FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                               February 8, 2006   Release No. M-12-06

HANNEMANN PROPOSES RENAMING CIVIC CENTER,  MUNICIPAL BUILDING

IN HONOR OF FORMER MAYOR FRANK FASI

            Mayor Mufi Hannemann today proposed renaming the Civic Center and the Honolulu Municipal Building in honor of former Mayor Frank F. Fasi.

            “Mayor Fasi served longer than any other mayor of Honolulu and was recently named one of Honolulu’s 100 most influential people by the Honolulu Centennial Commission,” Hannemann said. “Among his many outstanding contributions to this City during his 22 years as mayor and his prior service as a territorial senator and City Councilman  was the construction of the Municipal Building and the transformation of the Civic Center grounds from an asphalt parking lot to the park-like setting we enjoy today.”

            “It is most fitting that, as we celebrate the 100^th anniversary of the City and County of Honolulu, we honor Mayor Fasi in this way,” said Hannemann. “He’s 85 and still going strong.”

            A draft resolution submitted to the City Council for approval calls for the names to be changed to the Mayor Frank F. Fasi Civic Center and Mayor Frank F. Fasi Municipal Building.

            In order for the renaming to occur, an amendment was needed in the City ordinance that prohibits the naming of public facilities for individuals unless they are deceased. The City Council unanimously approved that amendment – Bill 76 (2005) CD 1, FD 1 – last month and Mayor Hannemann signed it into law today.

            “We are grateful to the City Council for their cooperation and support in this tribute to Mayor Fasi,” said Hannemann.  “I know that many residents of Honolulu are equally grateful because he touched so many lives.”

            The mayor added, “In the same vein, we support the Council’s proposal to rename the Waipio Soccer Complex to honor Patsy Mink.

            “In her long and illustrious career Congresswoman Mink, ably assisted by her husband John, left a permanent legacy of equality and justice for all Americans,” said Hannemann.

            Mink represented Hawaii in Congress for 24 years, served on the City Council for four years, including a stint as Council chair. She was a pioneer in women’s rights and principal author of Title IX, the federal law that requires gender equity in federally funded schools. After Mink died in 2002, that law was renamed the Patsy T. Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act.

            In a resolution introduced today, Council Chairman Donovan Dela Cruz and Ann Kobayashi said, “Renaming the Waipio Soccer Complex the ‘Patsy T. Mink Soccer Complex’ would honor a political pioneer who transformed the city, state and nation. . . .”

            Also today, Mayor Hannemann signed into law:

·       Bill 69 (2005) CD 2, FD 1, an amendment to the City’s operating budget to provide funding for collective bargaining and Salary Commission salary adjustments.   

·       Bill 79 (2005) CD 1, FD 1, an amendment to the City’s capital budget to provide $1,174,109 in community development block grant funds for handicapped access improvements at the American Red Cross Diamond Head facility, sprinkler and roof repairs at the Institute for Human Services facility on Kaaahi Street, design of the St. Francis Healthcare System Residential Care Community for the Elderly, services from Volunteer Legal Services Hawaii for children and the homeless and additional funding for site preparation for an Intergenerational LearningCenter in Ewa Beach and for construction of a new facility for the elderly by ORI Anuenue Hale.

-30-

Contact:

            Bill Brennan, 527-6928

            Mark Matsunaga, 527-5767