevella, whose District 20 spans from Ewa Beach to portions of Ewa Villages, wanted to see more funding devoted to maintenance of city and county parks — especially those in West Oahu.

"We just want to know what your guys' approach and plan would be to keep our parks on the West side from being overgrown and overrun," said Fevella, adding, "I know that we have a houseless issue, but that shouldn't be the situation why our parks cannot be cleaned."

To that, Blangiardi said city parks around Oahu were "an important priority for us."

However, the mayor asserted that of the more than 2,000 city vacancies in its workforce, the city Parks and Recreation Department "was in our top six of having openings."

Others, like state Sen. Donna Mercado Kim, wished to know more about the city's pursuit of mainland film studios locating to Oahu as well as the connection to the University of

Hawaii.

In response, Blangiardi stated support for the City Council's Bill 59, which, if adopted, would provide greater real property tax incentives for eligible film studio facilities to move here — at least those willing to spend a minimum of

$100 million toward local

improvements.

So far, that measure has received a ringing endorsement from the founder and director of UH's Academy for Creative Media System, or ACM.

"With respect to studios, we're in a position to negotiate strongly, exactly what gets constructed," the mayor added. "There are several players involved."

But Blangiardi stressed that there's only a "verbal agreement" with those parties to develop such a studio. "We've got to go through the process," he added.

For her part, Kim said the process to build more film studios here "has taken

longer than it should."

In June, UH — a governmental tax-exempt institution — formally issued a request for proposals toward a private film studio development at UH West Oahu in Kapolei.

According to UH, the property in question consists of about 34 acres adjacent to the new Skyline rail station.

But development of that site — bounded by Farrington Highway to the north, Kua­lakai Parkway to the east, UH West Oahu to the south and Hawaii Tokai International College campus to the west — is still pending.

According to Blangiardi, selection of a developer for that UH film studio was delayed to this year.

Honolulu Managing Director Mike Formby said that UH ACM founder Chris Lee was soon expected to issue further information — in the form of a 300-page report — about the ongoing studio

development at the West Oahu site.

Meanwhile, other mayors also appeared at the same meeting.

They included Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen Jr. and Hawaii County Mayor Mitch Roth, who showed to lobby state support for their own island communities.