 Good afternoon. Howard Wigg, Code Green, Sink, Tech, Hawaii, Monday, November 8, 2021. Greetings to all of you on this beautiful Hawaiian day. Today, we're going to be talking efficient transportation. When you look at the Western European countries or Japan, they have our same standard of living, but they consume in Europe only about half as much energy per capita as we do with Americans, and Japan consumes about 40% as much. What in the world is going on here? A lot of that is that people in those countries are not nearly as dependent on a single person driving a car, sometimes for long distances. They have a lot of mass transit and a lot of good urban planning and so forth. That is what our guests will be bringing to Fair Hawaii. His name is Parker Koshima. He's a VISTA with us, and I will ask him to explain VISTA in a minute, and he is the Transportation Affordability Specialist. Very important sounding, and indeed he is doing some really, really good work. Parker, please introduce yourself, and just as a beginning, tell us what in the world a VISTA is because I've been really impressed, and some of our audience may want to take the opportunity to have VISTA people with themselves. Thank you so much, Howard, and glad to be here. Thank you for inviting me. Again, as Howard said, my name is Parker Koshima, and I serve as the Transportation Affordability Specialist in the Climate-Ready Hawaii VISTA cohort. I'm currently serving as an AmeriCorps VISTA, and VISTA stands for Volunteers in Service to America, and I'm in the inaugural Climate-Ready Hawaii VISTA cohort, which is sponsored by the Hawaii Climate Commission. So our cohort is made up of six members across the Hawaii State Energy Office, the Office of Planning and Sustainable Development, Department of Land and Natural Resources, and the Department of Health. And the main goals of VISTAs are to reduce poverty and to build the capacities of our host organizations. So in my position as the Transportation Affordability Specialist, I accomplished that by focusing on transportation affordability, access, and equity initiatives, and establishing working relationships between the State Energy Office, community organizations, energy industry, and other government agencies. So our VISTA cohort, we're coming up on the end of our year long term, but I'm happy to say that our cohort has actually been expanded to 10 VISTAs next year, including positions in Kaua'i Maui and Kaua'i Counties, with an additional VISTA leader as well. And I'm sure this cohort will accomplish great things and build off of the work that we've started. Yeah, and you've done great work. What if somebody in the audience says, hey, maybe I can use a VISTA, which from my perspective is getting into your office, a very, very bright young person just at the start of their careers, and gaining additional experience. So how can people get hold of the whole VISTA program target? Yeah, so the VISTA AmeriCorps has a website in which you can go through their portal and apply to start a VISTA program. So typically VISTAs are within in Hawaii, in state and county government offices, and nonprofits, and other private organizations. But basically if your organization is looking to expand your capacity, helping out vulnerable populations and not working with policy, that's one of our stipulations, not working with policy or providing direct services to communities. So for example, a VISTA could help establish a program that helps to provide community benefits, but they can't be the ones going into communities or residence homes and providing those direct services themselves. So if you're looking for folks to expand the capacity of your organization, you're working in fields like equity, sustainability, climate, things that deal with vulnerable populations, seems like the perfect fit for a VISTA. Oh, and as a sort of more of an inducement, your partner in VISTA Crime James just landed a job. You want to describe that job? Yeah, so he's going to be working with Representative Nicole Lohan, so moving out of the stipulations of VISTA and full-blown policy work. So I'm sure he's really glad to be both working in policy, which is something that he'd like to do, and also staying in the energy field, which is not what his original plans were, but his time in the energy office really helped to bring that out on him. So I'm sure you and the other folks in the energy office will be seeing a lot more from next year. He's going to regret the day we're going to get the heck out of him, yes. Okay, well, with that great background and Parker, I don't know what sort of opportunity will explode for you, but I pretty well guarantee it will. Let's get into transportation. You want to lead by bringing up your first slide and telling us what in the world you've been doing with us here. All righty, great. So today I'll be sharing a presentation with you all called Hubs in Hawaii, Enhancing Mobility and Resilience for Clean and Equitable Future. And so I was introduced to the concept of hubs first through mobility hubs early in my service and later through resilience hubs in Hawaii, and this all got me interested in creative community-driven designing of community spaces. So in this presentation, I'll cover the definition of hubs with a focus on mobility and resilience hubs and their intersection, samples of the current hub work being done in Hawaii, and also some of my ideas for the potential of hubs to support a clean, equitable and resilient Hawaii. So next slide, please. So what is a hub? Generally speaking, hubs are centralized, accessible locations that combine necessary amenities and services to best serve specific community needs. So you can think of it as the same idea of a hub and spoke per the name. Hubs