Administration Sakahara Leaves for Communications Post at C&C
By: Lynn Araki-Regan
Congratulations and best wishes to HDOT’s Public Information Officer Tim Sakahara who was recently appointed by Mayor Rick Blangiardi to serve as the City & County of Honolulu’s Communications Director.
Q: What was the highlight and/ or most memorable experience during your employment at HDOT?
Q: Could you describe your new position that you’ll be leaving HDOT to take on? Tim: I will be joining Mayor Rick Blangiardi’s administration as his communications director. I am excited to continue serving the community, while also rejoining my former boss from Hawaii News Now. Mayor Blangiardi is a dynamic leader whom I respect and I want him to succeed. I realize there will be challenges ahead, but I am looking forward to working in a positive and transparent manner that will benefit the public. Q: When did you first join HDOT and what was your initial impression of the organization? Tim: I joined HDOT in January 2015 at the start of Governor David Ige’s first term. I quickly found the state worker stereotype was not accurate. I found people in all divisions who are extremely dedicated to their job and working hard to move the state forward. Emergencies can pop up at anytime and I was always impressed with how HDOT employees answered the call to duty.
Tim: I knew right away that there would never be a dull moment in my job. Just a few weeks after starting, there was a community meeting for a big project. There was the concern a former employee may show up at the meeting. An employee feared violence and even wrote a makeshift will as a precaution. I remember making sure a Sheriff’s deputy would be at the meeting just in case. Then I found out about an hour before the meeting’s start time that I would have to lead the presentation. I recall thinking this is nuts! Fortunately the meeting went well and there were no problems. After that there was one big event after another including an airport officer shooting a dog at HNL, an addict breaking the airport perimeter and then dying while being detained, two tragic fatal plane crashes, the Zipmobile malfunction, cruise ship shenanigans during the pandemic, and of course all things COVID-19. Q: What might (someone) be surprised to know about you? Tim: I do my best not to take anything personally. In this position, people often got angry with
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See SAKAHARA on page 5
