Mayor Jeremy Harris City & County of Honolulu United States of America

Born December 7, 1950 in Wilmington, Delaware, Jeremy Harris says his life began when he came to Honolulu as a youth. He attended the University of Hawaii where he earned two undergraduate degrees in biology. He also received a master's degree in population and environmental biology, specializing in urban ecosystems at University of California at Irvine.

In 1985 he joined the Honolulu government as an executive assistant to the mayor and soon was promoted first to deputy managing director and then to managing director. When Mayor Frank Fasi resigned July 19, 1994, Harris became acting mayor of the City and County of Honolulu. He was elected mayor in the September 1994 special election and sworn in on October 7, and re-elected for a four-year term in the next regular election held September 21, 1996.

During his tenure as managing director, Harris was named Public Administrator for the Year in 1993 and again in 1994 by the Hawaii Chapter of the American Society for Public Administration, the first time in the local chapter history that the awards were given consecutively to one individual. During his first term, he accepted national awards for Honolulu's "Operation Hand Up" homeless work/shelter program, for the revitalization of Chinatown, and for providing beach access to persons in wheelchairs.

In his first two years the mayor installed automated telephone information systems for the most frequently called numbers, reduced the number of city employees, streamlined the building permit process, re-instituted fees for the Summer Fun Program, started two radio talk shows, expanded his presence on cable television, continued the city's development of rental housing, expanded the automated traffic signal control system, expanded anti-pollution efforts and the tree planting program.

The mayor reduced the number of police officers, refuse workers, parks & recreation staff and many other departmental positions for a total reduction of over 1,000 permanent employees and, thereby, saved millions of dollars in annual salaries and benefits which enabled the city to avoid raising property tax rates.

For More Information:
www.co.honolulu.hi.us