 Good afternoon. Welcome to Think Tech Hawaii's Movers, Shakers, and Reformers Politics in Hawaii series. I'm your host, Carl Campania. Welcome once again to the show. I'm calling this month, State Senate Month, because I'm very excited and thrilled to have, as my guest today, Senator Willis Barrow. Thank you for joining the show. Aloha, Carl. Thank you for having me. So thrilled to have you here today, because there's a lot to talk about. There's a lot going on in the state at the moment, and there's also an election cycle coming up. So of the things coming up, we've got the special session coming up for the rail. We can talk about that a bit, but I would like to talk about that from the perspective of the upcoming election cycle. So there has been some talk and some rumors about a number of different people. Last week we had Senator Josh Green on talking about his plan, that he's about 90% sure he's going to be running for lieutenant governor. There's been a lot of talk about yourself, and so I would like to give you the opportunity to tell us what your thoughts are on that, and then we can go from there. Thank you, Carl. I appreciate it. This is my, believe it or not, 26th year in government. I worked eight years under the administration of Mayor Frank Fosse, and this is now my 18th year in the state legislature. Three years in the House and 15 plus in the Senate. Okay, so all in the same location? I mean, out in the EVA area? Yes, yes, exactly. So as I look at the, I guess the second half of my career, you know, I'm 56 now, and deciding, you know, what will the next 10 years, 20 years be for myself? And I've always thought of the possibility of running for a higher office, governor or lieutenant governor, and with chance, it's really the current lieutenant governor thinking of stepping down next year to run for the Maui Mayorship. There is an opportunity being presented to myself and others for that matter. I'd say at this stage, well above 50-50, that we will be running for this race. I'm doing my due diligence, talking to supporters and friends and others, and I feel I have the leadership skills, the background and experience, and the enthusiasm and the desire to serve our state, to work with individuals like you and others, and to leave a positive legacy for our children and for future generations. It's getting pretty tough out there. We're becoming a state of haves and have-nots. It's true. That's very true, and that's been a growing thing actually for decades. Yes. And certainly now's the time to step up to the plate and to share and work with others in terms of ideas and thoughts. You talk about the rail. We are going into possible special session next month, the end of- The end of next month? Yes, end of August. And you know, this is about a plan for the future. Many of us are angry and mad at the cost of this rail. It was sold to us at three, four billion. Now we're hearing possibly eight to ten billion, and many voters are extremely angry and frustrated. But when you look at what this is about, it's about transportation, infrastructure, and mobility. In the next 50 years, there's going to be maybe 500,000 new residents on Oahu, and you know- What is that based on? Just the regular, you know, 10, 20,000 at least every 10 years. Every 10 years. Yes, exactly. And thus in a hundred years, our population is going to double. So we need to find ways to get individuals out of their vehicles, out of their cars, because we really don't have enough space for new highways. Right. From a transportation perspective, that's called- We need to come up with a multimodal transportation model to include, which is what we've got, the Bikki bikes out there at the moment. Right. Having a rail in place and eventually having rail spurs that go off in other directions. Exactly. It's potentially bringing back a super ferry, inter- and intra-island options there, finding many more ways to get people around the island and islands rather than what we just currently have now. And when you're looking at 20 rail stations, now you're looking at transit-oriented development, TODs. And those TODs are going to be key to building housing, high density communities. And this is where many of the 500,000, one million new residents I speak of will be living, especially when you want to keep the country country. You've heard that mantra many times. Absolutely. And it's then building along the southern, urban core. Which is one of the huge benefits and purposes for having the rail, certainly, where it's going at the moment as well. We know we have a housing shortage, so there's a number of people who currently live here who are looking for, who need a place to live, who are looking for opportunities to even grow in a place that they're living in. And just having more units available can also help with the costs of that as well. So, number one, it's coming in and coming up with, okay, well, how are we dealing with the affordable housing portion of it? Just new housing is one thing, but having it be affordable, talking about whether it's rent controlled options or anything along those lines to help the current local people find better ways to advance their lives. Right. And the state, we are the biggest landowner along the rail. When you look at the Mayor Wright Evalet project, which is going to be Lileha and King Street from 350 units to 2,500 units, that's going to be the first TOD project. And then other state properties include UH West Oahu, the stadium, and eventually Leeward Community College and Lileha Community College. So there's going to be many opportunities for the state to get into building affordable rentals. That's an area that I'm looking at now. We've had some hearings and there's a major demand for affordable rentals, as you know, especially at the lower end for the poor, the low income. And really if government doesn't take the initiative, the private sector will not. They won't because it's about their bottom line. Exactly. And they're looking at more, if anything, workforce housing. Whereas the low income, you know, the poor, the Section 8 type individuals, you know, they need some subsidies and government assistance. They definitely do. That's