HONOLULU (KHON2) — Bold plans in the city’s agenda will be shared during Mayor Rick Blangiardi’s State of the City Address on March 18.
“If people are worried about permitting or driver’s license or tow contracts, stream cleaning, wastewater fees, those are all things that affect all of us. Those are the kind of things that we’re hoping to hear in the State of the City,” stated Councilmember Andria Tupola.
In a statement, the Mayor’s Office said the city will share major announcements on housing, skyline, Emergency Medical Services and Ocean Safety.
“I think everyone is excited to hear about this next segment of rail that is actually projected to open before the end of this year,” Tupola said. “But also, I know that on the horizon, they’re trying to figure out what to do with EMS, whether they merged that with [Honolulu Fire Department] because they’ve been having significant shortfalls.”
City councilmembers hope the mayor will mention other issues like the new landfill location and waste water fee increases.
“We heard recently that they were proposing an integrated planning, which could possibly help us bring that cost down for the wastewater increase,” Tupola said. “I’m hoping they might say a little bit about how we might pivot off and not have to increase it as much.”
According to the Mayor’s office, the speech will include major accomplishments directly impacting communities.
The State of the City Address is slated for March 18 in the Mission Memorial Auditorium at 6 p.m. It will be livestreamed on the mayor’s Facebook page and YouTube Channel. It will also be aired live on KHII.