 Welcome. This afternoon at 5, 5 p.m., 5 o'clock Rock, we're doing Community Matters. And that means we're talking about the Boy Scouts, the Aloha Council. Kimi Takazawa runs the place. Director Philanthropy, that's all. All right, well, a little of that. Okay, we have a special guest. We have Bill Wilson from Hawaiian Dredging, one of the guys who built the state and who is going to be honored soon enough on, he's coming soon, August 25th at the Sheraton Waikiki. He is going to be Hawaii's Distinguished Citizen. He's going to get the Distinguished Citizen Award. Welcome to the show, Bill. Thank you very much, Jason. Thanks for coming here today. Thank you. And Jason, Jason Kimura. Jason has just recently became an Eagle Scout. Congratulations, Jason. Thank you. Thanks for coming down today. Thank you for having us. So, let's start with you, Jason. What does it mean to be an Eagle Scout? What did you have to do to get all those badges? What did you have to do to, you know, become, you know, the highest rank of Scout there is, Scout Eagle Scout? So, you know, Scouting is, it's a journey. Started from first grade, Cub Scouting, and then fifth grade, we go to Boy Scouts. And the last seven years, we've learned skills, Boy Scout skills, first aid, not tying, building fires, using our knives, survival skills and whatnot. But the friendships are the guy, like my friends, the other ones who helped me pull it through, helped me finish my Eagle Scout. And, you know, it's a great, it's a great opportunity that I had, and I'm happy I accomplished it. Well, you've been involved in various organizations that make friends. One, Mid-Pack, you know, you've been going there for a long time. And you've been on a couple of teams at Mid-Pack. You've got basketball and... Oh, basketball and baseball. Baseball? Yeah. So, you have two teams you've been working with and you've got friends on both teams. But the Boy Scouts takes you further, right? Oh, yeah. It's, in addition to all of that, you're making friends with the boys. How does that work? So, you know, these guys, they're like my brothers. We've been together since first grade and five of them my age. We've been together the whole time. And it's like their parents, and their own son. So, and it makes it that much better, you know, and our leaders there. So, they take the time out of their busy lives to help us on consistent Friday nights, you know. And it really means a lot to me and it means a lot to them too. So, it's just, it's a good time. You're an incoming... I'm going to be a senior. You're going to be a senior. Are you going to graduate? You got a plan yet? Go to college. Of course. But that's as far as it goes right now. Okay, all right. Now, tell us about the merit badges you're showing over your right shoulder. Tell us about the ones you really care about. Well, the ones I really care about. Tell me you care about them all. Yeah, I mean, you know, I did these merit badges for a reason. I mean, some are required, but they help me open up to what real life situations could be. Personal management, how to manage your money, manage your time, do chores or whatever, family life, how to deal with your family. You know, I could use some of those too. And it's always good, you know. Life-saving, I'm a certified BSA lifeguard, American Red Cross lifeguard. So, that's all cool to me. And it helps me become the person that who I am right now, you know. It's just... What a nice boy. So, Kimi, tell us more about Jason. Tell us more about the Eagle Scout program. Sure. So, Jason, not only is he... he just made his rank of Eagle Scout, but at our Eagle Scout banquet, which was held this past April, we have a scholarship. And so, he's an awardee of a $1,000 Fred Trotter scholarship, which was actually... one of his mentors there was Rhys Liget. So, we have to say thank you. He's also an Eagle Scout, and he actually helped sponsor that portion of that. And it was great because the night of the Eagle Scout dinner, because they were kind of paired together, and Rhys is also the one who gave them the award. They sat together. I hope you guys had a nice chat. Oh, yeah, that was great. And it was just great for him to... it was kind of like network, like in a more adult way with adult leadership. So, it was terrific. And he also, you know, he also explained how he is an athlete and also an Eagle Scout. I can tell. I'm looking at a resume, which includes a GPA of 3.5 and all those teams. Yeah. How do you do it? Do you sleep at night? I know. I have to give it to my parents. When I was younger, I couldn't drive, so they were the ones who brought me to practices, brought me to scouts every night, or every week. And if it wasn't for them, I wouldn't have those kind of, you know, that history of sports and scouting at the same time. And I just appreciate them a lot. Yeah. And Jason, he's a really perfect example of, you know, a lot of times, people say, I have to do sports. I'll have to drop out. Or, you know, it was a mix. But he's an example of he can do it all, like not only has a great GPA, he has leadership skills. He was involved in two sports, you know, varsity basketball. He made his Eagle Scout. He had leadership opportunities in the scouting program. And, you know, there was a survey done and it's found that the kids who are in scouting actually were more participatory in a multi-variety of activities than