HONOLULU — After a three-year hiatus, the Board of Parks and Recreation is set to resume operations with a new eight-member group of nominees.

What You Need To Know

  • The volunteer board is charged with advising DPR on recreational, cultural and public entertainment opportunities at city parks and facilities

  • Regular board meetings were suspended in 2020 as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic

  • Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi and DPR officials noted that the new board represents a broad sampling of professionals with backgrounds and first-hand experience in youth outreach, leadership development, kupuna engagement, environmental stewardship, Hawaiian cultural advocacy, designing public spaces, recreational programming and promoting healthy lifestyles

“We are excited to resume and reinvigorate this public resource designed to provide expertise from a variety of perspectives related to parks and recreation,” said Laura Thielen, director of the Department of Parks and Recreation.

The volunteer board is charged with advising DPR on recreational, cultural and public entertainment opportunities at city parks and facilities.

Regular board meetings were suspended in 2020 as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“During the recent mayoral town hall meetings the importance of park facilities and recreational programming around the island was heard loud and clear, with a wide array of DPR-related questions or topics arising at every forum,” Thielen said. “These upcoming park board meetings will continue that dialogue, serving as a regular line of communication to the public through these open meetings and nominees representing our diverse communities from keiki to kupuna, town to country.”

In announcing the nominees, Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi and DPR officials noted that the new board represents a broad sampling of professionals with backgrounds and first-hand experience in youth outreach, leadership development, kupuna engagement, environmental stewardship, Hawaiian cultural advocacy, designing public spaces, recreational programming and promoting healthy lifestyles.

The appointees, who still must be confirmed by the Honolulu City Council, include:

  • Katie Chang, executive director of the Center for Tomorrow’s Leaders
  • Carla Houser, founder and executive director of Residential Youth Services & Empowerment
  • John Leon, co-founder and chief executive officer for Kupu, an environmental non-profit organization
  • Robert Medeiros, senior project manager for community strategies and former director of the Hawaiian Culture-based Education Department at Kamehameha Schools
  • Nikki Medwetz, public affairs director for Aulani, A Disney Resort and Spa in Ko Olina
  • Christie Nishita, director of the University of Hawaii Center on Aging
  • Michael Robinson, vice president of governmental relations and community affairs for Hawaii Pacific Health
  • Judith Stilgenbauer, professor of landscape architecture at the University of Hawaii at Manoa

Michael Tsai covers local and state politics for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at michael.tsai@charter.com.