Business View Civil and Municipal | September 2022

18 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 3, ISSUE 9 extent because we only have so much land. At one time, Hawaii was primarily an agricultural economy, mostly in exports of sugarcane and pineapple. Those businesses shifted over time to other sectors thanks to labour costs and land demand for housing development. We really want to see a resurgence in strong agricultural players on our home turf. “Finally, we have a great film production industry, thanks to our stunning natural environment. We even had productions running throughout COVID-19 – with restrictions in place, of course. Many, many movies have been shot here, including the Jurassic Park franchise, and we have longstanding TV shows like NCIS, Hawaii Five-O, etc. When directors need to film in a tropical paradise or jungle setting, Hawaii is the place they go.” The Office of the Mayor is dedicated to making the island of O’ahu a great place to live, work, and play. Community outreach is important to ensure the younger generation stays local, rather than moving to the mainland for work and education opportunities. Aged care is a key priority, Mr. Blangiardi says. “In many cases people have worked hard their whole lives to send their kids to college, whether it’s our University of Hawaii or the mainland. The thing is young people who move out of state tend to stay there. They meet people, start their careers, get married… So often, their parents grow older without a geographically present support network. Now, we are working hard to get them to remain local, but for those who don’t, we want to make sure their parents can age gracefully in the best facilities with world-class care.” Honolulu County is supported by a number of local and interstate collaborators that Mr. Blangiardi would like to mention in thanks. “The people that work in our wonderful county are doing so at very high levels, and really, they could be working anywhere, but they choose to live and work here in Honolulu because they have a true love of place and the drive to make