provide a consolidation of resources and the capacity to reach out and connect with other hubs and the community at large. And the first step in designing a hub is to really listen to communities to understand what they have and what they need. So hubs should be community informed and context sensitive, uniquely designed for the communities that they're serving. They should also be trusted, safe and welcoming community spaces that foster social interaction in addition to their primary functions. And hubs really have the potential to tell fascinating stories about the places in which they're located while providing community benefits and advancing broader goals in climate, mobility and equity. And going back to that equity, equity is really at the heart of hub design. It stems from the fact that different people and different communities have different needs. So one size fits all solution just doesn't work. So in this image here on the left, this demonstrates the difference between equality and equity. In the top half, you can see that every person is given the same bike under the guidance of equality. And most of them are either uncomfortable in their situations or can't ride their bikes at all. However, in the bottom half, each person is given a different bike that best suits their needs and allows them to all ride comfortably. So this is a good way of picturing the difference between equality and equity. And equity considers the history, policies, power structure and culture of impacted communities and the address through the ongoing process of responding to these existing dynamics by developing tools and resources to meet those specific needs and uplift communities. So just keep equity in mind throughout this presentation because it's going to be kind of a guiding thread throughout the conversation. Next slide please. So now that we know the general idea of hubs, what types of hubs are there out there? So hubs come in a variety of styles which meet specific needs. And my research and this presentation primarily focus on mobility and resilience hubs. But as we'll soon see, the lines between these various hub types may not be as defined as we think. The first hub type I'd like to explore are mobility hubs, also known as multimodal mobility hubs. Mobility hubs are locations which provide convenient access to multiple transportation modes and related amenities to support safe multimodal travel. They can be integral pieces of the transportation system that connect people to the destinations and services that are integral to their daily life. Mobility hubs are often but not always built around established and reliable transit routes to allow for seamless transitions between high capacity public transportation and other transportation modes. And they often go hand in hand with transit oriented development or TOD strategies. Let me jump in and describe a situation I came across in Hong Kong easily 12 years ago. So Lord knows where they are now. What you would do in Hong Kong is go to a convenience store and buy a key card or any amount you wanted. You hop on a bus, you just point the key card in the direction of the fare box, beep, you're on the bus, you travel to a train station, you go to the train key card place, beep, you're on the train, you get off and here's a ferry, you know, Hong Kong has lots of ferries, you go to the key card station, beep, you're on a ferry, get off, beep, you're on another bus. Is that a perfect example or what? Yeah, exactly. Looking at ways to make transitioning between the modes as efficient and reliable as possible to support multimodal travel because a big part of folks not wanting to get out of their single occupancy vehicles, their SOVs, is that it's just so convenient to hop in your car and get where you need to go. But if we can strive to make systems and locations like mobility hubs support those various transportation services and that'll really help, you know, get people out of their cars and help towards both our climate and equity goals. So that's a great example, Howard. Thanks. Yeah, so going on, so mobility hubs can include transportation services such as electric public transit, accessible pedestrian infrastructure, micro-mobility options such as bike parking and storage and bike or scooter share, electric vehicle parking and charging infrastructure, and car share or ride share services. They can also include a wide variety of passenger amenities such as safe waiting spaces, real-time information, public Wi-Fi, transit-oriented retail, and also affordable housing. So a major benefit of mobility hubs is that they support active and multimodal transportation and make it easier and more convenient for people who may not have access to or are trying to transition away from single occupancy vehicles. This can lead to reductions in vehicle miles traveled or VMTs and their associated greenhouse gas emissions while supporting equitable access to mobility. Mobility hubs also incorporate ideas from many programs which aim to enhance clean, equitable, and resilient transportation systems, including complete streets, safe routes to school, and Vision Zero. And these programs address safety and climate concerns to areas core to the function of mobility hubs. And in my time throughout my VISTA service, I've also had the pleasure of organizing presentations from mobility consulting firms, Alta Planning & Sign and Nelson Nygaard to share their experience and industry knowledge of mobility hubs across the nation. So the Alta presentation is actually available on the Climate Ready for What You website, so you can check that out for further details about mobility hubs, including land use and siting considerations, implementation, and policy strategies, and also