Frank Fasi - Legacy

Legacy

Much of Honolulu today retains reminders of Honolulu's Fasi Era. He opened the Neal S. Blaisdell Center, and established TheBus, the national award-winning public transportation system. Fasi also invented and built the Satellite City Hall system, established one of the nation's largest elected neighborhood board systems, and pushed for the construction of the H-POWER waste-to-energy plant.

Fasi created the popular Summer Fun recreational program for children and the annual Honolulu City Lights winter festival. Fasi popularized a local hand gesture called the shaka when he ordered it to become the city's signature logo and printed on all city signs and publications.

He is also credited with transforming the Capitol District by bulldozing massive parking structures near the Hawaiʻi State Capitol, ʻIolani Palace and Kawaiahaʻo Church to create large parcels of green space known as the Honolulu Civic Center. He also created a central office building for many of the city's departments.

In recognition of his service to Honolulu, Mayor Mufi Hannemann renamed both the Civic Center and the Municipal Building in July 2006. In order to do so, the Honolulu City Council amended its charter with the passage of Bill 76 (2005) CD 1, FD 1, which bypassed a ban on naming city and county sites in honor of living persons. The Mayor Frank F. Fasi Civic Center and Mayor Frank F. Fasi Municipal Building now stand as memorials to him.