UTSKRIFT 🔗
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Welcome to the One Oahu podcast.
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I'm your host, Brandi Higa, and this week
we're joined by Davis Pitner, the public
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information officer for the city's
Department of Planning and Permtting.
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Davis, thanks for making some time for me.
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Yeah, absolutely. Thanks for having me.
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Okay, so first off,
tell us a little bit about yourself.
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So what were you doing
before coming to the city,
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what your role is now
and what's prepared you for that?
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Yeah.
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So as you mentioned, public information
officer at DPP.
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So been here for around a year,
little more than a year now.
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I don't think you make a year.
We didn't even celebrate this.
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I know it, made a year in April.
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April 1st. Which is kind of funny, right?
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April 1st.
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Yeah.
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Which is funny because I thought
it was an April Fool's joke when I
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actually got the offer.
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But, yeah.
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No, I, I came here, April 1st, last year.
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Before that, I was over at hnn
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over there for almost a decade ish.
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So, we're.
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No, I during my time over there, but
wanted to branch off, try something new.
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And I saw the city as a great way
of doing that.
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And specifically,
you know, DPP, felt like
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I could really make a change over there
and help with the communications going on.
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So your job in news, how do you think
that prepared you for this role?
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Were you doing like, news writing
or were there any,
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you know, commonalities that prepared you
for this little bit of everything?
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I was over there,
so I acted as, first the photographer.
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So going out to stories.
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But then I also helped with producing of
This Is Now and our shows over there.
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So a little bit of everything.
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So definitely answering or asking
questions to peers over at the city,
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kind of gave me that mindset of what's
going to be asked to me, in this role.
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So, I think it definitely prepared me
specifically in knowing, like,
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what's important,
what does the public need to know, and
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how can I better frame
my answers through the media in that way?
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And what can I get out there,
that's important for them or relevant
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for them to know. So
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I think definitely having that background
in media, prepared me for this role.
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Yeah.
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So now that you are the one
answering the questions from the media
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and really from the public
in this capacity, that you're in the back
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to back to back storms,
you know, from the wind events
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that we had from Super Bowl
weekend to the corner close to La la,
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I assume that a lot of folks
have been asking you
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what they need to know
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and what they can do
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in terms of everything from damage
assessments to emergency repairs.
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So what has the messaging been like
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from your department,
from you over the last few weeks, months?
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Really, it really has gone on for,
for a long time.
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This has been a crazy storm season.
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I think first and foremost,
we we definitely learned a lot from the
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co-owner was I think that was a disaster,
especially during my time in news.
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I never saw anything like that.
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So I think we learned a lot about
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how people can repair informing them
on what they can do and can't do
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and what they should be checking,
before they even consider repairs.
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So one of the biggest changes
that kind of happened specifically
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right around right before wall
came was FEMA's firms update.
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So just a little bit of background
about that.
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So firms is the flood insurance rate maps.
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That came out on June 10th this year.
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So we did a bunch of press on that Cser
also did stuff on that,
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head to their website if you guys have
more questions about that.
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But basically,
this update came out of these firms
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which updated the flood maps
for all of what who now placing
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a lot of properties into different
Load full transcript
flood
zones that they weren't in before.
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So when it comes to repairing,
the first thing we want to look at is
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making sure that a property is not in a
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what's called a special flood hazard area.
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So these are specific areas
that some properties got switched to
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after this update
that do need a building permit, for
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just because they're in an area
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that's could be prone
to flooding near streams, stuff like that.
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So first thing we look for
is whether or not they're in that area.
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So check what flood zone you're in.
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You know, after this disaster
we know what's happening.
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But in order to rebuild,
first check on the flood zone.
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And all this information
is on the website as well.
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But just mentioning this
because this is really the first step
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in repairing your property.
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So if you're in
any of these, contact us right away
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and we will work with
you guys on on your repair.
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Just because there might be a building
permit needed for that.
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All this information is online,
but kind of four requirements
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that you need to meet in order to do
repair work is that the work
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must not expand the size, height,
or area of the structure.
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Repairs must not make the structure less
safe than what it was prior to the damage.
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Materials used must be similar
to the original construction, and all work
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must comply with applicable city
ordinances and building code.
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Safety requirements.
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You know, if you meet all those,
then you are good to start work
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without a permit as long as a permit
is applied for the next day.
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Now that being said, there
is a bunch of different types of work
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that don't need permits.
You can just go ahead and repair and do.
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And that full list is on our website.
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So I know this is a lot.
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So it was a lot of messaging that,
we needed to kind of get out there.
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So it was a lot of updating the website.
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DEM did a great job
creating the OneOahu.org
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which we were able to also create a link
straight to our website on there
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to hopefully get that out as well.
