 Hi, I'm Marianne Sasaki. Welcome to Life in the Law. You're watching Think Tech Hawaii. It's Wednesday, one to one thirty. And today we welcome somebody I've just been dying to talk to for months. So welcome to Hamamoto, the executive secretary of the neighborhood commission. Welcome to our little show. And I want to know everything. I'm so interested at the things that people can do on the community level. So I'd like to know exactly what you do, how did you come to do it, and what we can do to get involved. So just tell me about yourself and then how you got to be executive secretary. Yeah, first of all, thank you very much, Marianne, for having me on. It's a pleasure to be here. I guess just the background on myself and this position. I was appointed by Mayor Caldwell about a year ago. Oh, wow. So this is an appointed position confirmed by the city council. I've been having a wonderful time. Basically what my role is is I oversee the office, which in turn oversees the neighborhood board system around our island. We help with day to day operations, help people with questions and queries. Basically to help people get more involved in their communities via the neighborhood board system. Can you get things done at the neighborhood board level? Absolutely. What kinds of things can you get done? Like, if I have a stoplight, I have... No, I have a... I need a stoplight. I'm serious. I need a stoplight on my corner of McCulley and Dade Street really desperately. Is that where I would go? That is a perfect place to go. The neighborhood board basically addresses any concerns in the community, whether it be state or city or even federal. And as to can things get done? Absolutely, yes. On the one hand, the neighborhood boards are what they say purely advisory, so they don't have any power per se in terms of... Like governmental... Exactly, like our elected official. But although they are advisory in nature, I can say that government agencies such as the city rely very heavily on what advice the neighborhood boards give. Well they must be a conduit to the community, right? You have the ear of the community and you have the ear of the government. What's better? Exactly. What's more important? And just a few examples I can say. So for example, parks. We all have parks in our communities around our island. Now oftentimes in certain communities we have issues of crime, vandalism, which is very unfortunate. Now one way to address these problems is to close parks at night during certain times. Right. The Department of Parks and Recreation rely very heavily on what the neighborhood board... They basically leave it up to the neighborhood board to decide. Really? Yes. That's fascinating. Well sure, they say they're the eyes they can watch when times are good. The eyes and ears. Right, exactly. So there was a recent issue in the Chinatown community with the Smith Barrattania park. And the residents in the area thought, although they supported park closure hours, they wanted to adjust them so the community could enjoy the park more. Sure. So they went through the process and currently as we speak, parks with HPD and the neighborhood boards, they are working on adjusting the hours. Oh that's great to know because that's a funky little spot over there. I mean I go there all the time and sometimes at night I'm like... So yes, so by all means, yes, the neighborhood board can have a positive impact on the community. That's great. Now if you wanted to participate on a neighborhood board, what would you do? You mean being a board member? Yeah. I'm glad you asked that. So it just so happens next year 2017 is our next round of elections. Oh okay. So basically it's very liberal, very open, we're very inclusive. Basically you just need to be a resident of the area and over 18 years of age. Oh wow. But is there a process like, well first of all, is it the same as electoral districts or are they different kinds of, are the neighborhoods different? Yes. The neighborhood boards have their own districts. Okay. And so of course they overlap with council, state, senatorial, state representative districts to varying extent. So where can people find out what their neighborhood is? Can they go online somewhere? Yes, we have our website, or they can just call us. Our website is www.hanolulu.gov.nco or feel free to call us at 768-3710 and we'll be happy to let people know exactly what neighborhood board area is. That's terrific. I want you to say that number once more. Sure, I'll be happy to. So everybody, if you show them a call, you got a little problem in your name? Give them a buzz. Okay, 768-3710 and we'd be very happy to hear from people. He'll direct you to whomever you need to speak to. So, I guess, so there's an, so, I mean, I would, it would be great to participate, but how is participation to people? Is it full participation? Well, it's an elect, so these people are elected, so there is an election. It runs basically from between April to May. And within the past couple of years, we've moved to like an online type of voting, a safe paper. But, you know, keeping in mind that there are people out there, maybe some senior