 Welcome to Think Tech on OC-16, Hawaii's weekly newscast on things that matter to tech and to Hawaii. I'm Raya Salter. And I'm Elise Anderson. In our show this week, we'll cover the Honolulu Bike Symposium presented at the Laniakea downtown YWCA. It was the culmination of three months of public outreach to get input for the design and implementation of improvements for the Complete Streets program. Their cold weld was there with many city officials and representatives of the biking community. They talked about the planned improvements designed and intended to make downtown a safer and more appealing place to walk, bike and drive, including widened sidewalks and improved bike lanes. Hi, we are at the city of Honolulu's downtown Chinatown Complete Streets initiative public information event. This is a big event down here at the YWCA that is the culmination of a three month outreach initiative that the city has been making to residents to find out and get their opinions on how can downtown Chinatown be more walkable, more livable and more equitable. Let's go check out the presentations and events. The room you're in right now is Fuller Hall and this is where we're having our symposium and the focus of the content in this room is the downtown Chinatown Complete Streets implementation project and it's been going on for the last several months. Many of you have probably been to one or more of our events so it's great to see your faces again and to see lots of new people. Putting a protected bike lane on King Street was more controversial for me than rail. I got more hate mail and still do about the bike lane because people don't like change and you in this room are promoting change and Complete Streets is about being different. Our country after the Industrial Revolution was based on a car economy and we built our cities all over America based on cars but we forgot about the people. People love though to drive and do things in the old way and we're trying to change it. You know in the council in 2012 passed the Complete Streets ordinance. I was in mayor then but I believe in following the ordinances that are passed and I believe the direction the council set was correct. But instead of just just talk about it we need to walk it and ride it and build it. And for me I think a prime example is the city of Copenhagen. You know back in the 60s and 70s it was a car driven city small streets lots of cars and through efforts of the mayors of that city in the community they started building protected bike lanes and today over 50% of the commutes for work in school are by bike. Talk about the King Street bike lane. Do you know now we started it right in December 2015 we now have over a thousand riders in a 24 hour period. It continues to go up I said it was 400 then it was 700 now it's a thousand unless Mike Packard is making up these numbers are you making up these numbers Mike. But I have to say you know I live in Manawa so I go down King Street take a left at Punahol and during the afternoon rush hour those bikers are going by me faster than I'm driving but it's music to my heart and they're clustered right you get groups of them because they're hitting the lights and stopping and moving on but people and I'm like wow this is looking really cool and we need to continue so you know in January we now did a bike lane on McCulley took away some parking lots of course the press just talked on and on about parking be removed but didn't talk about all the people riding already and there's lots of people riding and I went for a jog yesterday at 330 that's where I got my great 10 of today one from red to less red but the bike lane protected is being put on South Street right now yes the white lanes are there we're going to put the ballers and we're going to have a protected bike lane on South Street and just today Robert Croning you see him over there the guy that kind of looks like me but with more hair much better looking he's a director designing construction we met we talked about places like Bishop Street taking King Street down in front of the hallway all the way down to Bethel so you got a connection with downtown and King Street I mean Bishop another Malcolm Mackay and we're looking at Ward we're looking at other streets so we really have this grid and why is that I'm willing to take the hits we need to get as many lanes out there by 2020 have a very vigorous and robust system because I believe you guys will ride and many more will ride and that will encourage whoever is the mayor after me to continue to build this system in the urban core and in other places around this island too but we need to get it done and so we're working we're planning we have public outreach we're talking about design in these communities some of the places I just represented and for me I ask and I told Robert this we don't need to build the Rolls Royce immediately we just need to put a protected lane so people will ride can always come back later and put a more beautiful divider or ball bouts we should do all of those things but you don't want to get the perfect in the way of the good and for me it's doing the good because once you lay that anchor I think the rest will follow and we will have a robust network the complete streets and this this need for complete streets started in 2009 with the state legislation requiring the counties to adopt the complete streets policy with 2012 the ordinance made it law that in all aspects of planning design construction maintenance all aspects of roadway work we we considered the needs and uses for for all types of people and and whether you chose to walk or chose to bike or take transit or drive that we made sure that we made it as safe as we could for you to get where you need to go and when we looked at that we made sure that