 Hello, and welcome to another edition of Think Tech Hawaii here on Pinoy Power, Hawaii. We come to your home live from 12 noon on Tuesdays, and it's a wonderful, special day today. We have a very special guest, he is well known in our community in the state of Hawaii for doing such a remarkable job in leading and also serving our community as a council member. So without further ado, I'd like to introduce to you Brandon Elefante. Welcome to our show, Brandon. Thank you. It's a pleasure to be here. It's a pleasure to have you. And I want to thank you from the heart for coming and helping us with our empowerment. We have a five-fold mission. We aim to enrich, enlighten, educate, entertain, and empower. So today we would like to hear about Brandon Elefante. Thank you. Yes, it really truly is an honor to serve on the Honolulu City Council. And before I became a council member, I actually started off growing up in the district that I currently reside in now, and went to public schools, graduated from my high school, and went away for school at St. Mary's College of California. And it was during my time actually at St. Mary's, it's located in the Bay Area, it's a smaller part of the school, where I was able to connect and find more of my passion. So we're able to co-found a Hawaii club. I was a resident advisor. I got involved for a Catholic Institute for Lesallian Social Action, which meant that we went out and reached out to different populations of our group in terms of getting people out to vote, or people in marginalized communities, and got to know the history of the Bay Area and around that, and also working with different homeless shelters in Oakland and in San Francisco at St. Vincent de Paul, and also Dorothy Dayhouse in Berkeley. So I was able to kind of gather sort of a wide perspective on life beyond Hawaii. And I always knew that I wanted to come back home, and so I had the opportunity to come back home. I thought I actually would stay in the San Francisco Bay Area much longer than just college itself. And I look at those years as formative years for me to develop my passion for where I am today. And so I came back home. I was a high school teacher at Damien Memorial School, and then was also a coach for several years, and got involved in higher education, and I was figuring things out on my own in my life. I knew that I was called to serve and share the gifts and talents that I have with the broader based community, and not just in the classroom. While I do miss teaching, I do see some of my former students and also volunteered at my local church as well as a teacher. What I do now really brings everything in perspective in dealing with different types of issues, different concerns, challenges, as well as successes. So I'm very grateful for my experience over the years that led me to where I am today, and had it not been for those experiences of teaching and higher education, and working in the state legislature for a session, and as a staff member to my predecessor, who is now state senator, Breen Harimoto, I think that really empowered me in a way to learn the position that I'm in and learn to embrace it and learn to serve it honorably and to give back to the community that I grew up in, and that's given me a lot so that in turn that I can give back to them. Wonderful. I could sit here and just listen to all of the empowerment that you've done so far. So and you're only 21, right? We are talking about being called to serve, so early on you knew that you had those leadership ability in you to serve and to lead. How did that come about? It came about from really just the efforts of my family. I grew up in a family that my mom was a single mother. I never met my dad growing up, and so she often struggled at times to make ends meet, and she knew that she wanted the best for me, and to place me in the right environment or conditions to set me up for success and life after high school and whatnot. And so because of her and my grandparents and her siblings, they were able to really care for me and raise me as a family and being that I'm the only grandchild, even more so my grandparents felt a more way to kind of help guide me along my way. And they've come from a long background of being in the community for many years, but prior to that they immigrated from the Philippines, like many of the people that we see here that live in Hawaii from different parts of our world that have come to Hawaii, and really it's a melting pot that we live in here today. I mean, it's a paradise, and that's something we're truly grateful for. And so they taught me those values of honesty, integrity, hard work, being kind to others, treating everyone with respect and dignity. So those things that I've learned at an early age and through those different values have taught me life lessons down the road and to hold true to those from foundations. So I'm very grateful, and I love them dearly to this day and will always do. And they're a very important part of my life. And I'm grateful for what they saw in me to help prepare me for where I am today. So wonderful to hear about your grounded upbringing with those sound values coming from an immigrant, immigrant family. It's another success story of how someone who's really determined to make it in a foreign land or strange land can have a success story. And listening to your upbringing, Brandon, you know, you never use the fact that your mother was a single mother, never use it as a crutch and say, well, I feel sorry for myself. You know, I didn't have a father figure. In your case, it served like a strong force to not have a father figure because it looks like your grandfather and all the uncles and aunties kicked in to make up for that loss. That's correct. Yeah, you know, they all pitched in to help wherever they could with their strengths to help raise me and also support me in my dreams and goals. And look at you, a strong role model who's done very, very well at an early age and that goes to show that education really has its place. And in your case, it really brought you into