 Welcome to the economy in you and another episode here in a beautiful day in Hawaii and our guest today we have some special guests. We have a long time celebrity Linda Koba, welcome to the economy in you. Thank you. You had to say long time. Thanks a lot. And we have of course the venerable David Benson. Thank you for joining us today David. And this is kind of an interesting conversation we're going to have today because this has to do with two things. One the rotary club celebrating 100 years in existence. The other is a sort of a plighted park in the middle of Waikiki and how we're going to bring those two together. So David why don't you start off and give us a little bit of a rundown on how this whole thing got started. Well I was visiting the Waikiki neighborhood board and they were talking about a park some place in Waikiki and then Linda mentioned that a long time ago the mayor wanted a park. In fact it was before Caldwell I believe it was some mayors ago and they I looked at the location and it was kind of dilapidated a little block in the right. And it smacked to have been the middle of beautiful Waikiki I mean you got Royal Hawaiian Avenue on one side and you know what else. Seaside. Seaside. And the Loha Drive. Right in the middle of everything and it's just ugly. Well it looks like somebody was going to build something and never did. Never did. Well they tore all those condos or not condos there old wooden shacks that were there and just tore them down and then put a fence around it so people wouldn't sleep in there. Or park their cars there. Or park their cars. You know. But then the city parked all their vehicles there when they were cleaning up place they put pipes and narrative. Oh yeah. Yeah. They used it when they were doing construction along the Alawai. Can you imagine being in one of those beautiful apartments there right in the middle of Waikiki and looking down at something that looks like a garbage mall. Yeah. You know there was just there's no beauty to it there's no view and pretty soon the Rotary Club of Honolulu and other clubs throughout the state of Hawaii will be getting together and creating a fabulous park complete with the history of Rotary. Rotary is worldwide and worldwide it celebrated its centennial in 2005 and Hawaii is celebrating the centennial because our Rotary Club the Rotary Club of Honolulu turned 100 years last year. Right. Last Rotary year. You've been involved in Rotary for quite some time. I've been a member of the Rotary Club of Honolulu since they finally let broads into the clubs. There was a problem that the gentlemen just didn't think women fit and in a way they were right because they weren't involved in business back in 1987 when they finally allowed Rotary to open the doors to females. That's actually quite interesting because you know my mother is an entrepreneur and we set up a company that did substance abuse education prevention for years and she was very entrepreneurial and so when organizations like the Rotary Club opened their doors to women it creates new opportunities for them. Absolutely. And it's and to me it's an ohana. It's people of like-minded interests, people who want to make a difference in their own communities and around the world. They want to help Rotary end polio. We're almost there. We're this close to ending polio worldwide. Isn't that amazing? Yes. There are so many opportunities to serve here at home and around the world and at the same time do it with friends who are well respected and that's like ohana. Yeah. And it's a wonderful feeling to know that you've helped people and that you are helping people and people are helping you and it's just a really nice group of people. So we're going to drag them in. You're going to drag them all in. Okay. So the nice thing about it is worldwide and no matter where you are. And this park is going to represent the celebration of... It's going to celebrate 100 years of Rotary in Hawaii. Uh-huh. It's going to celebrate 100 years of Waikiki, which is really quite interesting as we dig into it a little bit more. I didn't know that. Yeah, we're going to find out some things about Waikiki and it's going to be displayed on large rocks that are engraved, 10 of them, one for each decade right around the park and the rocks will be in a garden and we'll have gardens all the way around the inside of the park. The Rotarians will plant. The Rotarians will plant and everybody else will get to use. Yes. Now feature this big lot here that's going to have a two-foot moss rock wall around it with a four-foot fence, an iron fence like the palace has around it, with three gates, a big gate on the low-head drive which will be the main entrance and then two gates, one on the seaside and one on Royal Hawaiian, will be shutting it at 10 o'clock at night and opening it in the morning. Keep it private as far as people in there, sprinklers will go on at night and keep it nice and green. That's the primary function of the sprinklers, but it does have some ancillary benefits as well. Finished with this park, we're going to gift it back to the city. They will maintain it along with Rotarians from all the clubs in Hikiki and surrounding areas. It's a wonderful project for the clubs. We have something like 50 rotary clubs throughout the state of Hawaii and they can choose or not to participate in this, go down there and dig holes and plant trees and maintain