there was an equitable use of these facilities 2013 the complete streets implementation study and at the same time the AARP in the city collaborated for the age-friendly city initiative I hope you've gotten a chance to meet with them outside they are a lot of the effort going into ensuring that our Kiki and our Kapuna are taken care of to make sure that the most vulnerable uses of our roads are accounted for and that they can get where they need to go safely the state at the same time did their pedestrian master plan which accounted for the state facilities and how people got where they needed to go not but last year the complete streets design manual which which West talked about was finalized as a three-year effort which took a 1976 traffic standards manual that the last time that the traffic standards manual had been updated and brought it up to 2016 best practices so we can take Honolulu in that forward direction to make it the great city that deserves to be at that time I came on to the city after working 15 years in the private industry and with the exciting opportunity of helping to lead us in that direction and that's where I am with you today you know the reality is that that urban Honolulu and Honolulu in general is changing with rail coming and transit oriented development the increased density that we have in our areas is just going to necessitate the way that we move and travel throughout our islands and travel in our core area you know we have a very thriving downtown that needs to acknowledge the fact that the car center design that we might have built it out to be is not the future of where we are going you know bike share and the new Bicky bike that I hope you've gotten a chance to sit on you know bike shares coming that's a hundred bike share stations with a thousand bikes between between our Chinatown in our Diamondhead area that's a huge stretch of bikes and opportunities for people to make the choice give them that opportunity to choose to bike whether that's trying it out for the first time or as regular users getting to where they need to go without feeling the need to drive and you know with that we need to make sure that the infrastructure reflects those needs and people feel safe to get on those bikes and ride to get where they where they need to go when we talk about complete streets complete streets aren't just for bikers and you know that's a misconception that a lot of what we do is for the cycling community realistically those cyclists that you see out there today the the spandex clad cyclists that are you know flying down the road those are not who we're designing these facilities for we're designing for the facilities for the people that want to ride they own a bike but they don't feel safe they don't feel comfortable to get out we're designing it for 8 to age 80 so that kids and parents can feel safe riding in these lanes and riding and commuting getting to school traveling making their commute or just the short trips get where they need to go as safely and as as soundly as they can so this is all the modes and all types of people that we're trying to protect for because the real reality is that this supports public health that's why we have the Department of Health here high-fives here the Hawaii Public Health Institute you know they acknowledge the fact that when we are more active that these allow us to take those steps and be a healthier society transportation equity the reality is not everyone can afford to own cars the transportation costs especially working in a downtown area when parking can be as much as $350 a month not everyone can afford that on all salaries that work in our downtown and even in our Waikiki areas and really it's just that safety and accessibility for all modes when we talk about the drive and the need for complete streets this is multiple partners and many of them are out there in our courtyard I hope you get to talk with them but this is not just the city initiative this is not just the mayor's vision this is something that started a long time ago and many people here who have been part of this process for decades you know these are the same groups and the same people that are pushing the city to take these steps they acknowledge that for too long we've constrained and can continue to design and maintain our streets for the fastest flow of vehicles that's not safe for vehicles that's not safe for pedestrians it's not safe for anyone so we need to take a step back and understand who we're actually doing this for and when we have our partners like Hawaii bicycling league and bike share who's a nonprofit and even the neighborhood board when they come out and they're demanding these changes we know that that's that groundswell and that's the community demanding these changes and need for transforming the mayor alluded to the bike network that he intends to build out over the next four years and and myself with it with the directors here committed to making these improvements and we really see the opportunity for building this robust bike network after the symposium and speakers dozens of community groups hosted tables and exhibits in Melania K a courtyard the biking community was there in force spreading the good news about the bike share program which is being rolled out in June hello and welcome back we're here at the downtown Chinatown complete streets public information event being held by the city let's go ahead and check out some of the awesome booths and speak to some of the participants of this evening's event so we are here with Mike Packard complete streets administrator with the city at what is the really a big culminating event of a series of events that the city has had on the downtown Chinatown complete the streets initiative so hello hello Mike thank you