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Jeremy Harris | |
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| 11thMayor of Honolulu | |
| In office September 1994 – January 2, 2005 | |
| Preceded by | Frank Fasi |
| Succeeded by | Mufi Hannemann |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1950-12-07)December 7, 1950 (age 74) Wilmington, Delaware, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | |
| Residence(s) | Kalihi Valley,Hawaii, U.S. |
| Alma mater | University of Hawaii University of California, Irvine |
| Profession | Marine biologist |
Jeremy Harris (born December 7, 1950) is an American politician who served as The 11th Mayor ofHonolulu,Hawaii from 1994 to 2005.[1] Abiologist by training, Harris started his political career as a delegate to the1978 Hawaiʻi State Constitutional Convention. While Harris served as chief executive of theCity & County of Honolulu, the city was named "America's Greatest City" by the official American governance journal,Governing Magazine. Harris is the founder of the China-U.S. Conference of Mayors and Business Leaders and the Japan-American Conference of Mayors and Chamber of Commerce Presidents. He lives in Kalihi Valley on the island ofO'ahu.
Born and raised inWilmington, Delaware, Harris moved to Honolulu to study at theUniversity of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, where he obtained dual undergraduate degrees in related biology fields. Upon graduation, Harris went on to theUniversity of California at Irvine, where he obtained his master's degree in population and environmental biology, specializing inurban ecosystems. He returned to Hawaiʻi and settled on the island ofKauaʻi, where he was a professor atKauai Community College and marine advisor with the University of Hawaiʻi Sea Grant Program.
Harris was elected by his fellow Kauaʻi residents to serve as their delegate to the1978 Hawaii State Constitutional Convention. The convention of 1978 came to be recognized as one of the most important events in Hawaiʻi history as from its body of delegates, many would become future "giants of Hawaiʻi politics" as the media would later recall. Harris debated alongsideJohn D. Waihee III, futuregovernor of Hawaii, as well as future legislative leadersCarol Fukunaga,Helene Hale,Les Ihara, Jr.,Barbara Marumoto andJoseph M. Souki.
In 1979, Harris was elected to the Kauai County Council where he served a single two-year term. In 1984, he joined the City & County of Honolulu as executive assistant toMayor Frank F. Fasi. He was soon promoted to deputy managing director and then managing director. In 1994, Fasi resigned as mayor of Honolulu and in the line of succession, Harris assumed the office.
Harris won a special election to become mayor of Honolulu outright in September 1994. He was re-elected in 1996 and 2000, appealing mostly toChinese American,Filipino American andJapanese American communities. During his tenure, Honolulu residents voted to limit mayors to two four-year terms and thus made Harris ineligible for re-election in 2004. Former members of the Honolulu City CouncilDuke Bainum andMufi Hannemann and former mayor Frank F. Fasi ran to succeed Harris, with Hannemann ultimately the victor.
Harris is recognized as having executed the most complete government system overhaul in Honolulu history. He reorganized all municipal departments mostly by mergers to streamline all services provided by the city and county. He also curtailed urban sprawl by reforming the system of land use planning to preserve open spaces and agricultural districts. Particularly during his first term, his management skills and those of his chief assistants were marginal and millions of dollars were embezzled or wasted as a result.[2]
Harris's most ambitious and controversial project was 21st Century Oahu: A Shared Vision for the Future.[citation needed] 21st Century Oahu is a community based visioning program where neighborhoods would be given some control and CIP funding priority over their own community development, urban planning and beautification projects. Hundreds of public safety, environment, transportation, cultural and recreation construction projects were initiated and many completed as an outgrowth of Harris's 21st Century Oahu project.
Harris was considered a favorite to win the 2002 race for governor of Hawaiʻi.[citation needed] However, high-level Democratic Party insiders who had backed fellow Democrats against Harris in 1994, 1996 and 2000 did not want to relinquish the governorship and party leadership to this independent-minded Democrat, and thus fought against his candidacy, beginning with a public campaign demanding Harris resign as mayor if he intended to run for governor. In the spring of 2002, local news media reported allegations of campaign finance wrongdoing by some of Harris's staffers.[citation needed] Despite polling close to presumptive Republican nomineeLinda Lingle,[citation needed] Harris bowed out of the gubernatorial race. Hawaiʻi Democratic leaders then backed incumbent Lieutenant GovernorMazie Hirono, a favorite of Sen.Daniel Inouye, for the nomination instead.
He built the Marine Education Center at theHanauma Bay Nature Preserve, continued the Waikiki Revitalization project started by Mayor Fasi that changed the look ofWaikiki's main thoroughfares, Queen's Surf Beach, Kuhio Beach and Kapiolani Park Bandstand, established torchlighting ceremonies and hula performances every night at Waikiki, and started Brunch on the Beach. However, critics of Harris, including his successorMufi Hannemann, contend that these programs came at the expense of basic city services and infrastructure.
Harris has the distinction of being the only mayor to be elected more than once as United States Public Administrator of the Year by the American Society of Public Administration. Twice, Honolulu's "The Bus" was honored as America's best transportation system. Other foremost national societies named Honolulu first on the list of Kid Friendly Cities as well as the most digitally and technologically advanced city in the United States.
Harris made waves on the international stage as the founder of the Mayors' Asia-Pacific Environmental Summit. Delegates in 1999, who included over 400 leaders from the Asia-Pacific Rim nations, voted to establish a permanent secretariat in Honolulu in Harris's honor. Harris also established the Pacific Islands Environmental Symposium, the China-U.S. Conference of Mayors and Business Leaders, the Asia Pacific Urban Technology Institute and the Japan-American Conference of Mayors and Chamber of Commerce Presidents.
Harris met Ramona Sachiko Akui while they were both working for theCity and County of Honolulu, and they married in June 1989.[3] They divorced in 2008.[4]
| Preceded by | Mayor of Honolulu 1994 - 2004 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
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| National | |
| Other | |
Category:21st-century mayors of places in Hawaii