the role of mobility hubs in COVID recovery. Next slide, please. The next hub type I'd like to explore are resilience hubs, also referred to as community resilience hubs. So the Urban Sustainability Directors Network, or USTN, defines resilience hubs as community serving facilities augmented to support residents and coordinate resource distribution and services before, during, or after a disruption. When designed well, resilience hubs can equitably enhance community resilience by improving local quality of life, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, improving access to public health services, reducing burdens on local emergency response teams, and fostering community cohesion. Resilience hubs are tailored to the specific needs of communities, as are all hubs, and are often built around established, trusted spaces such as schools, public libraries, or community centers. They can include elements such as access to renewable electricity, food, water, and resource distribution, basic health and medical supplies, information and communication infrastructure, and logistical coordination capacity. An important thing to note that I mentioned earlier is that resilience hubs are designed to serve communities before, during, and after disruptions, such as natural disasters or global pandemics. Resilience often comes to light in times of disruption or recovery, but also plays an important role in everyday normal life. Resilience hubs can strengthen communities by providing safe and accessible spaces for events and programs, and can help communities become more aware of and familiar with resilient elements such as resource distribution and access to information and communication to better prepare themselves for worst-case scenarios. Hunter, let me jump in with a potential example. Some of our schools are, of course, well, not most, a lot of them are built of concrete, presumably very heavy-duty concrete. Might a resiliency hub include such a school as long as it's in proximity to other services so that in the event of a hurricane, and we know a hurricane is coming, I've lived here all my life, I absolutely know it's coming, might the school serve as a safe place to write out the hurricane, and then have other services right next to it? Yeah, yeah, schools are a perfect example of the potential for resilience hubs, especially in Hawaii with, with hurricane, with a lot of schools serving as, already serving as disaster relief centers and hurricane shelters. So there's actually one example that we'll jump in later with Kamuki Middle School on Oahu, but schools are already safe trusted community spaces, so being able to pull in some of those resilient elements to really build that capacity for both disaster relief and expanding their capacity for serving everyday resilience needs is a perfect example of ways to take already existing infrastructure and enhance it to better serve their communities. So schools are definitely one of the top places on the list for resilience hubs. Thank you. Yep, so next slide please. So we went over mobility and resilience hubs, but what happens if you combine these two hub types? After discussing these two hub types, the similarities and their functions and benefits of resilience and mobility start to become more apparent. So I like to elaborate on this connection by saying that mobility is an element of resilience and resilience is an element of mobility. While each of these hub types serve essential purposes and provide essential services and benefits themselves, the combination of these two opens the door for creative cost and space-efficient designs which can drastically shift the way we think about community infrastructure. And the same goes for any other type of hub out there, whether it be a food hub or an energy hub. Hubs by definition are places that combine various amenities and services to improve access and benefits. So it only makes sense that we should be looking for ways to more efficiently create community spaces which holistically serve all community needs. And in my time throughout my last year, I've had the opportunity to meet with folks around the state working on either mobility hubs or resilience hubs. And it's become clear that the silos created by various government sectors or industries and the insufficient collaboration between all of them can lead to oversights and hub designs. And I think that one of the things that's getting in the way is getting hung up on the terminology which may impede more innovative hub designs that meet wider needs. So maybe looking at it with broader terms like community hub could help to improve collaboration between sectors and allow for better creativity and resource-packed design ideas with hubs that serve the general needs of community, not just a well-defined and confined sector. So these various community hubs may include access to multimodal mobility, housing, food, social services, healthcare, energy, and recreation, just to name a few. And Parker, let me jump in with maybe the most important component of all for some of us, namely pets. We have a hurricane, we don't want to leave our dog or cat or our bird in the house. What happens then? Yeah, so maybe we should add pet facilities onto the list of resilience hub elements because that's a great consideration. And that's one reason why when designing a hub, the first step you should do is get out to communities and ask what do you have and what do you need? So if there's a wide consensus that we need safe places for our pets during disasters, during hurricanes, then add that to the list of elements to add to your hub. And pets is one example, maybe folks need dialysis clinics, maybe they need bike infrastructure so that if the roads are down, there's