citizens who don't necessarily have access to computers. So we do make accommodations whereby they can call in or come into our office to vote. That's great. Did you ever serve on a neighborhood? Yes, I did. That's how, so tell me, why did you get involved and like what caused you to get involved and then how, did you always want to be involved? Just out of concern with the community, I was a member of the downtown Chinatown neighborhood board. I love it there. It's a wonderful place. And what's really wonderful about it is there's so many fantastic people, volunteers, business owners, residents who volunteer that time. As you're aware, Chinatown has its share of issues. Oh yeah, but you know, I'm from New York. It's nothing. But I think, you know, what's not highlighted so much in the mainstream media is the really positive aspect. Oh, I think it's terrific. It's growing. There's great restaurants there. The nightlife is great. I mean, I go there probably every week. I go there at least once or twice a week to eat. Sure. It's terrific, you know. Oh, business is a flourishing. Little business is a flourishing. I love to see that. It's a fantastic place with fantastic people and that's what really encouraged me to join. To just help to be a part of it. I think one thing I'm proud of that I accomplished in the short time I was on the board was I was one of the main proponents for getting that board televised. Oh wow. I guess in previous, previous years, for some reason that board was not in favor of having their board meetings televised. But I thought that, you know, we're here to serve the public. I think it's a terrific idea. And thankfully, the board bought into my suggestion and so to this day, they're still being televised. So where are they televised? Well, the meetings were at the Pawahi Community Center. And so now we contract with a videographer and they come in and they record it. It's not live, unfortunately, but at least it's recorded and they put it with the Olelo and their archives. Oh, nice. So people can have access to it online. Oh, great. That's great. Yeah, because I think people are fascinated by the way government works. And I know that when I'm watching whatever, C-span or whatever, you know, in Congress or even a courtroom, courtroom cameras, it's just, it's riveting because, you know, you're really seeing like how things get done and how people interact. And you, lots of times you think, hey, I can do that. I can speak up like that. Maybe I'll go down and, you know, participate. So it's really... Actually, it brings up, just earlier this week I had a woman just come into our office. She was concerned about the recent, I guess, the murder they had in Chinatown. And I guess, you know, she's a resident in the area, a new resident to the area. And she was very concerned. So she came into our office asking, you know, what can I do? So I, first of all, thank her for coming in. And I did point out that next week, Wednesday is the next downtown Chinatown neighborhood board meeting where you have representatives from HPD, your city council members, state representatives, all in one room. I said, that's the perfect venue for you to voice your concerns. So she was very thankful. She says, I'm going to attend. And I again, thank her for being concerned and willing to be proactive. We're very lucky here, I think, because the elected officials are very accessible. They come to meetings. They come, I mean, I've met senators. I've met state senators and had them on the show and representatives. And they're all just right there, readily contactable and they really want to contribute. You know, they really want to do their public service. So it's great if you can get everybody in a room together and have an audience like that. That's terrific. It is. And I really do commend our state representatives and senators, council members. I know a great many of them really see the value in attending these. And many of them attend in person if they can't, they send a representative. But by and large, they've been very attentive. Right. To these neighborhood boards. And so then the neighborhood commission oversees all the individual boards. Yes, correct. And so what does that oversight look like? Do you set the agenda? Well, actually the chairs of each respective board set their agendas. We help process it. On our staff, we have what we call neighborhood assistants. So these are people who actually go to the board meetings all over the island. We have 33 boards. Wow. Around the island. There's lots of opportunities for us to get involved. And every nook and cranny we have a neighborhood board. And what our neighborhood assistants do is they help the board chair to run the meetings. You know, there are quite a bit of rules. We have what we call our three governing documents. One is the neighborhood plan. Basically sets the overall policy rules. We also, in terms of parliamentary procedure, we adhere to Robert's rules of order. Right. And we also have the state sunshine law to make sure things are done in a transparent way. Right. So our staff is very well trained in these different documents. So