it during the year and also at the same time share their history. Oh, we're on rock number seven. We were, you know, that was a long time ago, but we were, you know, rock number seven. It also celebrates the Rotary Foundation, which is worldwide. It is the way that Rotarians can contribute to the Paul Harris Fund, Paul Harris-founded Rotary. And that money goes to projects all around the world or even here. Here in Hawaii. Yes. And that's 100 years old this year. So everything's 100, except me. That is, Dave didn't say anything. And me. So now this project is getting underway and now the funding aspect of this is going to come from where? You. Yes. You and you. And anyone who cares to contribute to the beauty of Waikiki and Rotarians will be doing fundraising projects and they will reach into their pockets and all of the money will go tax deductible into the Rotary Foundation, which we have, and then it will be brought right back out to be used to install the fencing, to plant the gardens, to fix the grass. And can you imagine walking through that beautiful area on gorgeous paths and areas to picnic and places to take your kids and learn the history of Waikiki and Rotary and. I tell you, I would not want to be a tree in this garden. But there will be trees in there. We're keeping the big banyan trees that are in the middle. We're taking down a lot of the old dilapidated trees that are actually not worth keeping they're kind of sick and we had a guy come in and look at them and take their pulse and stuff and he's gone, but we're going to put some new trees in, you know, the city has a rule. Obamacare. You put one back here. I see the Obamacare of trees are going to, some will live in, some will out. Bandage. So this is this is kind of an interesting idea. Now, the thing is, is though, you're going to have to have some sort of events and such in order to sort of get all of this going. You know, you'd be surprised when Rotarians are asked to contribute their members dig into their pockets, their clubs do things that make a difference in the community. For example, the Weinberg project, you get 25 Rotarians there and Weinberg will give you to do a project and Weinberg will give you $10,000 and we can put that toward the park. I mean, there are so many ways to to raise the money, but it's mostly asking you and me and you and we've sent all this information out to all the club presidents in the state all 50 clubs. And we've already had some response. For example, Kauai has suggested that they're going to try to pull their five clubs together and sponsor one of the gardens. We're going to have 10 gardens. That's a lot of gardens. That's interesting. Isn't it? Oh, look at how big is our, how big is our? It's 35,000 square feet. Absolutely. It's a pretty big lot. Big lot. And the walkway will be around the inside of the wall, but between the walkway and the wall on the inside will be gardens all the way around, Hawaiian plants, trying to keep the Hawaiiana into it as much as we can, indigenous plants, some colorful plants. And with these rocks and the plants, and then the middle part will be kind of rolling hills. It's not going to be flat. It'll be just kind of mounds. An interesting thing on the Manukai-Roy Hawaiian corner, there's going to be a platform there of grass that's two feet higher than the rest of it where we can have entertainment. Oh, cool. And we've talked to the Marriott, which is right there, and with ideas of, I mean, we could even bring the Roy Hawaiian Band in to play for the community, to bring a string ensemble in to play for the community, to have an elderly ka-puna to sit there and read stories to kids on a Saturday or something, and there's all kinds of ideas. Halao, giving them someplace to perform. Halao to perform. Something for everybody that lives in the area. And can you imagine how many Rotarians and visitors in visiting Hawai'i will come into that park to look at a hundred years of Rotary? Well, let's talk about that. We're going to go take a quick break, and we'll be back in about one minute. I'm Chris Leatham here with Economy in the U.S. Stay tuned for more, Aloha. Aloha. My name is Justina Spiritu, and I'm the co-host of Hawai'i Farmer's series. This is my co-host, Matthew Johnson, and you can catch us every Thursday at 4 p.m. at thinktechhawaii.com. What do we talk about, Matt? So on Hawai'i Farmer's series, we're going to be bringing on the farmers and also supporter of farmers, including restaurants, cuters, as well as government supporters and nonprofits to hear their background stories and understanding our local ag community just a little bit better. Yeah, essentially, there's a lot more that goes into farming and the local food community beyond just producing the food. And we want to feature and get the background story on all these folks and see how we all work together as a community. So join us every Thursday. Aloha. And hi. We're back. I'm Chris Leatham with Economy in U.S. Today's guest is David Benson from the Bobby Benson Foundation, but also with the Rotary Club and Linda Kobel. Thank you again for being here. We're talking about this park, the Centennial Park. Is that the official title for the Centennial Park? It's going to be located in the middle of Waikiki, but of course, you're taking up parking space by putting this park in here, right? At the same time now, however, though, we are making an area