Restoring bus routes, ensuring rail is done right, repaving and maintaining roads and improving park maintenance top the priority list for Mayor Kirk Caldwell, who was sworn in Wednesday as the 14th mayor of the City and County of Honolulu in a ceremony that also included the new members of the City Council.
The joint swearing-in ceremony and a joint opening session of the Council were agreed to by Caldwell and Council Chairman Ernie Martin as a way to symbolize the spirit of cooperation that both hope to maintain to accomplish the business of the city.
“It is about the job,” Caldwell told reporters after the ceremony at Mission Memorial Auditorium. “It’s not about me succeeding on my own. You need to work in a collaborative way.”
Martin said he is optimistic.
“I think he’s sincere in reaching out and trying to work with the members,” Martin said. “I know there will be times when we’ll differ in opinions and that’s where the true test will come, in terms of how he reacts when an initiative or a proposal that he puts forward within the Council doesn’t garner the level of support he thinks it should garner.
“From there we’ll see how the relationship develops.”
That test is expected to come by March, when the administration delivers the executive budget to the Council.
Caldwell said it was too early to discuss specifics of what might be included in his proposal.
“I know that the budget that’s been put together is probably pretty solid, but I’m going to make sure that my priorities are going to be in that budget also,” he said.
Caldwell said evaluating and restoring bus routes — some of which were scaled back in cost-cutting moves by the administration of Mayor Peter Carlisle — are among his top priorities, saying that he might keep some of the changes if they prove to be popular.
On rail, Caldwell said he will keep a close eye on finances and seek to minimize the visual impacts of the project.
He also said he will ask the Legislature to return to the city a portion of the 10 percent of rail taxes collected for administrative purposes.
“Obviously I’m biased on this, but I really would like to see the 10 percent come back to the city,” he said. “If there is a way to get the cooperation of the Legislature … to have that tax go to the city it would really help in terms of building this project.”
Lawmakers have been reluctant to return the tax in recent years, largely due to concerns over plugging deficits in the state budget.
Caldwell, a former state House member from Manoa, said trips to the state Legislature will be common in his adminstration to work collaboratively at all levels of government.
“I think the City and County of Honolulu is such a large part of the state it’s worth the effort to walk across the street and sit down for a half an hour once a week or every two weeks just to talk about the issues of that week that are front and center where the city and the state interface with each other,” he said.
Hawaii Supreme Court Justice Sabrina McKenna administered the oath of office to Caldwell.
Council members receiving the oath of office from state Chief Justice Mark Recktenwald included new Council members Ron Menor and Kymberly Pine, and re-elected members Ikaika Anderson and Ann Kobayashi. Councilman Joey Manahan, who was elected in August and then appointed to fill the term vacated in October by new House Rep. Romy Cachola, also took the oath.
Those in attendance included House Speaker Calvin Say, Senate President Donna Mercado Kim and various other members of the state Legislature, along with Gov. Neil Abercrombie and former Gov. John Waihee.
“In the spirit of the new year and the spirit of all the new things that have been happening within our state and within our city, I think it’s a good beginning,” said Kim (D, Kalihi Valley-Moanalua-Halawa). “I think we always start off the new year with good aspirations, good goals, and it’s just a matter of trying to maintain it throughout the year and so you’ve got to start somewhere and this is a really good start.”
