Peter Carlisle officially Honolulu’s 13th mayor, says rail is a priority

HONOLULU—It’s official. Mayor Peter Carlisle took the official oath of office Monday to become the 13th elected mayor of the City and County of Honolulu.

Carlisle was sworn into office by another new key figure in Hawaii government, State Supreme Court Chief Justice Mark Recktenwald, shortly after 4:30 pm, in a brief, private ceremony inside the Mayor’s Office.

An inauguration ceremony is planned for Friday, October 22.

Carlisle won the September 18 special election to replace former Mayor Mufi Hannemann, who resigned in July in his unsuccessful bid for governor. Carlisle will serve the remaining two years of the mayoral term. In the election, Carlisle bested acting Mayor Kirk Caldwell, who was Hannemann’s Chief of Staff, as well as engineering professor Panos Prevedouros, who said during his campaign: “A civil engineer is the perfect professional for the [Honolulu mayor] job. A lawyer is not.”

Prior to running for mayor, Carlisle served for 14 years as Honolulu’s elected Prosecutor. He was born in 1952 in Ridgewood, New Jersey, and graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the UCLA School of Law.

Carlisle said one of his top priorities is to get Oahu’s $5.5 billion rail project on track, while at the same time cutting the City’s spending.