they're there to help advise the chair and the board on how to conduct the meeting properly so that it is transparent. It is run orderly. Oh, that's true. So where do they get their training? In-house training. Really? Since I've gotten in, I've instituted quite a regimented training schedule whereby the staff has training at least once a week on different aspects. Really? Recently, I really wanted to step up our level of service we have to the boards. So I had my staff enroll in some parliamentary training. Oh, that's great. I'd love to take that. And I'm very happy to report, as of a couple of months ago, our neighborhood assistants were admitted to the National Association of Parliamentarians. Wow. That's a big honor. It's a big deal. So my goal is to really provide a high level of service to these boards. And rightfully so, because these people, they're volunteers. They don't get paid. Right. It just comes from the heart. Right. So I think it's our job to support them the best we can. Right. And anybody that's been involved in meetings knows how important Robert's rules of order are. Otherwise, you just disintegrates. It's chaos. Yeah, right. And it's a waste of time. You've left the kids with a babysitter. Or you're not watching your favorite show or whatever. You're going to a meeting and you're going to participate. And if it's not an orderly meeting, it's a mess. You're right. It's chaotic. So the fact that you care so much about that level of detail, as an attorney, I really appreciate that, because I love rules in order. Right. So, you know, that you can bring that to the community at that level is a huge contribution, I think. Yes. So that's one of our main functions. But also, yeah, just on a day-to-day answering phone calls from people advising them. But that's what we're basically here to help support the boards. We also, I also, since taking on this position, have put a greater emphasis on public outreach. Okay. Because this board system has been around since the early 70s, over 40 years. And most, I'd be very honest to say most people don't know they exist. Well, let's talk about informing people of how they exist and why they exist after we take a little break. Sounds good. I'm Marion Sasaki, life in the law. Come back in a minute. Hello. This is Martin de Spang. I want to get you excited about my new show, which is Humane Architecture for Hawaii and Beyond. We're going to broadcast on Tuesdays, 5 p.m. here on Think Tech Hawaii. Aloha. I'm Richard Emory. I'm with co-host Jane Sugimura of Kondo Insider, Hawaii's weekly show about association living. The purpose of these videos is to educate board members and Kondo residents about issues relating to association living. We hope they're helpful and that they assist in resolving problems that affect the relationship between boards and their residents. Each week, Thursday at 3 p.m., we bring you exciting guests, industry experts, who for free will share their advice about how to make your association a better place to live and answer a lot of very interesting questions. Aloha. We hope you'll tune in. You're watching Life in the Law. We're delighted to have Sean Hamamoto. Did I say that right, Sean? Perfect. Okay, perfectly. The executive secretary of the neighborhood commission with us, and just before the break, Sean was telling us how it's existed for 40 years, but nobody knew it was there. So how are we introducing people to this tremendous resource they have? It's, you know... So, yeah, thank you, Mary Ann. You know, I think ideally, you know, if this was a perfect world, I would have a huge media budget where I could do primetime commercials to advertise. You know, unfortunately, that's not the case. We were on a very slim budget. So my idea was, well, we're going to do what we can to get out there into the community. So on a few different aspects, one is we, at certain, say, community events, like, say, a Filipino fiesta, we'll have a booth, an information booth. People can come by. We can let them know what neighborhood board they're in. We can give them information. Oh, that's terrific. We do that kind of public outreach. Actually, if I can do a quick plug in a couple of weeks here in Chinatown, at the Cultural Plaza, October 22nd, there's a community Halloween event. Our office will have a booth there, too. Oh, that's terrific. I'll definitely go. Please do. Count me in October 22nd in Chinatown for a Halloween event. Terrific. Yes. Oh, that sounds great, because I'd love to see how, you know, you interact with the community and just see, I'd love a calendar of all the things you're doing. Okay, great. I'd totally keep my audience appraised of where you're going to be and what you're going to do. Thank you. Thank you so much for the stuff. Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. Because this is what we want to encourage. I mean, we're about community. You know, we're about, like, Ohana and the community. And so the more we can do to facilitate the voices of the community, you and I have the same goal. We want to hear the voices of the community. Exactly. We want people to be heard. And typically people who aren't don't have the platform to be heard. Sure. That's exactly what we're about. Right. Right. We have a lot of information booths. We also actively go out. We've just done a run of going to various Rotary Clubs around the island. Oh, great. Doing presentations at the Rotary Club meetings. Oh, great. We've done presentations for UH student groups, high schools. We have a wonderful PowerPoint where we really explain the structure and process of how the neighborhood board system works. Right. Another new initiative I had when I came on board is what I call community outreach. This is where we go into the community primarily to businesses, but it could be churches, community centers, medical offices. We just go out there in the community. We just stop by, knock on the door, introduce ourselves, and we just basically say hi. We're from the neighborhood board, neighborhood commission office. Have you ever heard of the neighborhood boards? Right. And we just start a really brief couple minute conversation with them just to bring awareness. And what we do is we've created posters to promote our neighborhood boards for each neighborhood board district. It's a picture of the actual board. Excellent. Oh, great. And we go out. So you might see them around town. There are these green posters that are about Ye Big. Right. And we asked, you know, these different establishments if they'd be willing to support their community by putting these posters up. Also, we have fliers that some businesses will give out to their customers. Oh, that's true. So it's a very grassroots, a low-budget effort. Right. It's a lot of sweat. Well, you know, that's how to reach the... That's what we do. You know, last night I was watching David Pluff, who was the public relations genius behind Obama's campaign. And they were talking about the problems of getting millennials to vote. And he said, you know what? This is how you get millennials to vote. You get more volunteers, and you get more volunteers out there, and you have one-to-one interactions. Because that's how people communicate with each other. That's how you draw people in. They're not going to be... They're not going to be drawn in by a TV ad or some, you know... They'll know that's just a TV ad. But if you have volunteers in the streets who are actually, you know, advocating for your candidate, that's the most powerful thing you can do. And that's exactly what you're doing. You're going out there. Yes. And I can probably say... So I started this initiative this past January. To date, we have visited over 800 establishments island-wide. Wow. Wow. We've put in a lot of effort. And people are... I'm sure very hospitable when you... Honestly, it's a mixed bag, and you have some people who could maybe care less, but you do have people who are supportive. I want to relate a story where we're doing outreach in Kaneohe, and we're on our lunch break and we're having lunch at a local restaurant. And as we were there, we got into a conversation with the owner about what we're doing, why we're here. He was so thrilled. He got our brochures, and he put it on every table in his restaurant. That's terrific. Let us put two posters up in his restaurant. Right. And it gave us a really warm feeling, and he's very supportive. Well, in a place like Hawaii, that's how we do business here. We do it with the personal touch. You want to be involved in something that you can see somebody's passionate about, that they're very hands-on. I mean, if you came to my office, or I was thinking, I belong to a club, and maybe you'll come speak to my club, the exchange club, and have the PowerPoint. But if you make that effort, people really respond. Yes. They really do. And people always ask me about getting clients, and I say, you know, it's the same thing. It's like you have to make that connection with somebody where they trust you, and they want to hear what you're saying. You know what I mean? They really... And obviously your message is so great. I mean, there's only an upside for people. There's no downside. Exactly. I mean, it's all about strengthening grassroots participation in government. So who developed this? How did this get developed? Or what was the... What was... You said it started 40 years ago? Yes. It started back in 72 or 73 under the Frank Fosse administration. Oh, okay. And that was the intent, was to encourage public participation in the decisions that government made. Right. So Frank Fosse was a brilliant man to have that foresight. Right, right. Yes. You know, I haven't lived here that long. So obviously I didn't live here when he was the mayor. But I've heard many things in terms of progressive thought that came out of his administration. And this sounds like one of those things that are progressive. So, but how did a guy like you get involved in public interest work? I mean, you could be working at a bank or some Wall Street firm or something like this. So how did you become involved in public service? Actually, I've been in public service pretty much my whole career in one form or another. So, yeah, I haven't had too much experience in the private sector. Really? And