this area now where you continue to serve and with the endorsement of the Honolulu Advertiser, if I may say? Yes. Yes. Tell us about that. So I'm very grateful for the Star Advertisers endorsement for me again to serve on another four years. I'm very grateful for that. And not every issue is that I may see, I know, in that sense, what I think what I'm grateful for is that I've gained their trust and confidence to be able to continue to do the work that I love and to serve the people of our city and county and the area that I grew up in, in the IAEA ProCity area. And I also represent Waipahu too in each council district as its sets of issues in different communities and we work through them. And so I'm very grateful to have that, very honored to serve and look forward to new things and new goals that we want to set. Many things that we continue to work on to continue to work hard and strive for, what I want to do is leave a positive legacy behind and know that what we got it in when I got into office is that we leave it behind in a much better condition for the next person in that sense. So I'm very grateful for that endorsement by the Star Advertiser. And so it's very good to hear that and see that positive news. Okay, well, wonderful, wonderful story. And I know that all eyes are on you. They're really following your success story because a lot of the young ones, especially the youth, are really following you and tracking your progress. And this coming general election will, certainly, we look forward to that. And I know that there are a lot of people that are out to give you support because they want to see you continue on and also move on to bigger things. Thank you. Yeah, and I would say on that note, Emmy, is that it's important for young people to really connect and get involved in their communities and be a part of something, whether it's a club, volunteer organization, or more importantly, important for the young generation especially. I myself, you know, I'm a millennial kind of on the older side of the millennial category. What it's important for that population to get active, get connected and get involved by voting. And if they're not able to, because of their age or whatever it may be, to at least get active in a way of educating themselves so that they can share that knowledge and information with others. And so, when I go and talk to different schools or different groups, I like to plant seeds in a way of, while some of them may be young in terms of not ready to vote yet, I share my experience and what I do and impart that knowledge to them to really get them excited about how much of a difference that one person can make, you know, and one vote can make in any type of thing, or them speaking out for themselves, or them advocating for their dreams and goals, or advocating for their concerns. So those are very important, and I think a lot of that has to continue to resonate as we go forward. Because truly, it's going to be up to all of us to work out, you know, the issues in the community and strive for success in that way. So listening to you sounds like farming, you know? And that's what I do on my spare time. I like to listen to you, and you talk about planting seeds and making sure that you start with a good seed. And then the things that you need to do necessary. And you've got to continue to water it and take out all the weeds, you know, unnecessary things that are around there, yep. But those are really important steps to seeing constant progress, or at least see the fruit of your hard labor. At least for me. Thank you. As a farmer. Well, I know that you've done your rounds going to different schools and also share your story with these young children, especially, the hope of our future. What is the reaction that you get when you speak to the young ones and you talk to them about fulfilling their dreams? It's really encouraging to see on their reaction and that there are people around them, not just myself, but their teachers, their support staff, their counselors that really care about them. As a former teacher, you know, when you show a student that you care about them, no matter what state of condition that they're in, if you show them that you care and give that extra effort and believe in them, it's always a mindset in that sense. So they get encouraged by that as I talk to, whether it be student leaders or students or those coming up and want to do more and just not sure how to do that. So my message is of inspiration and hope to them so that I can inspire them so that they can go on and contribute to our society in different ways by sharing their gifts and talents and being a good steward going out there. So I think when I share with them and get feedback as well, they are really shocked because they get all this information and things that they're not aware of, of what the role of what cities do or what my role is as a city council member and how I can impact communities in positive ways and how do I address different things and how they can make a difference and how they can voice their things at their school level or clubs or even in their own home and having conversations with their parents or family members or friends, even so. And so I've seen that firsthand in working with different organizations and clubs at schools and being able to connect with them and advocate for their issues. Wonderful. It is important to continue nurturing and guiding them along the way so they will blossom into their full potential. We're going to continue our conversation with Brandon Alafonte after these short messages and we will talk about some of the bills or laws that he helped to pilot. We will be back here on Pinoy Power, Hawaii, here on Think Tech, Hawaii. Hello, my name is Stephanie Mock and I'm one of three hosts of Think Tech, Hawaii's Hawaii Food and Farmer series. Our other hosts are Matt Johnson and Pomai Weigert and we talk to those who are in the fields and behind the scenes of our local food system. We talk to farmers, chefs, restaurateurs and more to learn more about what goes