Oahu Historic Preservation Commission members appointed
By Ian Bauer, Honolulu Star Advertiser, May 19, 2023 (Reprinted with permission.) The Honolulu City Council voted unanimously Wednesday to confirm nine appointees to serve on the Oahu Historic Preservation Commission. The Council’s vote establishes the city’s newest commission, which will advise and assist in carrying out historic preservation and ensure development projects do not destroy historical and cultural sites including heiau and iwi kupuna. Appointed to staggered terms, the commissioners are Kehaunani Abad, Mahealani Cypher, Richard Douglas Davis, Thomas S. Dye, Hailama V.K.K. Farden, N. Mehanaokala Hind, Nanea Lo, Glenn E. Mason and Kai E. White. The unpaid commissioners — with professional and educational backgrounds in architecture, history, archaeology, planning, architectural history, Hawaiian culture, anthropology, ethnography and sociology — will make recommendations of historic properties for inclusion in registers of historic places, maintain an inventory of historic resources and assist the city’s Department of Planning and Permitting in developing standards and guidelines related to historic places, the city says. In November the Council approved the formation of the Oahu Historic Preservation Commission following its advancement by Mayor Rick Blangiardi, after what the city says was a failed 30-year effort under prior administrations and Councils to form the same panel. The mayor asserted that activating the commission now makes Honolulu eligible for federal funding to preserve historic sites. “As a major U.S. destination, Honolulu, we’ve been passing on the benefit of having federal monies to work with,” Blangiardi said in a news conference in November. “This opens up a lot of possibilities.” At the same news conference, Abad noted development of Ward Villages and the Walmart near Ala Moana Center were stalled after burial sites were found. “And it was because there wasn’t a lot [...]