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So there's a lot of stuff
that goes into repairing the property.
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And you know, we know what is what happens
during these disasters
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and we want to help
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as quickly as possible, but we want to
just make sure that it's done
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the right way
when it comes to the damage assessments.
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So once a disaster happens,
we want the public to take it,
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take pictures, take images
of the properties as soon as possible.
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This helps with their insurance
as well as DEM did in the past.
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Storms for for Lala and one Oahu and
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also on the website in general like there
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is going to be a damage assessment button
that they can go to click
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that lets us know that your property
received some sort of damage,
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will send an inspector out
and we will assess it.
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So I know that was a lot.
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Sorry for for all that.
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But it is important
that people understand
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what all goes into repairing their houses
so they can do it properly.
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Right.
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And how important is it
as we get all of these, assessment
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numbers, you know, like the total number
of properties, businesses, damage, etc.,
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how important is that for, say,
if we need something like federal funding?
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You know, what FEMA is looking for
after these events?
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Oh, it's critical.
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I mean, that's why we did such a big push
on that through, HNL alert,
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through social media in collaboration
with the, you know, the process
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started right away and we needed those
damage assessments done quickly.
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So that we can know, you know,
how many were Major Minor destroyed?
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All those different categories
fit into the disaster proclamation
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and us getting federal aid because
that goes straight into people's pockets.
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That's how they repair.
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And so, it's critical that we get this
damage assessments as soon as possible.
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Yeah. And
then you mentioned the flood
insurance rate maps.
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But beyond flooding, like we saw in la la,
it was a wind event as well.
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And one of the more dramatic scenes
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we saw was from Happy Days,
the restaurant in Kaimuki.
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I know that you got to go there
in person.
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For those of us who didn't,
what did that look like in person?
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What happened there,
and then what happens next?
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Yeah, that was,
that was a really sad situation.
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I mean, that is such a popular restaurant
for a lot of people,
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not only in the Kaimuki area,
but all across Oahu.
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Everyone knows of that spot. Yeah.
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So I, I went over there to the property,
along with the director,
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and we sent inspectors as well,
stepped inside it.
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And it was such a sad sight to see.
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I mean,
there was still food out on the tables.
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As everyone knows,
several people were injured.
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What our inspectors found, basically,
was that one of the interior trusses
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inside the building basically collapsed.
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And the wall kind of facing 11th Avenue
was tilting actually toward the street.
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If you actually went outside,
we went outside the property.
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You could see the wall kind of bending
some of the pipes a little bit.
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You could kind of tell even from
the outside that it wasn't too sturdy.
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So that brought up some serious concerns.
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We closed down 11th Avenue,
just that small portion of it,
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and also that sidewalk
just out of safety precautions.
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We didn't want anyone walking in
or driving right alongside them.
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So the next thing for them now
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is to kind of determine
on what repair work is needed.
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And so that's something that they're going
to be doing with their contractor.
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We're going to be in close contact
with them and keep the public updated,
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as it goes along.
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And so for other businesses in that area,
I know you mentioned
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kind of shutting down areas
where it wasn't safe,
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but for other businesses
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nearby, kind of with the same design or
even constructed during the same period.
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Is there anything that they should be
looking for in their structure
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or, you know,
because hurricane season isn't done yet.
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Yeah.
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It's hard to make that comparison
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between Happy Days and other, buildings
just because everything is different.
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Everything was built a different way,
even if it wasn't the same year.
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So biggest advice to people is just
to look for anything out of the ordinary.
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So that could be cracks, cleaning walls,
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any sorts of shifting
if they notice any leaking.
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You don't want to ignore these things
in your building.
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Because storm season is here,
things happen.
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And those small little problems
that you think
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don't matter
could turn into something bigger.
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So our biggest advice,
just make sure you keep a watch out,
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try and address those small things before
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they could lead up to something
bigger later on.
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And the same goes
for residential properties, right?
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Absolutely.
Yeah. Same thing with residential.
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As soon as you see
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something that's offered different,
make sure you address it right away
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because it could lead to something bigger,
which we all don't want to happen.
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And I know you kind of touched on this
earlier about investigators going around.
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And this is kind of
an unfortunate reality.
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But scamming becomes more common
following disasters.
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What do you want the public to know
about those who maybe come to their home
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to do damage assessments, even their
their buildings and doing inspections?
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Maybe they get an email, a text message,
something that doesn't look quite right.
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What do you want them to do?
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Yeah.
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So, it is really unfortunate
that these things are still happening
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today, and it's just kind of a reality
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that there are people out there
that try and take advantage of others.
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And so the
first message we want to get
across is slow down and verify
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who you're dealing with.
