On this week’s episode of the One O‘ahu Podcast, Mayor Rick Blangiardi joins host Brandi Higa to talk about standing up a task force to determine whether the Honolulu Fire Department and Emergency Medical Services would be better off as a single, integrated department, the start of passenger operations for the second segment of Skyline by Oct. 1, and takeaways from a recent town hall meeting in Nānākuli.
HFD/EMS
One year after detailing the City’s plan to stand up an independent Honolulu Ocean Safety Department (HOSD) during the 2024 State of the City address, the mayor announced in his 2025 speech that his administration was exploring a further restructuring of Oʻahu’s public safety departments to better serve the public. His administration has begun to establish a task force to determine whether the Honolulu Fire Department and Emergency Medical Services would be better off as a single, integrated department.
“This will allow us to do a, we believe, a much better job of serving the public,” said Mayor Blangiardi when asked about merging the two departments.
Mayor Blangiardi said on the One O‘ahu Podcast the task force will have somewhere between six months to a year to report back on its findings.
Skyline’s Second Segment
Mayor Blangiardi made a number of other announcements during his 2025 State of the City address, including that passenger operations for the second segment of Skyline, the City’s rail transit system, will open by October 1, 2025.
“This next segment here, this is more than just a segment of rail. This is a game changer,” explained Mayor Blangiardi.
The second segment of Skyline will enable passengers to travel by rail from East Kapolei to Middle Street — including stops at Pearl Harbor and the Daniel K. Inouye International Airport.
2025 Nānākuli Town Hall
Mayor Blangiardi held the first of seven 2025 town hall meetings on March 27 at Kalaniana‘ole Beach Park. The meeting was an opportunity for the mayor and senior administration officials to listen to concerns directly from residents of Kapolei, ‘Ewa,Makakilo, Nānākuli, Waiʻanae, and Mākaha and to answer questions about the City’s top priorities and upcoming projects in each neighborhood.
“I just thought at the end of the night, we left there, I think we tried to answer as many questions as we could,” added Mayor Blangiardi. “Everybody was civil. There was no anger. I thought that was good and I ask that of every town hall.”
The next town hall meeting is on April 10 at 6:30 p.m. at the Waialua Community Association (Historic Hale‘iwa Gym) located at 66-434 Kamehameha Highway.