a whole other topic and I would love to actually have the entire episode talking about housing. We could do that. And so I would love to invite you back for that, to talk about just that. But let's go back a little bit. You talked about 26 years in elected office, starting in city council and then going through... Well, 18 and elected eight years with Mayor Fossey. Oh, there you go. There you go. Okay. Please just elaborate more. Tell us a bit about the time you spent under Mayor Fossey and then when you in the house, a seat that you had. Tell us about that and then how you transitioned into Senate. And you're currently the vice president of the Senate, correct? I'm the majority floor leader. Majority floor leader. But I'm chairing the housing committee and I'm the vice chair of the Transportation Committee. Excellent. Okay. So I used to be the vice president, but when I was the vice president, I didn't have a chairmanship. Got it. So I was offered... Why do you get to dig into issues? Exactly. Now I get to get into the housing, which is, you know, one of the major issues of our time. But I started out under Frank Fossey. He hired me when I was 26 years old. Put me in charge of Oahu's Neighborhood Board System. Okay. So that was a great opportunity. I'm very young and enthusiastic and bright-eyed. I got to meet people all over the island from Waianae to Waikiki, North Shore, South Shore, everything in between. And an opportunity to see democracy and grassroots government, you know, at its best. Now I know sometimes some of these neighborhood board meetings can be pretty contentious and wild. But generally speaking, board members do have their community's interest at heart. They want to do what they feel is best and it's a great opportunity for local community residents to interact with elected officials such as myself and other government officials. It's a great place to make sure the community is having its voice heard. Right. With the issues that are coming up. So I'm all for that. I currently sit on my neighborhood board. This is my second term, just elected. And that's the, for me, that's the most important part of it is when we hear from the community members when we talk with them and we're able to then convey the information and have a good conversation in those meetings and even outside of those meetings about the issues with our very selected officials to help solve problems. In 1999, my state represented back then, Paolo Shiro. He resigned midterm and took a job with the private sector. And at that time, I was fortunate enough to be appointed by then Governor Ben Cayetano to fill the remainder of the seat. Which house he was at? Ebbabeech. Basically, Ebbabeech while I'm part of Waipahu. But now I just represent Ebbabeech because of reapportionment. And as my district has grown population-wise, geographically it has shrunk again because of more density. So I was in the house for three years and then I ran for the state senate and I was again very privileged to win election in 2002. Was that an open seat? It was an open due to reapportionment. Reapportionment was an open seat. So a new one opened up. So that you had to run against a few people. Right, right. And thank goodness I am here now. I've been here since. And over the years, I've chaired public safety, intergovernmental-middle-lateria affairs, economic development, and now I'm doing housing. And I've had a wonderful career and a great opportunity to help with many issues. I'm proud to say that I have had 95 bills passed since my beginning and I'm hoping with one more term left to try to hit that magic number of 100 bills. 100 bills? Wow, there's an achievement. So put that up on the wall. It's possible I think if we could get five bills. Over the years I've, you know, it's been anywhere from three or four to to eight or ten bills a year. So it adds up over the years. And if I can take what I've learned in the state legislature and then transfer that to the fifth floor to the lieutenant governor, I think that would be a wonderful opportunity to continue working for the people of Hawaii, but basically at a different level. And to use my soapbox on the issues that I've been working for over the years, currently police reform. That was going to be one of the things you and I know you and I have had conversations right criminal justice reform and really everything surrounding the prisons and the whole other area exactly as well. That's another show I would love to do. And building an aerospace industry. Next year there's a strong possibility Hawaii will get a spaceport license from the FAA and Kona Airport on the Big Island will be designated as a spaceport site if that approval process goes as planned. And thus creating a new industry space tourism, a niche market where individuals will be able to fly into lower earth orbit, feel weightlessness and come back. It's a niche market, no one's doing it yet. How long has that been under development? Oh, probably a good four or five years at least. And there are companies out there who have expressed an interest in coming to Hawaii and setting up shop. Yeah, SpaceX, Elon Musk, they're very interested in trying to do that. And what's his name, Virgin Galactic. That's right, that's right. Richard Branson. Richard Branson, right. And there's a few others. So we're hoping that that is one of the aerospace initiatives that gets off the ground soon and even this year we are funding a study to do possibly small satellite launches too out of Hawaii because this is the perfect place to launch small satellites because you could do an equatorial launch towards the equator or you can do one north. I forgot the term, but in the other direction, from the big island. And with the ocean around you, you don't have the problem of anything going astray and hitting civilians or cities. So there's a few endeavors where a leader in unmanned aerial systems were one of seven test sites in the nation for unmanned aerial systems and trying to develop that industry, which is in its infancy as well, where you see uses not only for recreational, but in business, in government, agriculture. Exactly. I know that a lot of the work that I've been doing