safe and quick ways to get between places. So really, community first design approach is the way to build hubs. So we'll keep pets in mind as well. We'll add that to the list of must includes. Next slide, please. So the goal of combining hub elements becomes more feasible when you introduce the idea of modularity. Components can be added through retrofits to enhance the existing functionality of a space, like we were saying with schools before, to provide more comprehensive services that weren't included in the original scope of these projects or buildings. So for example, you could take an ordinary bus stop with no additional features like this one here from whole E island. So adding a bike rock, improved visibility and accessibility of pedestrian crossing and accessible updated wayfinding information would give you a small mobility hub. Then you could add additional elements like a solar panel to the roof with charging stations for devices, public Wi-Fi and a basic medical kit to further enhance the functionality of this location. Creating a space that people want to be in, not just one that they need to be in. And really, when you take into this idea of modularity, the sky is the limit when factoring in all these different elements. So creating creative design elements and expanding the scope of how you look at hubs provides the opportunity to make efficient, low-cost adjustment adjustments to completely transform our community spaces. Taking that very, very simple structure, as an example, you have solar power to provide electrical outlets. Why not throw a few LED lights there? Time such that they only come on at night because this is a disaster. People don't want to be stuck out in the dark, at least in the vicinity of this shelter. They've got some light, they can function better and they feel a whole lot safer. Yeah, yeah. And even small additions like that. If you've already got the electrical infrastructure in there and solar panels, LED lights are such a small addition to make, but they make a huge difference in the functionality of the space and creating a safe and welcoming environment. So being really holistic and creative when thinking about hub designs is really important because you don't want things to slip under the cracks just because someone didn't think of it. And it could be such a small addition, but it brings huge benefits to the place. So LED lights, for example, are a great addition. Another consideration for hubs designs related to the modularity element is scale. So a hub in a dense urban environment with robust public transit and close proximity to a variety of destinations, such as downtown Honolulu, will look very different from a hub in a more rural location like Waimanawal. So the scale of a hub will be entirely dependent on the geography, population, and existing infrastructure of an area. And listening to communities again will provide the insight necessary to design an appropriately sized hub with the right amenities and services. Next slide, please. So now I'd like to take some time to look at examples of proposed hubs across the state. Many of these proposed projects and plans are mobility hubs, but as I've discussed before, mobility is a component that enhances broader community services and amenities to create comprehensive and cohesive community spaces. So first hub I'd like to share is included in the Conceptually Civic Center Mobility Plan, which is a core component of a larger redevelopment plan which intends to solidify the Lihue Civic Center as a mixed use civic and commercial anchor for Lihue Town and the island as a whole. So the proposed mobility plan will integrate mixed use TOD development, a mobility hub, and parking management strategies to create a cohesive and robust transportation network within Lihue Town and Kaua'i as a whole. This plan envisions a mobility hub and transportation network which support services such as transit, car share, ride share, and micro-mobility and connects to related amenities such as affordable housing and commercial businesses, a childcare facility, and the civic center itself. Future potential TOD development on nearby state properties are also being considered in the plan as modular elements. This project is also a great example of the potential for mobility hubs and their extended networks to build off of existing trusty community spaces to revitalize an entire community and provide safe and accessible mobility options. I'm also glad to share that the Lihue Civic Center Mobility Plan has received TOD CIP funding funds to procure a contract with the consultant to further develop this plan. These are federal funds you're talking about. Yes. So the next example also on Kaua'i is a proposed shuttle service and mobility hub project which aims to change the model of how visitors get around Kaua'i. The county is focused on reducing visitors' reliance on single occupancy vehicles by transitioning to shuttle services from the resorts to airports, local shuttles, micro-mobility options within resort areas, and short-term rentals or car share at resorts instead of weekly car rentals. Mobility hubs at the airport and within resort areas such as Puypu, Princeville, Hanalei, and the Copenhagen Coast could also act as endpoints of these transit lines, integrating shuttle services, other transportation options such as bike or scooter share, improved bike and pedestrian infrastructure, and the Kaua'i bus. These mobility elements could also serve resort employees, reducing their need for single occupancy vehicles as well. And this example shows the opportunity for hubs to address a specific industry or population, mainly the terse industry and visitors in this case, by identifying an existing need and area for improvement