into sustainable agriculture here in Hawaii. We are on at Thursdays at 4 p.m. and we hope we'll see you next time. Hello, everyone. I'm Yukari Kunise, host of the Japanese broadcast of Think Tech, Hawaii. I'm hosting this show on Monday. I'm hosting this show on Tuesdays at 4 p.m. and I hope you'll be able to watch it on Tuesdays at 4 p.m. Hello, everyone. Welcome back to Pinoy Power, Hawaii, here on Think Tech, Hawaii. I'm your host, Emi Ortega Anderson and it is a pleasure to have with us a young, prominent leader who's making a wave, making a big difference in living and of course living legacy for others to follow. So Brandon, thank you for that wonderful story that you have shared from your immigration story and how your family has really helped to build a solid foundation to help you with your leadership and of course look at your fine young men. And I always mention in our conversation that if I had to pick a son-in-law, you would be the one. Thank you. Thank you, Emi. He's the one. He's the bomb. We are going to look deeper into some of the wonderful accomplishments that Brandon have done in his first four years serving as a council member. Please walk us through with some of what you have piloted or initiated. Thank you for that question, Emi. We've done a lot in the last four years and prior to that, eight years ago when I first started at the council as a staffer to former council member, Breen Harimoto, who's now the area state senator, we worked on a lot of things leading up to what we've accomplished today. One of the first things when I got into office back in November of 2014, seems like it was a long time ago, but I feel like that was only like a few months ago. Yes, I remember starting out with you and I was one of your biggest cheerleaders. Yes, thank you for that. Okay. And one of the first things that I was able to accomplish and collaborate and work with the administration and also a city in the Philippines was establish a sister city relationship with Kandon city Philippines and we're able to partner with them. And you know at the city we have different sister city relationships and that's where some of our first cicadas came from. I have a grand uncle who came from Kandon, came here as an engineer married into my grand aunt. And so there's a lot of history behind people from Kandon or the Philippines coming here. So we're able to establish that connection and partnership with Kandon. And so that was really awesome to see that and connect with that and accomplish that. I've also worked on numerous things with includes our refurbishing of our city parks, which includes playground equipment, our restrooms, we're able to get a key lease agreement signed with the United States Navy for the Pearl Harbor Historic Trail, which really is a gem. And if those that are watching have it in there, I would encourage you to stop by and take a look. It starts where kind of Rainbow Bay Marina is by McGrew Point and goes actually all the way as far as Nanakuli as well. But those sections are not really paved or nicely paved or constructed. But for the majority of the section in the IEA Pro City area, we're able to sign a long-term lease agreement with the Navy to clean up the efforts there, restore it. And actually this coming Saturday there's a clean up effort along the trail. So those that want to volunteer can assist in that effort as well. But so we're able to accomplish that and put funding for that. Aside from that, we're able to get key road repaving in the district, repaving our roads that were in dire need of repair. Also our sewer infrastructure, we're with a federal consent decree. So we're able to get a lot of those major repairs that were mandatory to comply with with the federal EPA consent decree that we have to do and upgrade our sewer system. And so there have been other things in focusing on seniors as well and looking at ways that we can look at visitability, which makes accessing a home with the restrictions, maybe zero entrance or how things are more friendlier for seniors as they age in place. So I was able to be a part of the age-friendly cities committee and participate and offer my comments. And as a person seeing what it's like and connecting with my grandparents and seeing what they go through, granted that they are healthy and active in their 80s, sometimes life can bring challenges too for those that may not be mobile in that sense. So we have to accommodate for that. So I feel very grateful for those district-wide accomplishments that we're able to get. And from a policy perspective, we're able to look at making areas safer. So I've been supportive and we're able to get one of the first city and counties to have a ban on banning your cell phone in a crosswalk. Yes, I'm that guy who introduced that and advocated for that. Before we get into that big technology issue, I want to commend you for doing your part in saving our INA, taking care of our land, taking care of the trail for those nature lovers that would like to preserve that trail. That's very, very important and to make sure that you have signed or made that agreement to keep it nice and clean for future generation. So that's one way of taking care of the children, especially from the parks to the equipment, and then taking care of our kupunas. Sometimes they think that they are forgotten, but you have already touched on that and appreciate the wonderful job that they've done by still caring for our kupunas. Thank you for that. And I've also gone out to different senior groups in the community and shared with them. The city does have an Office of Elderly Affairs Division that people can call. Every year they come out with a handbook on key phone numbers or information to help those that are aging in place with information and resources that are out there. So yeah, thank you for those kind words on those things that we've worked on. And some have taken a while, some we were able to do in a few months, but it's really grateful to see all the hard work that, not just myself, but really a collaborative effort with the