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You know, after the damage assessment,
we saw some scams coming in of people
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trying to act like inspectors,
you know, going up to properties
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and even most recently we got like,
we saw an email of someone
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asking for, like, a wire transfer
and just addressing a violation.
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But in the email,
they were asking for a wire transfer
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and all these things,
you know, our red flags.
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And, you know, first of all,
we will never ask for a wire transfer.
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That's something that
that we will never do.
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So if you see that that is a scam
immediately, please email us that,
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so we can address that,
but verify who you're dealing with.
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You know, our inspectors
will always identify themselves.
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So if someone comes up to your door,
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and says that they're a DPP inspector,
just politely ask for a badge.
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They will always present that.
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So make sure you're always asking
for that.
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They will always have a city
badge on them.
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Emails and texts just don't click.
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Like, if anything, any suspicious links,
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or provide any financial information,
just because it seems like
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it comes from their government agency,
it comes from us.
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You know, if you have any doubt,
just contact us dpe@honolulu.gov.
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We will respond to you and address that.
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But yeah really just keep an eye out
especially after these disasters
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for people trying to claim that their
inspectors that that they work for us.
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And switching
gears now, I know that on September 1st,
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DPP move forward in the next phase
of implementing Civcheck.
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What does that mean
and what do people need to know?
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Yeah.
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So that's, it's an exciting time
for us to Civcheck.
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We launched, on December 8th of 2025.
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So we've had this going now for around
nine months now.
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And it's been like showing
some pretty good progress.
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And we're really excited
about the potential.
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So it has been it's currently
just limited to residential projects.
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So certain scopes that full list of scopes
and more information on self
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check is on our website as well.
But September 1st.
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So we are making that subject mandatory
for those specific types
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of residential work.
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So people that fall under that scope,
which is listed online.
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And also when you go
through the application process,
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if you fall under those types of work,
then you have to create an account
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and check and basically
just go through that check process.
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It uses AI to check your plans basically
for simple kind of formatting errors
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or formatting mistakes,
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trying to address those early before
it gets to a human reviewer.
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So this is all about saving time
in the long run.
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We want our reviewers and examiners
to get the most complete plans ahead
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of time, which is where Civcheck comes in
so people will go through the process.
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It's super simple.
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It guides you every step of the way
through Civcheck addresses, issues.
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It'll bring every
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you know, if there's any errors
or any issues that you need to fix.
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It'll bring those up to you
so you can fix those as you go along.
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So in the end,
you're going to get a Civcheck ID
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and also a safe check stamp on your plans.
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And then you use that in HNL build. So
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that will help us know that your plans
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are checked by Civcheck and can keep
continuing on through the process.
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So this just saves time in the long run.
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So making it mandatory now
and then later on this year
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we're going to actually open it
up to commercial projects.
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So that is the kind of next phase.
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Yeah it's comfortable enough
to make this mandatory.
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Now even like you said
we knew this is going to happen.
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But what kind of strides
has this been able to make?
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Is it in time? Is it in.
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00:14:20,025
You know,
maybe it's a person applying for this
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like understands because it's
now more visible to them as well.
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There's more transparency.
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There's more transparency. Yeah.
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I think the biggest thing
that people are going to notice is time.
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So clarity, which is the company
that owns this check, they provided us
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their quarter one results
and it showed that Civcheck
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for at least the applications
that it compared it.
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So it compared Civcheck
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applications to similar applications
in HNL build to compare the both.
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And it showed that people that use check
saved an average of 40 days
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on their review,
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which is huge for someone who just wants
to do a simple residential project.
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You know, after seeing that,
that was really eye opening for us
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because we're like, wow, there's
a lot of potential here in this software.
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Let's see what else I can do.
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So we highly suggest,
even if you don't fall
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under that scope of work right
now, please create a check account today.
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You mentioned this,
but when it comes to I, DPP,
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won an award, AI 50.
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Can you talk about that?
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Yeah, it's it was really unexpected.
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And it just kind of shows
the potential of the software
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and the potential of where things can go
in permitting here in Honolulu.
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So it's a an award
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provided
by the center for Public Sector AI.
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So we won this based off that
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first quarter report showing our times
and the improvements that were being made.
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It just goes to show
where things are going.
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We're trying to modernize,
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permitting here in Hawaii
and see how we can improve these times.
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So just getting this award just adds
another another layer
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to that and seeing what else we can do,
how else we can improve.
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Another exciting announcement
out of DPP is that DPP has a new deputy.
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What does Stephen Young bring?
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Yeah.
So we're super excited about Stephen.
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He was a great pick for this role.
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Definitely deserves it.
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So he's been at DPP for the past 20 years
working over in our site development
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branch, and he's fully on board
with everything that we're doing.