non-scouts. So you can do it all. And Jason is a great example of someone who did it. Yeah. Wow. You run the way. Mm-hmm. And if you ever want to be a think-tech intern, you let me know. Oh yeah? I'll show you everything about video and whatnot. We'll think about it. I'll think about it. Think about it. All right. Well, okay, let's shift gears for a minute. Bill, it's so nice to have you here. Bill Wilson, Hawaiian Dredging. Great to be here. Great to have you. So, let's talk for a little bit about Hawaiian Dredging and your career there. Mm-hmm. Well, Hawaiian Dredging was founded in 1902. And so we've been around for 114 years. And through all of that, we're there for the oldest. For many years now, we've been the largest general contractor in the state of Hawaii. We're also the most diversified. We do the widest range of work. And so you'd see that in a bit of the design in the program that we've developed for coming up on the 25th, where we feature the buildings. We've built more hotels, more residential condominiums than any other contractor in the state. We also do a great deal of the road work, whether it's the H3 or the H2 or the H1 or major roads on the neighbor islands as well. So we're very active in doing that. What's the secret source over there? Well, we've got one heck of a lot of people that know what they're doing and do the wide range of work that we do. But in anything that you do in the state of Hawaii, it's the people that you have relationships with, that you do business with. And as a general contractor, we're very dependent on those capabilities and the success of contractors and suppliers to execute the work, but certainly also owners and developers, designers that help create the projects that help make Hawaii a better state. Never let it be said that general contracting is easy. It's not. I would never say that it is. I'm confident that most people in the public don't understand the risks associated with what we need to do, what we do do, as well as the challenges that come with it. And as you said, as a matter of relationships, maybe there's a common thread there between the two of you. Well, there certainly is. For many years, the company has hired people with Eagle Scout and Boy Scout backgrounds. Throughout, that certainly started long before I was there, given our history in the state. But we've certainly continued that through the years. And so, for most of the times, we have about 12 to 15 Eagle Scouts that are part of our salary workforce. So that's one of our salary employees statewide were Eagle Scouts. Of course, once you're an Eagle Scout, you're always an Eagle Scout. Well, once you're a Think Tech intern, you're always a Think Tech. That may not be as widely appreciated as an Eagle Scout. You've got to get the word out. But if you don't start with this program, it won't happen, Jack. So, how does you get involved in Hawaiian dredging? What training, what experience did you have when you finally joined it? 1974. I've been with the company for 42 years. Hawaiian dredging and its affiliated companies originally joined Dellenham Corporation, which was then the parent. Certainly the Dellenham family started that, started Hawaiian dredging many years ago. Originally, I have an undergraduate degree in civil engineering and ambassadors in business. I was offered a job in Honolulu. My wife, who I just married the year before, was from Honolulu. We met, we were undergraduates and so I threw my life away and moved to Honolulu. And it's, never look back, it's been a wonderful experience. What an experience, really. I mean, we can't, we can't forget that Hawaiian dredging has built the state, has been involved. You know, with all those relationships and projects, all that diversity of projects, you have built the state. We look around, you know, look down from 50,000 feet, we will see Hawaiian dredging hither and yon in Honolulu. And of course, how do you feel about that? Well, it's a source of pride for everybody in the organization. All of us that have joined it, you know, joined it well since it was founded, but you know, it's a great legacy that we've inherited and everyone that's there works diligently every day to maintain that. You know, one of the things that people always talk about is, you know, being number one, I can assure you that continuing talks of life that's very challenging. Let's look at some photos about Hawaiian dredging. What do we got here? We're going to see some of the projects now. Oh, wow. We're the original contractor for the Aloha Stadium in the 1970s. Oh, wow. This is a picture of the Alawai Canal. So in the 1920s, we'll dredge the Alawai Canal. Obviously, our name with dredging in it implies we're a dredging contractor. It's always fun today to explain to people that we don't, haven't done that as what we used to do and other items. This is a picture of one of the dry docks at Pearl Harbor that would have been one of the major projects early in the company's activities many years ago. Yeah. This is the Alamona Shopping Center. Oh, wow, yeah. It was developed by the land arm of Dillingham in the 1950s. It looks so small. Well, it's the Sears side. So that would have been, appears right after it was open in the late 1950s. And we've been involved in all of the expansions of that through the years today. And one of our major projects that we finished last year was the expansion which everyone