Mufi Hannemann
Mayor of Honolulu

Honolulu—The Best Is Yet to Come
Inaugural Address
Honolulu Hale
January 5, 2005

Distinguished guests … ladies and gentlemen:

I’m happy and humbled to be here today. I’m very grateful for your support and confidence in my ability to lead this City, and I thank you for joining us this afternoon to mark this milestone.

While this is a happy occasion for me and my family, let’s not forget those brave men and women—many from our state—who are serving our country in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the untold tens of thousands who have just experienced one of the most devastating natural disasters in history. Our thoughts and prayers are with them.

The outcome of the election was that, as a community, we reached a consensus about what most needs to be done: We must get our financial house in order and live within our means. We must be safe and secure and untangle the traffic. We must rebuild an aging infrastructure. We must fill those potholes. We must maintain the parks.

These myriad, humble tasks add up to a higher goal of taking care of our Oahu. By doing this work well, we can meet the immediate challenges of our times, raise our quality of life, and lift the spirits of all who call Hawaii home.

And underlying this work will be five core themes that my administration will use as a guide in charting a new direction for the City.

A New Attitude, Fresh Approaches

First among them is adopting a new attitude and fresh approaches to the business of City government.

This is the eve of Honolulu’s centennial. We were incorporated as a county in 1905. Back then, the voting public immediately recognized the promise of self-determination for Honolulu. What better time to reflect on our proud history, to look at ourselves, and to prepare for our future.

In so doing, we would be remiss if we did not recognize and salute those who have held this office before me. I speak of such historic figures as Johnny Wilson and, in my lifetime, Neal S. Blaisdell, the last Hawaii-born mayor until today. Frank F. Fasi, Eileen Anderson, and Mayor Jeremy Harris each has made lasting contributions. To our longest-serving mayor, Mayor Fasi, a big mahalo. Mayor Jeremy Harris, a warm aloha. Your achievements have created a legacy that we will enjoy for generations to come.

Just as my predecessors brought their energy and ideas to office, so, too, will I. It means a new attitude and different ways of doing things. It means the ability to face our challenges and to embrace change. Yet, we will not change only for the sake of change. We must cherish our values, those qualities that we cannot lose if we are to preserve the distinctive character and tradition of island living. We will take the best of the past, but improve and change those aspects of our City that need positive action now.

Changing the Culture at Honolulu Hale

I said we must embrace change, and change will begin in my office and throughout the halls of City government. That is the second theme.

The past has been too often marred by acrimony, conflict, and blame. That must stop; we must change the culture at City Hall. There is no reason we can’t be open about our problems and concerns, offer our ideas and commitment to finding solutions, and then work side-by-side as a team to achieve our goals.

To achieve this, my administration will be looking to our City employees for ideas and inspiration. These are the individuals who are on the City’s front lines, who hear the public’s concerns and see the problems first-hand. And it is they who will be called upon to execute the policies established at Honolulu Hale, and it is they who should be called upon to offer solutions and then credited with making our City work.

Having come from the legislative branch, where I once served as Council chairman, I believe in a system of checks and balances. Surely the executive and legislative branches will not agree on everything. But a willingness to agree to disagree, and an environment where irreconcilable conflicts are kept to a minimum, should be a refreshing change of style.

We have, by and large, a legion of dedicated and valued City employees—elected, appointed, and civil servant alike—and I pledge to work with them to do what’s best for the people of the City and County of Honolulu.

Working With Our Co-Leaders

This pledge of changing the City administration’s approach to working with its co-leaders in government extends across the way to the State Capitol. This is my third theme.

It extends to Governor Lingle and to my fellow mayors Arakawa, Baptiste, and Kim.

It extends to the leaders of the Legislature, Senate President Robert Bunda and Speaker of the House Calvin Say, and to the members of both houses and both parties.

It extends to the members of our Congressional delegation, who have already met with me to pledge their cooperation in helping the City in every way possible.

This administration will not be about Democrats versus Republicans. Nor about the state versus the counties. It will not be about perceived national indifference to the needs and concerns of America’s only Pacific island state. It certainly will not be about the political and jurisdictional rivalries that have affected the way we go about the business of government for so long. You’re tired of it, I’m tired of it; we need to move on.

What it will be about is bringing people together in the pursuit of common goals. There simply is no reason we need to work in isolation. There’s no reason we should not collaborate in the spirit of aloha for the good of the people.

Keep in mind that Oahu is where 80 percent of the population resides and where 80 percent of the tax base is generated. It may sound trite, but it’s true: When Honolulu prospers, so does the entire state. When the state does well, so does Honolulu. Rather than compete as rivals, I say it behooves us to work together as co-leaders.