it's good to see you again so you gave what I thought was just a really comprehensive and interesting presentation to folks about what complete the streets will mean for downtown Chinatown can you speak to us a little bit give us a few of the highlights of what you think this is going to accomplish realistically this this project in this this meeting here today was to you reinforce the the three months of public feedback we've gotten about the project talking about pedestrian and bicycle safety so the changes that are coming and what we're looking to do to respond and react to that I think that's fantastic so when what is the timeline for some of these changes happening so this part was the community outreach and feedback and we are really hearing what people had to say at the same time we were doing the analysis to to make sure that we could make this work you know after this process after we've come to the conclusion we will go into design and we'll take that throughout and before we get to construction looking in the realm of 2018 2020 when you'll see these changes in our roads are there still opportunities for community folks to provide input absolutely this is really that that part of which we are looking to get that feedback and you can go to Honolulu.gov slash complete streets and and reach out and give us that however in the nearest future we are going to be taking all that information and moving towards the design so that we can actually move this into construction sooner than later what are some of the benefits that folks who live work and visit downtown are going to experience from this initiative it's really going to be create a more livable equitable downtown it's going to reflect downtown's and and cities that we see throughout the country and throughout the world and in a beautiful place like Honolulu not having that ability to travel where you need to go safely just is a need and a desire for all so when we activate our streets the economic benefits and just the enjoyment that people can get out of these improved facilities you know we really see that as the end goal of this project representative Lee why don't you go ahead and tell us about your involvement in this event and why you think it's a positive thing for the city well you know on the state side we really want to be supportive of what the city is trying to do because ultimately when you talk about our next generation growing up here in Hawaii it is about lowering that cost of living and providing people places to get around and ways to do it that don't require them to have to spend money on a car on insurance on everything else especially from the downtown area where they can walk to work or bike to work that is something that is a win-win for everyone and the bigger thing is that ultimately those people be able to get around safer you'll save lives and that's the bottom line have to agree with that I myself don't have a car and it can be a challenge sometimes getting around what are some things that are happening on the state level to help make getting around easier for folks well you know one of the things that we've been doing is actually working in partnership with the city and county as well as the other counties to provide funding to upgrade state highways and intersections where you have state and county infrastructure come together I mean it's going to take both working together because at the end of the day people don't think about we're driving on a county road now we're driving on a state road they just want to drive and they just want to bike and they just want to walk to get around and it's our job to work together to make that possible what are some things that folks can do if they want to help you make this happen you know what reach out to your elected officials explain to people why it's important that we have these better facilities for everyone that's the bottom line people are gonna gonna get what they ask for and this is something I think people really want so if they just step up and ask we'll all be better for it well thank you so much representative Lee for talking with us this evening thanks very much hello huh I'm Melissa white with SSM International and consultant helping the city out on this effort fantastic so Melissa has been spearheading a lot of this work designed to reach out and get their impactful commentary from the community on how to do this project so Melissa why don't you tell us a little bit about this outreach effort well it may be unprecedented in city history to try to do this much outreach in a three-month period I think it's almost unprecedented in my experience over the last three months we've done about two dozen community events ranging from pop-ups to lunch and learn events and then this is the grand finale community meeting and as you can see there's just dozens of people involved from the complete streets partners to the various city departments and we had every single we had four major city directors here as well as the mayor and several legislators so we're really thrilled to see the level of support and honestly that the public process has been very positive so far and people really get that streets need to be safer then that they need to accommodate everybody and they want to be part of making that happen to make Honolulu a better place for everybody well congratulations on the event being so well attended what would you say are the top three feedback items that you've you've heard from the public during this process we've definitely heard that the pedestrian environment in Honolulu needs a lot of work and that you know it's not safe the data shows that we are among the highest pedestrian fatalities for elderly people and you know people are very aware of that and they're aware of the dangers as