for tour buses so that they will be able to offload their visitors and their audiences and be able to walk around and look at the history of Rotary in no way. Can I set up the first coffee shop inside here? I want to set up a Starbucks in the middle of the park. Maybe on the busload in the middle of the park. Interesting. Tour buses pick up and drop off tourists all around that whole area. But there's no parking for them for tour buses. They're car parking places, but there's no place for them to park. So they drive around, drive around, drive around. And of course that annoys everybody because they have air brakes. And they're waiting for their turn to jump in and load. So what we've done is we've taken 12 feet off of the Manukai Street side. And we're going to give that back to the city, working with the city to include that out there where they can stage their buses, sit there, and when it's time to go they can go out there. Well, that makes a lot of sense. Yes, it does. They're thrilled. It's something that they've really needed and it's working hand in hand. And the agreement that we've been talking about and we're still talking about is we give you 12 feet and you help with the sidewalks outside the park. That's a good idea. It'll make it all look nice. And can you imagine the number of hotels who would be interested? It's one more location their guests can go. It's within walking distance of just about every great hotel we've got in Waikiki. Well, there's a lot of people. You know, it goes to the quality of life, you know, because parks make a community. And having a place where people can go and walk and, you know, they get home from work and they're kids. They want to go out and play with their kids a little bit and the kids can come out here and socialize. And it'll be safe. Yes. And it will be something that will be beautiful, historic. They can learn from each rock and they can at the same time have fun. That's right. That's right. It's the best. And of course, you know, I do want to emphasize, I don't want this freak coming on at 10 o'clock if we're having a late event. We'll control it. We'll control it. I'm looking at you. He controls everything. No. You know, it's so interesting. Every club in Hawaii, there is 50 of them, each club has the choice of doing what it is that the community in the vicinity needs done. And that is one of the joys of being a Rotarian. You look outside and you see this crappy looking piece of land and you think, why don't we do this? Let's do something. Yes. And you all come together and you make a difference. And the same thing goes with neglected children or the homeless or, you know, drug, you name it. Or you just look at a community and you can see what they need. Yes. And Rotarians fulfill that need. And they do it with joy. And you know, you're passing on your values. You know, one of the things that we talk about today in a society where we have so many broken homes and broken families is that oftentimes values don't get passed on. Right. And the community has an opportunity to pass on the values of being a Rotarian. And so, and these are important values. These are odd values about entrepreneurship, hard work. That's right. Hard work is a key. I mean, I can just see myself trying to dig a hole. Interesting point that was made the other day. Somebody asked me, says, well, you know, what's in it for us? And that's, we talked about Rotary. And it's not in our community, but neither is Bangladesh or India or any other places where we've done matching grants and done good things for people. And we talked about when Rotary sees a problem, whether it's in Kailua or in Honolulu or Manor, wherever it is, we can all come together, no matter where we live or if we're on the another island, we can write a check. I mean, there's all kinds of things that we can do, but we'll all pitch in to do it. The ability to mobilize and get things accomplished. It's about doing something that's going to make the community a better place, whether it's our community or somebody else's or in another country or another state. Yeah, it's just the best. So now, if people wanted to find out more about this project or they wanted to contribute, how would they contribute or find out more, get more information from the Rotary Club? Who did they contact? Well, they can contact me. Email me at dcbenson at aol.com. Did you hear that? He's has an AOL account. Yeah, I know. He's so old. Yeah, yeah. He used to be prodigy. DC Benson at prodigy. But we're hoping to put up a website that people can go to and put on right now. Well, you're working on a website, actually. There's a website coming up. Yeah. That's what I heard. I've heard it directly from your developer that he is working on a website. And the other thing, all the money is going to go to the Districts Foundation. It's 100% tax deductible. Right at checkout to District 5,000 Foundation, put down in a note park or Centennial Park, and mail it to our Rotary Club office, which is on Queen Street. Was it 805? Or you can send it directly to the foundation. Yeah. And all that information will be posted? 