Better Tomorrow Speaker Series features panel on making streets safe for all

Sep 27, 2023

Ulupono Initiative’s own Director of Transportation Policy and Programming Kathleen Rooney was the moderator for July’s Better Tomorrow Speaker Series event at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Rooney facilitated a panel of speakers at the “Reclaim Our Streets” discussion following the Hawaii premiere of “The Street Project,” a film about society’s relationships to streets and the global citizen-led movement to make them safer for communities. The film explores the impact of road design on communities and citizens. In Hawaii, similar issues take more than 100 lives and cause approximately 600 injuries each year.

“More than 200 people signed up to join us for this movie screening and the room was full,” Rooney said. “It was such an inspiring conversation about where we can go as a community on these issues. Allowing more transportation choices to flourish isn’t just a matter of making our roads safer; it’s also about making a more just transportation system that allows those who walk, bike and roll to have a system that provides more human dignity.”

Panelists included James Burke, AARP volunteer and transportation advocate; Jon Nouchi, deputy director of the City & County of Honolulu’s Department of Transportation; Cathy Ferreira, member of the Transportation Equity Hui, representing Papa Ola Lohaki and calls herself a kupuna in-training; and Nick Manago, longstanding active transportation safety advocate. The group talked about various topics related to transportation and drew on specific scenes from the film and how they relate to Hawaii.

Burke commented that the film emphasized how society has allowed motorized vehicles to control our desire to move around and that it reminded him of the need for safety. “Sooner or later, we are all pedestrians,” he said. “We need to be safe on our roadways.”

Ferreira, who describes herself as someone who wears many hats, shared connections between the film and the views of the panelists. “The film and our panel shared stories from similar perspectives of personal experiences, community programs and legislation,” she said. “Personally, I would like to emphasize the importance of working collaboratively within a broad and inclusive framework committed to ensuring everyone’s safety.”

With Hawaii’s current car-centric ground transportation system, many expect unfettered access to their cars and free parking once they reach their destinations. Read a related story about how rightsizing and better managing parking can lead to lowering Hawaii’s dependence on cars, reducing the cost of living, and other benefits here.