you always wanted to have a public service, Jeff? I just kind of fell into it, you know? I mean, after graduating college, one thing leads to another. Did you go here to University Park? Actually, no, I was a, I'm a graduate of HPU right here. Oh, terrific. That's really community. And it's a wonderful school. Yeah. And I guess just, yeah, over the course of my career, call it destiny or whatnot, but I just happened to get really involved in community issues. And I just really was, I think the word is inspired, inspired by seeing others taking, you know, their free time. They're not getting paid, but they're passionate. And they're really just looking out for the community. I was just so inspired by that. So I just wanted to do my little part in help. And I'm very happy for my position now. It's like a little forest fire. You should be. I mean, you have a tremendous position. I said earlier when I met you, I said, you're so young to have such an important position. I still think you were so young to have such an important position. But that's how group activism, community activism works. It works. It's like a forest fire. It spreads. And you initiate new people and those people, it's a paid forward kind of system. Right? And it's very rewarding. So that's, I like the, especially the younger viewers to hear that because I think that not enough people really understand the rewards of community service. And you know, there's like a lot of allure on television for, you know, material, glamorous jobs. And you know what, your job is, I'm sure satisfying. I'm sure it can be fascinating. But it's not a glamour job. It's not, you're not got, you know, in front of taking pictures in front of some, you know, on some TV station. And you're not, you're not even a politician. No. But, but important, very, very important, a very, very important person. It's just rewarding to see the improvements. Although things sometimes happen slowly because there is a process. But to see actual improvements that enhance, you know, the community's quality of life, starting from just a grassroots effort, starting from people that care, it's just a very warm feeling. Can you tell me about some improvements? Do you know some improvements offhand or not that you would use on that granular level? I have numerous of these small pocket stories. I'll share one with you. This would happen many years ago. I love pocket stories. They're my favorite story. So many years ago, this was probably a decade ago, but with this downtown neighborhood board, do you know where Lusatana and Pelage Street are, right above Queens Hospital? Okay. So there was a concern by a board member about the amount of kids playing in the street. Very dangerous, you know, with cars, young children playing in the street. And he noticed up the street, at the end of Pelage Street, was a vacant parcel of land that was owned by the state. So it took him a few years, but what he did was he created a mini park there to give these children a place to play. You know, he worked with the state and the city to, you know, get the transfer of the deed, got some playground equipment donated, got some nearby residents to agree to take care of the park. And to me, that's just a wonderful story of how this grassroots effort from a neighborhood board member One idea, one person's idea. Oh, there's a vacant lot over there. I wonder about that lot. And it really, you know, it greatly enhanced the quality of life for that small community. Well, that's a terrific story. Yeah, so very inspiring. Yeah, so people put your thoughts into action. I mean, I'm really revved up about it now. And I certainly want to go to the meetings and see what's going on. And, you know, because I, you know, I like neighbors. I like neighborhoods. I like when people are out and I know the older people in my neighborhood, the kids, I like to see the kids out in my neighborhood. And I like it to be a cohesive group. So, you know, to be involved in that way is very satisfying, I think. Yes, it is. Even if you can't serve on a board, you can just get to know the people in your neighborhood by going and seeing what's going on and supporting them in any way you can. And, you know, and I can honestly say that's one of the best things about this job is I've had the opportunity to meet so many wonderful people around the island that I wouldn't have known would have existed had I not had this job, but really fantastic people that serve their community from the heart. And it's just reassuring. It helps, you know, put your faith back into humanity. Right, exactly. Exactly, exactly. But there are these great people around the island. Exactly. When people are saying all kinds of gloom and doom and everything is good, and then you find people that are just spectacular heroes, quiet heroes. Exactly. Quiet heroes and heroines, but they're there. And it is, it's very uplifting. Well, you're one of them. Oh, thank you. So, thank you very much. Thank you for joining us. You've been talking to Sean Hamamoto. I'm Marianne Sasaki. This is Life in the Lodge. I'll join us next week 1 to 1.30 on Wednesdays on Think Tech. Thanks.