705 Queen Street. Yeah, Rotary Club of Honolulu, 705 Queen Street, Honolulu 13. Now, do we have an anticipated groundbreaking for this? Well, we're going to have a blessing, a private small blessing before we do anything. We open the gate and start doing things there. We're thinking of putting a tent down there on Saturdays with a lot of this information where people can come and talk to us about what's happening, where if they want to make a donation, they can do it right then and there. When we have about 175,000 of our 400 that we're looking at, we're going to break ground. And it's going to be a very public display. It's going to be Hawaiian. It's going to be the mayor. It's going to be Rotary officials, Rotarians, Waikiki businessmen. It's going to be everybody. We'll have a big group down there and break ground. And we're hoping the bulldozer will be there and fire up and start working. As soon as we've got everything lined up, we've got the people to make the wall. We've got the people of the fence and the gates. And the rocks. Now, what happens if we run across any Hawaiian bones? Well, they have a program at Waikiki where any bones that are found in construction are re-interned on the corner of Kapahulu and Kalakaua in that little area there that's... Oh, really? Yeah. Oh, okay. Well, because so many of the buildings there, when they were building them, they did find burial grounds. Oh, I'm sure they have. Some high-ranking, some low-ranking, some just, you know, bones. Of course, some of the guys from California that were working here would find bones, like chicken bones and stuff, and call the boss. We found bones, take the day off till we get the police down here. And they found out that the Kentucky Fried Chicken had been opened next to work. So it was quite humorous. But no, if there are any bones or anything there, or like the mayor said, if we find out that one of these trees was planted by Queen Lillilu Kalani, it had to stay. So far, we don't have any information. Okay. How would you know that? Well, we're not really going to dig down deep. Yeah. We're going to scrape off the gravel and the coral and stuff and bring in dirt. And then it's going to be sod put on it. So we're going to build up rather than sink down. Yeah, okay. All right. That should mitigate a lot of those issues then. Yeah. And what we're looking for right now are sewer lines, water lines, electrical lines that might be underground. Yeah, that's forever a problem. Yeah. That is forever a problem. We'll find that because there's six meters, water meters for that property. So there used to be a lot of buildings there. Yeah. Yeah, that's always an issue in Hawaii. I know having done some of that work myself, I've run across that problem. So we'll find out where that is and how it's going to be. There's going to be water and electricity there that we'll be using. So it'll be lit in the evening. Well, this really sounds like a wonderful project. The idea that it's going to be something contributed privately and then passed on to the state to take care of. Exactly. I can't even imagine a better use of the land. We do need more park space, you know, Kakaako, Waikiki, all of this area. We have not met our requirements for having public space and so this will definitely contribute to that effort. Well, it's going to be, not because I'm involved in it, but from the design and what we're doing, it's going to be one of the most beautiful parks you've ever seen. Oh, that sounds great. It's just the way it's designed and the way it's going to end up. People are going to love this park. Filled with history of Waikiki, of Rotary and of Rotary Foundation, 100 years of service above self, celebrated in one beautiful location that so many people who already live in the neighborhood can look down and admire instead of the crap that's there now. Yeah, yeah. And they really enjoy that, enjoy the park. Imagine all the people in Royal Cuyahio that live on that side. Everyone who looks down at this park, that's from the 35th floor. Yeah, yeah. And actually, one of the side benefits I can see already is going to have an impact on property values. Sure, you have an area that's dilapidated and it's been gentrified. There's always a bump, you know. And we also hope that it will encourage more people to explore Rotary and realize that, man, if they do this and think of what they could do in our neighborhood, and the camaraderie, the being together, working on one common goal is just, it's hard to describe the feeling in your heart. It's kind of a magical thing. Yeah, it's just the best. It just happens, you know, because you can feel it coming in and experience it and it just all comes together. And you get something accomplished and it's just wonderful. And I look forward to seeing all this effort as it comes to fruition. I'm looking forward to working on your website a little bit and getting that out. Oh, that's great. Very good. Go for it. Yes. Terrific. And so for all those out there, if you haven't learned about Rotary, it might be a great time to reach out and call one of the local Rotary clubs and see if you can get an invite. Just go to Rotary.org and learn about what Rotary is doing at home and around the world. And Rotary is always an expanding organization. Yes. Yes, we have almost three million Rotarians worldwide and we're continuing to try to grow. Okay. Well, thank you so much for both of you for being here and coming on The Economy In You. We're here with Think Tech, OIE. And if you ever have a chance to meet Jay Fidel here, come by and say hello. And again, thank you again, and I'm Chris Latham with The Economy In You, and we'll see you again in two weeks. Thanks.