lately, we've been using the drones to help us get 3D imaging of buildings and facilities as we try to because we build PV systems. Exactly. There's so much that you can do with drones, but the population is concerned about the privacy issue and making sure people aren't spying and peeping toms, but we already have laws in place for that. But we have to allay their fears and this is something, a discussion that's going on locally as well as nationally as you know. Definitely. So it's time for a break. So again, thank you for joining us and thank you for joining us. This is Think Tech Hawaii's Movershakers and Reformers Politics in Hawaii series. Once again, thank you to our guest, Senator Willis Barrow. And when we return, we're going to talk a bit more about the LG race and the ideas that are going to be put forward and maybe some platform thoughts. So we'll see. See you in a minute. You're watching Think Tech Hawaii, which dreams live on ThinkTechHawaii.com, uploads to YouTube and broadcasts on cable OC16 and Ollello 54. Great content for Hawaii from Think Tech. Welcome back to Think Tech Hawaii's Movershakers and Reformers Politics in Hawaii series. Once again, we are having a great conversation with Senator Willis Barrow. Once again, thank you for the show. Welcome. And so let's now dig in to the Lieutenant Governor race. You're saying you're above 50% thinking that you're going to be running next year. That will be kicking off probably much sooner than next year, as that really begins. But tell us, start by telling us what you perceive the role of Lieutenant Governor to be and then what you would want to do as Lieutenant Governor. Sure. Thank you, Carl. Well, the Lieutenant Governor is there to support the Governor. He's the number two person and when the Governor is not in office, the Lieutenant Governor takes over temporarily, of course. But I'm willing and able to work with any Governor, any Democratic Governor who will be in office. There are so many issues impacting us. As I mentioned earlier, we're becoming a state of haves and have nots. And, you know, two of the biggest issues I'd like to continue working on that I'm working on now, for example, are housing and transportation. We're going through this pivot, in my opinion. It's a 10-year pivot in terms of where we're going to develop housing, how quickly we're going to be able to develop it. And we're looking at elderly housing, housing for our young families, housing for the low income, and housing for the middle class. We need to set some policies, provide incentives for developers where we can. The state owns a lot of land where we might be able to provide that very cheaply or at low cost. Transportation, you know, we're not only talking about the rail, you mentioned it earlier, it's a multimodal approach. Carpooling, bicycling, walking, maybe in some cases doing more telecommuting because of technology. There's no reason why every home cannot have a computer, a scanner, a printer, a skyping ability where you can literally talk face-to-face. And as our population grows, the transportation infrastructure, do we build new roads? Do we widen roads? Do we double deck? How are we going to get people from point A to point B? Because, efficiently and safely, right? Exactly. Because right now, for example, with a population of close to a million people, we've got almost a million cars that are registered. This is just on a wall. Right. Now imagine an additional 500,000 people. Does that mean there can be an additional 300 or 400,000 cars? We have to find ways to get people out of their cars. And that's not accounting for the tourists and the car rental? Exactly. And thus, you can see where, if we're stagnant, if we have traffic congestion, if people are basically in parking lots, so to speak, on the roads, it can be detrimental to our economy. You know, it can hurt small businesses. We need to make certain that as we plan for the future, you know, we look at what's right for not only five years from now, 10 years from now, 20 years from now. So when you look at the rail, you're looking at a structure that's going to probably be around for the next 100, 200 years. You're looking at a right of way that'll be around for the next 300, 400 years if humanity survives that long. And we're talking future, future generations. Not to mention the climate change effects that are coming in on that. But, you know, it's an issue that we do have to tackle and hopefully in the special session we'll come up with some legislation that, you know, I'm thinking possibly not only the general ex-heist tax that half percent, that most of us really aren't feeling right now, but also having the tourists pay more. They do pay the general ex-heist tax. But how do we do that? Well, the idea of the TAT, the hotel tax has come up. So you can see a potential hybrid there. I even think that in the future we should look at maybe advertising, you know, on the rail structure itself, because there is room where you could put small signage that you could sell and give that back to the people in terms of maybe subsidizing rides for low income or the elderly or whatever the case may be. Everything can help operational costs. Exactly. That's definitely used in other cities that have rail systems where you've got a range of... Now, we can't put billboards up. We're not currently allowed to put billboards up, but we can certainly put signage up in various locations and we can utilize that. And from what I understand a lot of the stations are going to have monitors, TV monitors as well. That can be used in various ways to support. By the way, you're on your way into Waikiki. Were you aware of that? You can visit this and this and so forth. Right. Well, I do expect that rail transit will become a destination. So for the tourists that come into town, one of the things the concierge will say is, oh, go ride the rail because you could probably ride it for X amount all day and literally go from Kalihi to Kapolei, UH Manoa one day, to UH West Oahu and everything in between on one ticket. That's the value of the rail system. And people don't have to worry about parking or gasoline or other problems that could be associated