community. So I can understand, Brandon, why you appeal is so massive and so great because you work with the young and also with the elderly, and you just have developed that following. And it's the young boy appeal or the charm. But anyway, let's move on to another important, and this has to do with technology. And we are all affected by this, whether it's safety or trying to regulate the use of it, so we don't overdose on it. Tell us about what you've done. So as I was mentioning about banning cell phones or electronic devices in a crosswalk, so currently in our city and county, you're not able to view in the direction of your cell phone or some sort of electronic device. You can still call and cross the street, but it's when you view it in, it's a form of distraction, so we're able to pass a law here, one of the first in the nation. Other cities have called us and asked us, how did you guys do it? And even across the world in terms of how we're able to accomplish it as technology has advanced. So I'm very grateful for that, and it's something that should be common sense as we focus on crossing the streets. We're all pedestrians at one point in our life and getting to places that we need to go to. But really, it's a safety measure, and so I worked with the different youth for safety clubs at Waipahu High School and the Peer Education Club at IA High School. High school areas in the district, and so they were able to share this concern because they saw their peers being distracted when we didn't have a law, so they were able to advocate and voice their concern and stand with us as being champions for this legislation. That is so wonderful to hear. It's about safety, and do you think that has a direct correlation of how many pedestrian fatalities we've had? Right. I know our number is a very high number this year. I think over 90 so far, and it's really sad to do see that. And I think there has some sort of correlation to it, not able to pinpoint the exact fact. I mean, there could be a number of factors involved for fatalities that we see in our state of Hawaii or in our city and county, whether it may be due to different circumstances of the issue, speeding or maybe not visible in certain respects, so there's a number of factors involved that go with fatalities. We certainly don't want to see that occur. We definitely want to always strive for zero fatalities every year in our city and county, and so city and county has doubled its efforts to address issues of reducing that amount and getting it to zero and making streets safer with complete streets, with vision zero, which we just had a hearing on, that areas across the globe are looking at and ways to make it more safe in our streets. Yeah. Thank you for bringing awareness and safety by just letting people know that these are the things that really affect our safety. Right. Okay, with a few minutes remaining, Brandon, I know that you talk about legacy and how you would like to make a difference. Please reiterate again, why should the people vote for you this coming general election? Thank you. I mean, thank you again for having me on your show here today, and to all the viewers out there for watching, thank you for being a part of today's show. The reason why I want to commit to another four years and I'm committed to that and continue on is to continue on that legacy. I feel that my experience from being a former teacher to being a lifelong community member to a broad base of experience with serving on volunteer boards, being able to connect with nonprofits, government, federal agencies. In public office, it's about relationships and connecting with people to get things done in that sense, and communication, of course, and responding to constituents and their issues and concerns. And so I really feel that I'm capable and willing again to serve for another term because I feel that my accomplishments and my decisions on policy issues speaks for itself and where I stand as a member of this community. And this is a place that I love and call home, and I want to make sure that we have the right tools in place and policies in place so that when I do leave office that we left it in a good place and that this is something that my kids and their kids can be all proud of, you know, and going back and looking back, you know, many years from now. So I feel that my experience and my ability to lead in that effort and being a lifelong resident of the area and my background definitely makes me really capable of wanting to serve again and for the community's support. And I feel very honored to serve in this role because I really feel that I do make a difference. Every day is unique. Okay. So with the one minute remaining, when they think of Brendan Elephant Day, what are those keywords that they should be thinking of or what sticks on their mind? Well, that, you know, that I'm someone that's from here, that I've been a lifelong resident of the area, attended public schools, and that I'm committed to working hard and I'm committed to, you know, doing the right thing and standing up, even though while it may not be popular, I'm willing to take up, you know, the hard issues and make my voice heard and provide my comments or remarks and that I look not just only for the district I represent, really for our entire community, which is our whole city and county of Honolulu and our entire island and that I'm committed, that I'm approachable, that anyone can approach me and have a conversation with me and that I'm here to serve. There you go. That completes our portion with Brendan Elephant Day. Please remember his name, Elephant Day, the giant on this coming general election. You've heard what he stands for and he is certainly called to serve and that you're doing such a remarkable job. Thank you, Amy. Thank you again, Brendan Elephant Day. That brings our, another edition of Pinot Power Hawaii here on Think That Hawaii Tour Close and again, we aim to enrich, enlighten, educate, entertain and we hope to empower. We say, Maraming Salamat Poh, Mabuhay, Mabuhay and Much Mahalo.