By Staff Reports
(Honolulu) –Mayor Kirk Caldwell delivered a speech on Sunday, June 10 at the U.S. Conference of Mayors Summer Meeting in Boston where he invited fellow mayors to join him at the U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) 87th Annual Meeting in Honoluluin the summer of 2019.
As the theme of Hawai‘i 5-0 welcomed him onto the stage, Mayor Caldwell spoke of Hawai‘i’s “Aloha Spirit” and JFK’s powerful speech in Waikīkī at the U.S. Conference of Mayors in the summer of 1963. During that speech JFK stated that Hawai‘i ‘represents all that we are and all that we hope to be’ as a nation.
“In Hawai‘i none of us are in the majority,” Mayor Caldwell said in reference to JFK’s famous speech. “We’re a place that’s looking to build bridges, and we’re looking to build a bridge with all of you to come to Honolulu to feel that aloha.”
Mayor Caldwell’s speech at the U.S. Conference of Mayor’s Summer Meeting in Boston can be viewed here: https://youtu.be/epkaDAD2avo?t=574
After extending an invitation to his fellow mayors to visit O‘ahu, Mayor Caldwell introduced Mayor Kazumi Matsui of Hiroshima, Japan onto the stage to speak about the sister city relationship that has existed with Honolulu since May 19, 1959, the longest such relationship with any of Honolulu’s 32 sister cities. Mayor Matsui spoke about the continuing threat posed by nuclear weapons, and the need to ease simmering tensions between established powers.
The U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) 87th Annual Meetingwill be held at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikīkī Beach Resort from June 28 to July 1. This will be the first time the summer meeting is being held on O‘ahu since 1967; the prior U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting where JFK spoke was held on O‘ahu in 1963.
After leaving Boston Mayor Caldwell and Office of Economic Development Executive Director Ed Hawkins traveled to Washington, D.C. where they are taking part in the Fifth Annual Hawai‘i on the Hill event, which is organized by Senator Mazie Hirono and includes the Hawai‘i on the Hill Policy Summit and the always popular Taste of Hawai‘i on Capitol Hill.
At the opening banquet hosted by the Chamber of Commerce Hawai‘i, Mayor Caldwell stated that the Hawai‘i delegation was there to “showcase Hawaiian products and our ‘Aloha Spirit’ from the most diverse place in the country.”
During his time in our nation’s capital Mayor Caldwell is also scheduled to meet with Sen. Brian Schatz, Japanese Ambassador Shinsuke Sugiyama, Dr. Satu Limaye of the East-West Center’s Washington, D.C. office, and Chairman James Zumwalt of the Sasakawa Peace Foundation.
Mayor Caldwell is scheduled to return to O‘ahu on the afternoon of June 14.
Managing Director Roy K. Amemiya Jr. is serving as Acting Mayor while Mayor Caldwell is away.