and developing cleaner and more equitable solutions to meet those needs. Next slide please. So moving on to Oahu, the city and county of Honolulu's proposed mobility hub plans center around the rail and the bus as strong transit backbones to create a safe and convenient mobility hub network. While there is potential for mobility hub elements to being incorporated in many upcoming TOD projects, there are two major upcoming projects, the Kalea Transit Mobility Plaza and the Kaua'i bus transit center and mobility hub and the form of which I'll share here. So the Kalea Transit Mobility Plaza will anchor the eastern end of the rail system at the future Alamoana rail station and aims to create an iconic plaza which serves many people and purposes. This image here shows one of the proposed designs from the alternatives analysis presented at a recent community meeting. This proposed design prioritizes efficient connections between the rail and bus systems, electric bus charging, bike and pedestrian infrastructure, passenger facilities including shelters, real-time information, wayfinding and fare machines and also safe and accessible pedestrian corridors for individuals with disabilities and transit-dependent populations. The Kalea Mobility Plaza's location in Alamoana and the connection to the rail highlighted as a notable example of a large-scale urban mobility hub with the potential to drastically shift the mobility environment of the downtown Honolulu and Waikiki areas. And this project is currently undergoing an alternatives analysis comprised of community engagement and multimodal assessments and is planned for construction in 2024 to 2026. Next slide please. The Kamuki Middle School is planning a micro grid project which will enhance its capacity as a disaster relief shelter, which we shared before, we were talking about before. And Kamuki Middle currently has a PV system connected to the grid, but this project intends to add a battery backup system and the ability for the PV system to operate independent of the grid for 8 to 12 hours depending on conditions. So the school will join the Diamondhead Post Disaster Energy Backup and Response Working Group, facilitated by Kapiolani Community College or KCC. And KCC currently houses a 1.74 megawatt grid independent PV and battery storage system in addition to a multitude of resilient hub elements including food distribution and emergency response capacity. So Kamuki Middle and KCC, along with nearby state emergency response facilities, will help to create a strong network of resilience in East Honolulu and serve as a great example of coordination to best serve a community. Next slide please. We'll just conclude by going over a couple of my ideas for the potentials of hubs in Hawaii. The first idea is for all existing and upcoming hubs to be designed as holistically as possible. And as I covered earlier, these elements can be thought of and implemented as modular additions to hub designs to comprehensively meet a wider variety of community needs, including mobility and resilience. In Hawaii, land use and development are understandably difficult decisions, so we should be striving to create or enhance spaces to efficiently serve many purposes. So if all hubs in Hawaii were designed with an open mind and creative ideas, we can only imagine the extent of community benefits. The second idea and one that I believe is especially important in Hawaii is to incorporate a strong sense of place in a hub. As I mentioned earlier, hubs have the potential to tell fascinating stories about the places in which they're located. And as we know, every place in Hawaii has a story to tell. Hubs are locations which anchor communities through their primary functions and the safe inviting spaces they create. So we should use these spaces to reflect the knowledge and voices of communities and help them feel like a second home. And here is a huge opportunity for communities to be heavily involved in the design of hubs. The level of richness gained by speaking with the kupuna and people who call or place their home to learn their mo'olelo can't be matched by any quantitative data out there. And after listening to and understanding these community stories, this could be implemented by bringing in local artists and architects to help design the aesthetics of the hub and incorporate stories in visually and culturally interesting ways. So hubs in Hawaii have a huge potential to shift the ways in which we view and design community spaces here in Hawaii. And by incorporating best practices from around the world, community knowledge and understanding and various hub types, we can help to create a clean, equitable and resilient home for all. Next slide please. I'd just like to thank you all for inviting me here today. And here's a list of some of the folks who have supported me throughout my time in my VISTA career and have also helped to compile this information and this presentation. But thank you all and thank you Howard for inviting me today. Great visionary stuff Parker. And this is part of a huge urban planning type of effort. And we know, and the big ones coming, we have not had a good earthquake in a long time. Now we're living right now in a Goldilocks moment. Things are not too hot, not too cold, the breeze is fine. And that just ain't gonna last forever. And the more preparation we can make before whatever happens, the better off we'll all be and we're gonna spend money on that. But the money we spend now just pays off multiple, multiple times in trying to clean up after a disaster where thousands and thousands of people urgently need help. So down to the very cherry note, Parker. Thank you very much from Cold Green, Sink Tech, Hawaii. Howard Wigg, see you next time.