2025-01-15 Megan Isaac - Laserfiche WebLink

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Development Department website. display of function re:"Funding and Grant Resources." Hawaii County R&D. Note: Information is indicative of the department's role in funding and grant ap- plications but may not encompass all responsibilities related to contracts. E. Fortaleza: A City with population of 2.2 Million is paired with Hawaii County, a rural island: Fortaleza, Brazil, is the capital of the Ceara district and the fifth-largest city in Brazil, with a population of over 2.2 million people. Fortaleza has over 120 high rise buildings. By contrast Hawaii Island is predominantly rural and has a population of 200,000. Since it appears difficult to explain another reason that these 'partners' are a match, the ob- jective of concealing the ICLEI sponsored partnership at the public meeting on August 24 appears to be a motivation to conceal a SMART Cities and urban development agenda. (Refer exhibit 3, page 2: image of city of Fortaleza ) F. Reference to Brazil's 'push' for SMART Cities as part of a National Strategy. Brazilian media outlet Brazillian Report reported on August 9, 2019, that the Brazilian government has a stated objective to "push" for the development of Smart Cities. Giv- en this context, it is reasonable to infer that Hawaii County officials involved in the partnership with Fortaleza were likely aware that SMART Cities are a major objective for Fortaleza, aligning with these national objectives. This raises significant concerns re- garding the transparency of their communications about the agreement. (Refer Exhibits 4a & 4b page 2 SMART Cities in Fortaleza and Exhibit 5 page 3 excerpt from The Brazilian Report) G. ICLEI's Association with SMART City Initiatives Prior to 2023 Evidence of ICLEI's promotion of SMART Cities prior to 2023 is found through website pages that were publicly available. This association suggests that the County's partner- ship may involve similar objectives, raising further questions about transparency and intent. (Refer Exhibit 7 page 5 ICLEI 'Intelligent Cities program is referenced ) H. The County of Hawaii Has Entered into a Charter with the City of Fortaleza, Brazil In June 2024, Frecia Cevallos attended another Cities Forward conference in Sao Paulo, Brazil, representing the County of Hawaii. In a video recorded there and posted on the County of Hawaii Department of Research and Development website, Frecia Cevallos states, "We just entered into a Charter with the City of Fortaleza." Given the context of previous engagements and the alignment of objectives, it is troubling that these developments were not transparently communicated to the public. (Refer Ex- hibit 9 page 5 image taken from video posted on County of Hawaii website )