they're getting around so and people have a lot of specific input they tell us this particular crossing is an issue you know this street light is an issue and they just feel like in general pedestrians need to be better accommodated and have more priority we shouldn't have to press buttons to cross the street you know is there any one particular corner that either the the public and or the public and you guys in your work have identified as really being one that needs to be addressed well there are two that come to mind one is new one who in Pauahi and that corner is proposed to have sidewalk extensions which will help improve the visibility of pedestrians and which will just give more sidewalk space so it will be a good safety improvement it'll slow cars down as well because it'll narrow the space a little bit and then Bishop and Queen Street so we've heard there that the crossings aren't well marked that there's cars that turn and they're not always looking for pedestrians and that location is proposed for protected intersections so that's only one of about half a dozen that are in the U.S. right now sure I'm Harrison rule I'm the community building and transoriented development administrator for the city that's we were responsible for the improvements around the future rail stations well you sound like a great person to talk to for an eagle eye view on this event what do you think that this initiative will mean to the downtown Chinatown area well as Mike said when he was doing the introduction that people have been making plans for years for these kind of improvements in our to d plans we've got a network of road improvements and intersection improvements and bike lanes and things like that we had a Chinatown action summit last year and people are saying the same kind of priorities you want to make it safer to walk around we want to make it possible to bike you know the new bike lane that record bike lane on King Street that's terrific but you can't get anywhere else so we've got to build the the connections from there to the future rail stations and it's complicated contractually we finally figure that out so the team has really got several of these that are going to be put in while they're repaving it's not the only thing there's other things we're funding on stuff that is already already fixed but so in a way it's once you know it'll just be sort of one more you know set of experience and learnings that will help power this type of type of project throughout the city yeah we've got a great new complete streets guide guide design manual for all the new streets it's harder to go in and fix the old ones and since a lot of the rail stations are older neighborhoods that have been kind of waiting for investment we're doing the same kind of planning and in Kalihi at Kapalama area we're doing the stuff out in Waipahu actually we've got an action plan meeting next week where we're doing similar improvements out in Waipahu as well so it has been a great evening at the downtown Chinatown complete streets public information event there've been it's been I think a successful evening great presentation well attended great set of vendors we've had great representation from our public officials we spoke to Chris Lee and other officials here mayor Caldwell gave an address and this really I think was a fantastic finale for what has been a three-month outreach event to try and make downtown Chinatown more walkable more livable more equitable and hopefully we're going to see this happen in other areas of the city as well if there's anything more but you're interested in learning about this you can go to www.hanalulu.gov complete street thank you so much signing off for think tech watch what happens it's not only the gathering of public input and the designing of better and safer streets and public spaces in Honolulu it's the actual implementation of those plans which of course takes money it's up to us not only to participate in the conversation but to make sure it happens this could be great so let's all stay tuned want to know more about biking in Honolulu want to know more about the complete streets program want to know more about the bike share program check out these links yes let's all be optimistic about the future of getting around in our city and now let's take a look at our think tech calendar of events going forward there's so much happening in Hawaii sometimes things happen under the radar and we don't hear much about them but think tech will take you there remember you can watch think tech on OC 16 several times every week to stay current on what's happening in government industry academia and communities around the islands and the world think tech broadcasts its daily talk shows live on the internet from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays then we broadcast our earlier shows all night long and on the weekends if you missed a show or if you want to replay or share our shows they're all archived on demand on think tech Hawaii comm and YouTube the audio is on think tech Hawaii comm slash radio and we post all our shows as podcasts on iTunes see our website for links visit think tech Hawaii comm for a weekly calendar and live streaming YouTube links or sign up on our email list to get the daily docket of our upcoming shows think tech has a high tech green screen first amendment 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host a producer or an intern and help us reach and have an impact on Hawaii thanks for being part of our think tech family and for supporting our open discussion of tech energy diversification and global awareness in Hawaii you can watch this show throughout the week and tune in next Sunday evening for our next important weekly episode I'm raya Salter and I'm Elise Anderson aloha everyone