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Historic Ala Moana Pumping Station
KIA 30th Anniversary & General Membership Meeting
KIA member Dave & Buster’s offered a great venue and discounted food prices for KIA's celebration of being established 30 years ago. Their second floor show room was packed with KIA members who were welcomed by KIA President Steve Sullivan, and a rolling video of past and current pictures put together by KIA Board member Peterson Rosario. The entire meeting can be seen on the KIA website at http://www.kia-hawaii.org/nl092017.html.
How appropriate for the first guest speaker to be Emme Tomimbang, who was at KIA's 20th anniversary celebration with husband retired Judge James Burns, in KIA member John A. Burns School of Medicine building, named after her father-in-law. She talked about the Kakaako of past, where there were families living in the area from different ethnic groups, like a modern-day plantation.
A presentation made by KIA member Servco Pacific Inc. and Toyota Connected discussed the partnership to test a new car share business and technology platform in Honolulu. Currently, the companies are testing the platform through an employee-only pilot at Servco’s corporate offices in Mapunapuna. Once the employee pilot testing is complete in late 2017, Servco will launch a new Honolulu-based car share business in Kakaako with about 20 Prius vehicles located in and around residential buildings. The program will be round trip station-based meaning users will rent and return the vehicle at the same location. Other Toyota and Lexus vehicles, such as the Corolla, C-HR, Tacoma, and RX, are expected to be added later. A brand announcement is planned closer to the public launch. The car-sharing platform, developed by Toyota Connected, supports fleet management, driver identification and authentication, payment management, and the ability for users to lock and unlock vehicles without physical keys. Car share users will never have to interact with a person to register, reserve and use a vehicle. Registration and background checks are handled via the mobile application. A Bluetooth connection to the vehicle will also allow users to start the vehicles via a digital key on the mobile application. KIA members should contact Peter Fukunaga at 564-2483 if interested in becoming a partner with this new endeavor in Kakaako.
The Blaisdell Master Plan was presented by Guy Kaulukukui for the City & County of Honolulu. As a background, he said that the Blaisdell was opened in 1964 and really represented what he thought was a tremendous vision of the legislature, at that time the state had authorized the county to issue bonds to underwrite this capital project, under the leadership of Mayor Blaisdell. Today it still largely looks like it did before 1995 to the front of the exhibition hall, concert hall and the arena are basically the same, with the newer parking lot, but it is very similar. The leaders and community dreamt big as they replaced the Civic Center. He wants to have the current plans to be just as visionary as the past, and has been working very actively since 2014 with 115 community engagements, large and small, and continues as they move forward. The design 
project should be complete by next December. With the help of their consultant, the structure of the concert hall and arena would stay, with refurbishment; but rebuild the middle of the campus, which includes the exhibition hall, parking stricture, meeting rooms, and offices. As they look at a possible additional building, a Sports Pavilion was suggested since the arena uses showed 29% of the events held were athletic, with less than 1,000 people attending. A smaller sports venue would be appropriate for the market and size, with most of athletic events such as basketball and volleyball for HPU, state tournaments, etc. could take the pressure off of booking a large national act. The parking structure will be removed and rebuilt as two separate structures projected up to 3,000. There are currently 1,400 stalls; however, they are looking at that number to be lower due to cost, user-ship, car-sharing, etc.
Michael Packard, from Complete Streets, did an overview of the program, which he says is the safe and convenient accessibility and mobility for all users - the travels ways, largely our roads, public space, and ensuring that we are considering pedestrians, bike riders, transit users and all other users, not just people in passenger vehicles. This is a national push that Honolulu has been a little slow but they have learned great opportunities and examples from New York City, Chicago, San Francisco and Seattle who have done amazing things to transform their cities and seeing economic benefits. Michael believes it will help Kakaako, in making a walkable, livable and vibrant community. In 2009, the state passed legislation requiring all counties to enact Complete Streets policies; and in 2012 there was an ordinance mandating that the city is required to consider all modes and aspects of road way planning, design and construction. There are opportunities for integrating complete streets solutions into approximately 16 miles of roadways within Honolulu's urban core that are planned for rehabilitation, repaving or restriping. Data collection started in August 2017, stakeholder outreach will be held September and October, with preliminary concepts and draft transportatoin assessment in October. November will see community events and revised concepts and transportation assessment in December, with final designs in February 2018. To learn more about the program and sign up for email updates at completestreets@honolulu.gov. Send comments or questions to www.honolulu.gov/completestreets.
KIA’s Legacy Continues
As KIA celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, there would not be an association without these past presidents. Their leadership gave direction to KIA as it grew in membership, status, and viability to city and state agencies, as well as the private sector.
Past KIA Presidents
Don Bremmer, 1987 to 1990
Tim Chow, 1991 to 1992
Paul Kimura, 1993 to 1994
Neil Hannahs, 1995 to 1996
Ron Teves, 1997
Beverly Harbin, 1998 to 2001
Don Ojiri, 2002 to 2003
Kendall Hee, 2004 to 2005
Jay Kadowaki, 2006 to 2007
Bob Oda, 2008 to 2010
Donna Farrell, 2011
Alison Lee, 2012
Mark Higa, 2013
Leslie Miasnik, 2014
Bobbie Lau, 2015
Steve Sullivan, 2016 to 2017
Paul Kimura Honored
At the 30th Anniversary & General Membership Meeting, KIA President Steve Sullivan read from from the KIA 1997 Membership Directory: “Long-time tenants of Kakaako, like Paul Kimura of City Fender, can recall a time when the district was a mixed plate of homes and businesses - a place where people could live, work and play in a comfortable, neighborhood setting.” He also said that City Fender opened in Kakaako in 1966, so Paul Kimura knows Kakaako the best, as he is also the only current Board member since KIA’s inception.
Paul was unable to attend the event, but a Certificate of Appreciate was delivered to him, which read:
Certificate of Appreciate to Paul Kimura for his thirty years of dedication to KIA, as an “original” Board member, a past-President of KIA, a consistent Board member for thirty years, and the chairman for fourteen KIA Invitational Golf Tournaments. Paul has also served the entire Kakaako area when he was a HCDA Board member.
KIA News
The Honolulu Design Center and Down to Earth will be having food preparation demonstrations on Saturdays, October 14th and 21st from 11:30am to 1pm in the third floor Loft Showroom at 1250 Kapiolani Boulevard. There is no cost, however, RSVPs are necessary to attend. Space is very limited. For more information call Joett Colgan at 782-8920 or email: jcolgan@hdc-hawaii.com.
The Children’s Discovery Center will be holding their “Keiki Costume Ball” on Sunday, October 29th from 5:30pm to 7:30pm. Keiki can enjoy pizza dinner and ice cream, pus Trick or Treat throughout the Center and participate in games and crafts. Costumes are recommended to add to the FUN. Cost is only $10 for keiki and adult members and $16 for nonmembers (age of keiki is 1 to 17 years old).
For the trick-or-treat stations, donations of candy, as well as small toys or healthy treats such as fruit, raisins or animal crackers are welcomed. The event typically has around 500 participants and we would need treats for approximately 300 children. Any KIA member who wishes to make a donation should contact Liane Usher at 524-5437. They are located at 111 Ohe Street.