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You know, he comes with so much knowledge
of the department, how
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00:16:24,233 --> 00:16:27,820
it was operating,
20 years ago to where it is today.
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And he is excited to keep improving
on what we're building now.
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And we're really happy that he's
going to be a part of our team.
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You mentioned earlier
from your time at Hawaii News Now, we're
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you were the one asking the questions.
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00:16:39,456 --> 00:16:41,125
Now you're the one
answering the questions.
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What kind of questions
do you hear the most?
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00:16:44,294 --> 00:16:49,800
I think the biggest question that
I get asked is, what's taking so long?
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And your answer, as
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the person that answers these,
no, I don't. I.
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So my answer is always, you know,
just check on the status of your firm.
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00:17:00,144 --> 00:17:03,355
We've been seeing applications
that have been in review for
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00:17:03,355 --> 00:17:07,609
hundreds of days still in the applicants,
and we've been waiting for the applicant
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00:17:07,609 --> 00:17:10,612
to make a correction
for like more than 400 days.
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00:17:10,612 --> 00:17:15,159
So there's not a lot we can do on our part
if it's being held up on there.
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And so check on the status of it,
see if you missed anything,
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or need to make any corrections
and always reach out to us.
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00:17:21,915 --> 00:17:25,753
And because DPP does get
a lot of complaints, right?
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00:17:25,753 --> 00:17:29,048
Why is it taking so long
and digging from the media?
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00:17:29,048 --> 00:17:31,508
What do you do to find center?
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00:17:31,508 --> 00:17:34,553
At the end of the day
and take care of your mental health?
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00:17:34,553 --> 00:17:36,597
Davis what is the secret
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00:17:38,015 --> 00:17:40,100
and what is the secret?
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00:17:40,100 --> 00:17:43,812
I don't know, you know, it's NFL is here.
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00:17:43,812 --> 00:17:48,525
You know, checking up on my fantasy team,
you know, going to sports.
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00:17:48,692 --> 00:17:50,527
That's
assuming your fantasy team is doing well.
340
00:17:50,527 --> 00:17:54,239
Well, you know, it's I did start off
with, like, two losses, so.
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00:17:54,615 --> 00:17:55,532
I'm sorry.
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00:17:55,532 --> 00:17:56,742
Where is your mental things?
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00:17:56,742 --> 00:17:59,745
Things are kind of down right
now. Brandy.
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00:18:00,162 --> 00:18:03,040
They win
this week will bring things right back up.
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00:18:03,040 --> 00:18:05,084
But, No, I'm I'm.
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00:18:05,084 --> 00:18:07,419
You know,
like I said, I've been here a year.
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00:18:07,419 --> 00:18:11,799
It's such a pleasure
working with the director, with Don,
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00:18:12,174 --> 00:18:14,843
all of you guys, all the other peers here
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00:18:14,843 --> 00:18:18,222
at the city,
really appreciative for this opportunity.
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00:18:18,222 --> 00:18:19,723
And it's been fun so far.
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00:18:19,723 --> 00:18:22,392
We just need these storms to stop,
you know?
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00:18:22,392 --> 00:18:25,395
Well, Davis Pitner,
is there anything that we missed?
353
00:18:25,437 --> 00:18:27,189
I don't think so.
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00:18:27,189 --> 00:18:27,731
I think we're good.
355
00:18:27,731 --> 00:18:30,192
Thank you for your time. Absolutely.
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00:18:30,192 --> 00:18:33,403
And for more information again
on any of the programs Davis
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00:18:33,403 --> 00:18:36,490
discussed today,
you can find more on DPP's website.
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00:18:36,490 --> 00:18:39,409
That's honolulu.gov/dpp.
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00:18:39,409 --> 00:18:40,619
And like you said, remember
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00:18:40,619 --> 00:18:44,164
hurricane season not Paul yet
it does go through November 30th.
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00:18:44,414 --> 00:18:49,044
However tropical cyclones can
and really they do occur all year round.
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00:18:49,211 --> 00:18:51,630
Use the time now
to go replenish those hurricane kits.
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00:18:51,630 --> 00:18:56,468
If you use anything during the Kona lows
or LA, go over your emergency plans
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00:18:56,468 --> 00:18:59,471
and if you do have any questions
about protecting your property,
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00:18:59,680 --> 00:19:03,225
you can head over to Honolulu.gov/DEM
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00:19:03,475 --> 00:19:07,354
You can learn everything about the risks
for really any location on Oahu,
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00:19:07,354 --> 00:19:11,358
not just for flooding, wildfire risks,
dam and levee risks, and other hazards.
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00:19:11,567 --> 00:19:16,280
Again, that's honolulu.gov/dem Mahalo
to all of you for listening.
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And until next time Aloha.