is now enjoying with the new Nordstrom Bloomingdale's. And Sears is gone today from the center, but it was the center, the store that really allowed the center to go forward at the time it was developed. Are you involved in the condos that are growing on the Mackay side? No, we're not. Another contractor is doing that work. We did some of the foundation work there, but others, and we do foundation work for other general contractors. So while we are the state's largest general contractor, we also work for all the other general contractors when they need a foundation subcontractor. And although you're the largest contractor in the state, you are not actually the only contractor. No, we are. There are more than a number of other people. This is a picture of the El Lani Resort that we did in 2009 through 2011 for the Disney people. And so we're very proud to be part of that. It was a major project. And the largest single project ever built in the state of Hawaii. Huge. And let's see. This is the John Burns School of Medicine. We did that in joint venture with Kajima Corporation beginning in 2002, with completion in 2005. We awarded that project on the 100th anniversary of the founding of Hawaiian Dredge. And when I say that, not just the year, but the day of the year. March 3 is the day that we do celebrate. I can see you talking through the university and say, hold up one more day. We want to wait for our 100th anniversary. They actually set the date. Okay. And so we thought it was a very good date and auspicious. Wonderful. Absolutely. We have other pictures, too, of the Boy Scouts. Maybe you would take a moment and look at them. Oh, yeah. Now, what is that, Kimi? What is that? Go ahead, Jason. This is the day actually. So this past Saturday was our Eagle Court of Honor, where we get honored for achieving the Eagle Scout rank. And I'm in the middle with two of my buddies who got the Eagle Scout with me. And all the other guys are assistant scout masters. So our mentors, our adult leaders who helped us get to that point. And as you can see, there's a lot of them. And it shows a lot of, there's a lot of commitment in that picture. A lot of people supporting you there. Oh, yeah. And we have one more, too. Ah, there you are, Jason. Do you want to see where your troop is from, chartered? So we're in True 49, chartered out of Honpahonganji, Hawaii, Betsuin, on Pully Highway. And we're, we're lucky to have this venue for us, because we give back to the temple by running the Bullen Dance every year. There's spring bazaar every year. And it gives us opportunity for leadership. Let me run those. And it's just to see how happy we are. It's amazing. This is taking it to Honpahonganji? Yes. Okay. It was. We're going to take a short break, Jason and Bill and Kimi. And we're going to come back and we're going to talk about your affair on August 25th and how you feel about that. Okay? We're going to explore what's going to happen. We're going to try to be with you in advance to be right back. Aloha. I'm Kirsten Baumgart, Turner, host of Sustainable Hawaii. Thanks for watching Think Tech this summer. We have a lot of terrific shows of great importance. And I hope you'll watch my show too every Tuesday at noon as we address sustainability issues for Hawaii. They're really pertinent as the World Conservation Congress approaches in September and the World Youth Congress that's focusing on sustainability next year as well. Have a great summer and tune in at noon every Tuesday. Aloha. My name is Carl Campania and I am the host of Think Tech Hawaii's Education Movers, Shakers, and Reformers. I invite you to come watch our show on thinktechhawaii.com. You can also see our shows on YouTube as well. You can Google search those. I appreciate the time. I hope that you do join us as we learn about education, about the educational system here in Hawaii, what the challenges are, what the benefits are and how much our kids are learning. So thank you. Thank you. I hope you join us. We're back. We're live with Jason Kimura, recent Eagle Scout, Bill Wilson, CEO of Hawaiian Dredging since 1970. Well, not since. No, that would be something. But he's been with Hawaiian Dredging since 1974. And Kimi Takazawa, who is the leader of the leaders, may I say. Sure. At the Aloha Council. Thank you. So now, Bill is going to have this fabulous thing. It's the kind of experience, Bill. Don't forget. It really is special. And if you look through the gee whiz, you know, the past honorees, we don't have time in this show to read them all. But they are really amazing, an amazing group of people starting in 1974. No. In 1983, coming forward, they are the leaders of the community for sure. Yes, for sure. So you selected, Bill, what's the process? So the process is, so first of all, our distinguished citizen dinner has been around. This is actually our 34th year. So thank you, Bill, for agreeing to be our honoree. And the process actually takes about a year in advance to plan. So we have like a list, and we kind of go over it. So as you can tell, a lot of the people who have honored become all different sectors of Hawaii in our community. So this year, we had, you know, try to see what kind of outstanding industries are going to be. So we have a lot of people who have a lot of talent, and who actually also was very involved with this community service as well, that we could honor, and who also kind