Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi is scheduled to deliver his fifth State of the City address this evening.
Starting his new four-year mayoral term, Blangiardi, 78, is expected to speak to decisions his administration has made
in the past year, and the
actions it intends to take
in the months ahead.
And he’ll likely touch on ways to solve what he’s termed over the past few years as the “wicked problems” on Oahu, namely, the lack of affordable housing, homelessness and public safety, among others.
“The mayor’s second term represents a chance to accelerate progress
on key initiatives while focusing on improving city services and addressing the long-term ‘wicked problems’ facing our
community,” Scott Humber, the mayor’s communications director, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.
He added that the latest State of the City will have “a forward-looking tone, recognizing the progress made over the past four years while addressing the next set of priorities for the city.”
“This year’s address will be less about establishing a foundation and more about building on it — with a greater emphasis on long-term solutions, new investments and innovative approaches to improving the quality of life for all
residents of the City and County of Honolulu,” Humber said.
Although no specifics were being offered on his speech, the mayor might mention aspects of the latest city budget review — which launched in earnest last week as part of the City Council’s lengthy city departmental reviews — after his administration in February formally unveiled its proposed $5.14 billion budget package for the city’s 2026 fiscal year, which begins July 1.
The new budget is a more than 9% increase over the city’s current $4.7 billion budget, which the mayor officially signed and adopted in June.
The mayor’s latest spending plan continues the city administration’s stated
priorities to build more transit-oriented development, improve public infrastructure and deal with associated costs to run and maintain Skyline, the city’s over-$10 billion rail system.
Blangiardi might note the opening of the city’s second segment of rail for public ridership — from the old stadium, past the airport, to Kalihi — by the end of 2025.
That anticipated opening follows the Office of the City Auditor audit released in February regarding
the city Department of Transportation Services’ operations of Skyline.
That audit asserted DTS’ rail operation suffers poor ridership, has less than adequate features for the disabled around its stations and does not offer multilingual signage to better inform its ridership base about ongoing changes to the city-run transit system.
Other city projects might include the city’s search for an experienced builder who can convert Iwilei Center’s aging warehouse space into a new mixed-use, transit-oriented development on the edge of downtown
Honolulu.
The redevelopment project aims to site up to 700 housing units near Skyline, which is under construction along Dillingham
Boulevard.
And following years of delay, Blangiardi might mention his administration’s planned but contentious naming in early December of a site for the city’s next solid-waste landfill — this one on active pineapple fields above Central Oahu’s freshwater aquifer in Wahiawa.
The location — west of Kamehameha Highway and north of Paalaa Uka Pupukea Road — is owned by Dole Food Co. Hawaii.
Since the landfill site’s public disclosure, Council members — including Vice Chair Matt Weyer, whose Council District 2 represents Wahiawa — and Board of Water Supply Manager and Chief Engineer
Ernie Lau, along with several state legislators, have strongly objected to the city’s next dump being located over a prime fresh groundwater source.
At the state Capitol, a host of state-level measures look to ban landfill sites above freshwater aquifers anywhere in Hawaii.
The State of the City address will take place inside the Mission Memorial Auditorium on the Frank F. Fasi Civic Grounds, next to Honolulu Hale.
Doors will close at
5:55 p.m. All attendees will be asked to be seated at that time. The mayor’s speech will begin at approximately 6:10 p.m.
The speech will be broadcast live on KFVE, KHII, KIKU and ‘Olelo 49. It also will be streamed live on the Mayor’s Facebook page and YouTube channel.
For more information, visit Honolulu.gov or call 808-768-4141.