Honolulu: Our City, Our Home

For my fourth theme, I will use the mayor’s office to lead by example, to bring diverse and even opposing parties together to craft the means by which we achieve our ends. I will need your cooperation and involvement, and I hope you will each answer the call to serve.

Honolulu is our home. But even in the best homes, we often take things for granted. We accept the love and generosity of family members without proper gratitude.

I’d extend that analogy to our City. It’s so easy to focus on problems, to complain and blame. What’s difficult is finding solutions. I say, don’t just point out the problem; come up with the answer. The happiest and healthiest homes are those where family members communicate openly, respect the feelings and ideas of others, sacrifice and compromise for the common good, and love one another.

Take the recent controversy over the landfill. We’re all contributing to the problem but aren’t working together to find the answers. The same goes for traffic congestion. We’re all at fault. But it’s much easier to blame the other guy rather than make the sacrifices that will result in tangible solutions.

With thanks and acknowledgment to my friend and contemporary, Nainoa Thompson, master navigator of the voyaging canoe Hokule`a, I also want to navigate change—create a Honolulu where our people and communities are healthy, safe, and prosperous. In ancient times, the launching of voyaging canoes required the kokua of entire communities: canoe builders, farmers and fishermen to provide food for long journeys, weavers to craft sails, navigators and sailors to guide the ship.

In contemporary times, reaching our destination requires the same kind of collaborative commitment and help, and I look to each of you to ensure that the Honolulu we build, together, is truly the destination we seek for ourselves and our children.

The ideals of citizenship, the spirit of community, the feeling of ohana—all require active involvement and a sense of ownership of our home.

Overcoming an Inferiority of Spirit; We Can Do Anything

As for my final theme, let me share with you words that have touched me and visions that have guided me.

As a kid from Kalihi, I remember these words spoken by Governor John A. Burns: Many of us suffer from a subtle inferiority of spirit.

Too many of us are content to believe those words to be true. I view them as a challenge. We in Hawaii have the talents, skills, and knowledge to overcome any challenge. We can do anything.

We may sometimes feel that we do the work but don’t get the recognition. At worst, for some there is still the feeling of being a stranger in one’s own land. There is sometimes a feeling that if an idea, invention, or product is developed in Hawaii, it surely can’t amount to much. If it’s a person in question, that person had best go away, at least for a time, to gain extra value and experience in order to be considered qualified.

To all of this type of feeling and thinking, I say, “We can do anything.”

No scared ’em; go get ’em!

I am a believer in the dream of Hawaii. Appreciate that dream. Share that dream.

My dream of being a leader, in the City in which I was born and raised, began at Fern Elementary School, coincidentally named after the first mayor of the City and County of Honolulu—Joseph Fern. I was motivated to pursue this dream by many wonderful people—my fifth grade teacher Florence Wong, sixth grade teacher Thelma Takemoto, and principal Alma White—who believed in me and told me I could do anything.

When I was a Cub Scout, our den mother, Aunty Becky Runnels, took us to see President John F. Kennedy when he paid a visit to Hawaii. I remember standing along the parade route, with chicken skin, and saluting him as he drove by. And the words he gave have remained with me for more than 40 years: “Hawaii … is what the United States is striving to be.”

We have a cherished and long-held tradition of breaking down barriers and pulling people together.

Native Hawaiians have reawakened a rich culture of language, values, education, and community leadership. And lucky for us, and rightfully so. As someone who shares that Polynesian heritage, we support, celebrate, and salute them in their journey. As the host culture, they enrich and inspire us all.

The more we understand about what makes us special, the more confident we will be. The more we believe in ourselves, the more others will believe in us.

We must be proud of who we are. We must reach out, share, give, love, and forge our unique place in the world, one that is widely understood and widely admired.

Honolulu: The Best Is Yet to Come

During the campaign, I said that it was my goal to make Honolulu one of the best places in the world to live, work, and raise our families.

We’ll know we’ve achieved a quality of life second to none when our young people don’t see graduation as the first step toward moving to the mainland for their careers … when working couples don’t believe they have to leave Hawaii to afford a home … when seniors aren’t afraid they’ll be deserted by their mainland-bound children and face their golden years alone … when business travelers don’t have to make excuses about why they’ve chosen Hawaii as their meeting destination … when people the world over look to us as much for our achievements in science and technology, sports, film, and entertainment, or culture and the arts, as they do for our sun, sand, sea, surf, and spirit of aloha.

This will be an exciting journey that you have elected me to lead. And the City and County of Honolulu will be the vessel, powered by our hope and energy, our determination and kokua, by which we reach our dreams.

Honolulu … the best is yet to come.

Mahalo and aloha … malama pono.