of upholds some of the scouts of the law and their valleys and the way they conduct themselves for business. And Bill's name bubbled up. And so we decided to ask him, and we're just, the whole process with him and his team has just been really wonderful, really, just to say thank you. Your team has been terrific to work with. I have to do a shout out to Paolo and Richard and to Eric and Sheila. So Tom, thank you. So it's going to be Thursday in a couple of weeks at the Sheraton. And so typically these things, the Distinguished Citizen's Dinner, we have probably about 800 people in attendance. And what's really great about it is that it's not just what's a party. And so in the beginning, there's so many people from downtown who show up that it's not a den, it's a roar of people talking and networking. And you know, these are all supporters of Boy Scouts. They're all, you know, people steeped in business and in downtown. And it's actually, they're kind of rowdy and it's kind of hard to get them to settle down. Because they're having fun. Exactly. Exactly. So, yeah. So, is there room left? I mean, if anybody wanted to sign up, where would they go? Sure. So we always have Rome. They can go onto our website and email us as well. And for it, alohaconsonbsa.org. And we can go ahead and send them like information on that. And we love for them to come and join us and to celebrate Bill Wilson and the Boy Scouts. That's great. Yeah. One really fun piece is that we have about like 50 to 70 Boy Scouts come and they shake hands with everybody who's attending and it's really a great way for them to say thank you for this. It's the yin and the yang. It's the guys who've been through it. And I'm not favoring anyone over anyone else but again, I'm not going to read them all. Maurice Sullivan, Jim Gary, Chin Ho, Bobby Pfeiffer, John Bellinger, Dan Inouye, Frank Minot, I mean, wow, Spark Matsunaga, John Waihe, one of our hosts, Frank Fosse, Howard Stevenson, Senator O'Cock, wow, it goes on and on. Ben Caetano, Walter Dodds, Warren Haruki, Vicki Caetano, gee, got two Caetano's there. Alan Doan of A&B, Mike May, Mike Fish from the newspaper, The Honorable Avatar, Governor Linderlingel, Chuck Stead, that goes on. Mufi Hanaman, Chat Wright, HPU, Peter Ho, Bank of Hawaii, everybody, they're all here. So how do you feel about this? Well, when you see that list and had the privilege of attending some of the dinner sessions, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, attending some of the dinners through the years, it's really the who's who, who's been in Hawaii. And so the question of, you know, how do they decide this was a good one, never quite sure. But, you know, our industry hasn't been one that's been as recognized. You mentioned some of the developers that have helped develop the work, some of which we've had the privilege of building. But the industry as a whole has not. And today there are 40,000 people working in the construction industry in the state of Hawaii. It is a high level compared to not as high as sometimes in the past, but a very good level. And so to be selected, to represent not just our company, but also to a degree the industry, it's a privilege. It's an honor and it's certainly humbling as well. Yeah. The history of Hawaii, I mean, it's the respect not only, you know, I mean, I think a contracting company has been around as long as you have a project in a state where it's difficult to do projects. You know, it's not easy around here. It's, to me, I distinguish between two kinds of people in the word and you can listen. Well, one is the people who follow through. Mm-hmm. And the other is the other people. Good advice. Follow through others. And you have to follow through thick and thin. Yeah. It's easy to do things where things are well and the difficulty is through the ups and downs. Yeah. And that's one of the real challenges of the construction industry in Hawaii is that it, there are ups and downs, there are peaks and valleys and that's what makes it hard on the workers in the industry because of the uncertainty and how many hours they're going to have spend 10 years in the industry from 1992 to 2002 when things were not strong. Yeah. And everyone was concerned about where their next job is going to come from and the industry contracted significantly. And so that's challenging for everybody in the industry. So you appreciate the good times when you do have them or the greater activity. There are certainly challenges in those times as well as you can read about today in terms of executing the work when resources are limited, particularly the necessary staff to execute the work for contractors and owners. And so that, but again, you want to hold up your calendar? Sure. Well, for many years, one of the advertising things that we do is put together a tide calendar so people throughout the state know what the tides are. It's certainly part of our history. Tides in business or in the water? Tides in the water. Okay. So the fishermen and the surfers of the world, of Hawaii look forward to getting our calendar. I have it on good authority. It's the most accurate tide calendar published. There are others who pretend they make them. But I'm told ours is better. So it helps them do that, but it also features the many projects. And this year in the last couple of years, because a number of our projects go over a number of years, I mentioned