with owning and using a vehicle. Definitely. And it also adds to that. Let's go back to the TOD conversation. With that, you've got each stop. So we're going to take a stop off in Kalihi at the moment because there's been a development in Kalihi. Certainly, if something happens with OCCC and that whole area gets redeveloped into a multi-use I guess residential and commercial center, which some people talk about, it becomes a destination. So I want to take the rail from Al Moana or from Waikiki to Kalihi area because I want to go visit the stores and the shops in that quaint little area that has its own cultural feel as well. So that itself, so the sort of transit oriented development that could be planned in that regard, thinking about it in those perspectives can open some doors. Is that something, is that how it's being talked about in that square building? Well, you know, transit or each transit oriented development in each neighborhood will in itself also be a destination. And if you look at all of the different neighborhoods and the diversity of our people, they can be very diverse in restaurants, you know, in stores and shopping. I can see government offices and non-profits and just a slew of opportunities if you're an entrepreneur, if you're a small business person you will have literally not only the local people that will use the rail, but as you said earlier, the tourists. And with close to nine million tourists visiting our state, I'm going to guess easily one third of them will probably use the rail at one time or another. And as you say, it will be a little bit of a destination into itself. And as we have more spurs that go into more locations, get out to the, yes, getting out to Kapolei, yes, going to Aloha Stadium, if you want to do that. But the other neighborhoods that other neighborhoods along the way, because some, absolutely, it just opens that door to those possibilities. And I could see those spurs, those spurs don't have to be elevated. From my perspective, you can have an at-grade spur that maybe goes from South Street wherever it may go or along Barrickania or King Street at-grade and thus saving money in the long run. Absolutely. And in some areas, it's actually much more beautiful to really experience it at grade level as opposed to being up high. Much more experience as you come through there. It's like, well, I'm not stopping, I'm not getting off at this stop, but you know what, I got to see this neighborhood as I went by. And now maybe next time as a tourist, I'm going to come by, I will stop at that one as I go. So it provides those glimpses into these communities as well. And I'm getting back to what else I'd work on. Yes. As you mentioned, and we've stated, you know, I've been doing a lot on police reform, law enforcement reform, prison reform, justice matters. And that's an area that I also want to continue focusing on and concentrating on because we're talking about, you know, the safety and security of our neighborhoods. Absolutely. And even more so- Well, it's not just that. I think maybe what you're going to, it's not just that. As you and I have talked before, it's also about the number of local, specifically Native Hawaiian men and women who are in prison, in jail, but sent off to the mainland somewhere. Exactly. Rehabilitation is so important. Absolutely. And we need to focus on, you know, taking that individual who has made a mistake and help them to become a productive member of a society because everyone deserves a second chance. And all of us know, if not a family member, a neighbor, a friend, a co-worker who has been in trouble. And, you know, if we can stop that revolving door, we can literally save millions of dollars in prison costs. Absolutely. If we find different ways, if we have shorter terms that they're in prison because of a rehabilitation program, we found different ways of getting them and getting them back into and enculturated back into the society to be a productive member. I mean, those conversations go on at multiple levels. And I thank you for- I know that it's been a big part of what you've been working on. And one area that I'd like to continue, safe zones. Right now, the city and state have not been supportive of safe zones for homeless. So we're passing laws, no sit-and-lie. You can't sit here, you can't lie here. We're pushing the homeless out of neighborhoods and communities, but there's nowhere for them to go. Nowhere for them to go. They end up coming right back there. And what gets hard to hear about, and we have to wrap it up in a minute, but what gets hard to hear about is when- from the neighborhood board level, when community members come up and talk about the fact that they keep seeing the homeless communities and they keep coming back and they want them gone. My immediate reaction is, well, we want them gone, yes, but what we want is to have them taken care of. We want to have the opportunity for them to be getting back on a path to the taking care of themselves as well. And it can't be just a matter of sweep them out of way. I don't want to see them. So having that housing solution and having a way to really approach that is a huge, huge challenge that we're working on. In closing, if I may, if anyone would like to chat with me or have me attend the meeting, I'd be happy to share my thoughts. 2949073 is my cell, so it's out there now. 2949073, and I'd love to talk to people about 2018 and hear their thoughts and see what they want to see our elected officials do. Obviously, that's what's most important to hear from our constituents. From our constituents, because we are representing them. Yes. That's right. Well, thank you so much. Thank you, Carl. I truly appreciate it. I'm sorry that the show has to come to a close. Please, let's come back and let's schedule some issue-specific sessions going forward, and I would love to talk more about each of these. So thanks again for joining us. Senator Willis-Barre joining us. Thank you for joining us to think tech-wise movers, shakers and reformers, politics and Hawaii series. We'll be back next week with, we'll finish out our Senate week with Senator Glenn Wilkine next week, so we'll see you then. Thank you.