Alamoana, but we're finishing in two months, both the 801 phase B as well as the collection. Both of those are topped off and are in their final finishing stages. But we're also starting other work. We have a rental car facility for the state on Maui, which is the largest single project underway in the state. But we're also doing a timeshare project for the Vistana folks, formerly known as Starwood, at Kanapali. And that's a major project as well. So busy on Maui as well as the Big Island currently. What I like about this whole thing with the Aloha Council and about the program on August 25th and about this show, it's the ying and yang. It's the people who have been in leadership positions and have demonstrated great skills and talent and leadership which Hawaii needs. We need that. It's really important and we need more of it going forward. We need young millennials too to stay around and become the leaders of the future. Because he's not going to last forever. I'm sorry I said that. And many people will say that's a good thing. So, I mean, you capture that when you have Bill sitting on the one side and Jason on the other side and they're comparing notes, then Jason has this exquisite opportunity to see real leaders in action rub shoulders with each other. Okay, see, I told you. How's it feel, huh? It's great. So, it's really brilliant that the Boy Scouts do this. So, a question. I know you're going to be making remarks there. And I'm hoping that you'll make just a pre-see of those remarks for us. Why don't you face camera? Let's see. Vivian. Vivian is that one over there. And if you could just talk to Vivian as if it were the 800 people into the valley of the 800 people. Well, if I do that too well, it won't come that night. So, I've got to leave the best part out, James. So, you're talking about a teaser to get people to come. Well, certainly, we've already covered a couple of things that I'm going to address a little bit. I think the other part of it is to thank the people throughout the industry that have made it possible for us to be successful. But also talk a little bit about some of the other activities that have been in through the years. And the effort to be sure that the community gets the support it needs to do the right things. Part of the theme is building dreams. And contractors don't decide what's built. Owners, developers, whether it's government or private entities, decide what's built. And then it's up to the contractor to figure out how to do it for less money and quicker than what I think is humanly possible. It's the challenge that we face. But it's what we grow up to do. And either we know how to do it or we'll figure out how to do it in the time frame we've got. It's the simple answer. There's a more glorious path to that. That's a teaser. But again, we couldn't do it without all the people that we work with all the time. And we all take a great deal of pride. All of us, not just the wine-dredging folks like Hawaii, what it is today and continue to be the best it can be in the future. I don't know if you're going to address Jason in the program on August 25th, but maybe you could take a moment and address him now and tell him what your advice is to him. He's a senior. He's got many years to explore his leadership capability. Well, Jason, I have three daughters, so I don't give advice to young men too very often. I've got three son-in-laws, but they're smart enough to marry our daughters. But with that, obviously you've learned a great deal. You've accomplished a great deal. And so I think the key thing is to figure out what it is you want to continue to do in life. Make sure it's something that you have a passion to do that you're going to love to do. You can make your way in whatever you choose to do. And I think as you do that, it's a cub scout, a boy scout as well as an eagle scout in terms of the leadership and the character that you've demonstrated. It's that character which will carry you through whatever you choose to do in the many years ahead. Wonderful. Thank you and touching. Thank you very much. Kimi, I'm going to let you close. What's it all about? Give us your thoughts about this discussion about the program on August 25th and about the notion of bringing them together once again. We're so lucky at Aloha Council that the Hawaii community has supported the scouting since 1910 since we've been around. This event is a huge one for us. We raised over half a million dollars and it's always been so, so successful. It's because of leaders like Bill who has kind of put themselves out there to be the honoree. It also has to do with the 12,000 kids that we support because it's so important that scouting stays alive especially now in this time of kind of uncertainty that our program I feel really, I'm a total believer that this program really builds the values and the substance for these young boys and girls to the kind of citizens that we want to have both in Hawaii and in the world. Thank you again, Bill and Jason, thank you so much for sticking it through and becoming Eagle Scout. You're going to be there Jason on August 25th? I believe I will be there. You're going to see this unfolding, all the notion of leadership and the history of the Boy Scouts and the history of leadership within the Boy Scouts, so no pressure. You already have the Eagle Scout designation. It's okay. Thank you so much Jason. Thank you Bill.