When Kānehoalani passes over Oʻahu, sunlight glimmers on Skyline tracks and new garden beds at Hōʻaeʻae Station. Between the steel and the soil at Honouliuli Station, 25 varieties of kalo lift their leaves to the dawn while 15 ʻulu trees spread their shade – living symbols of a quiet transformation taking root.
This fall, Skyline stations in Waipahu and Hoʻopili came alive – boosted by the October opening of segment two, which now connects Kapolei to Kalihi. Kūpuna arrived with carts, keiki darted between food tents, and local farmers sold produce while sharing moʻolelo of the lands that nourish them. Students from Waipahu High School’s Culinary Arts Pathway offered dishes made from the very produce they had grown in their own campus nursery.
For the City and County of Honolulu, these gatherings were more than symbolic. They marked the start of a bold idea: transforming these 13 Skyline stations into food access hubs – places where local, healthy, and culturally rooted food is as accessible as catching a train. This initiative – now a finalist in the global Bloomberg Philanthropies 2025 Mayors Challenge – emerged from the urgent realities facing island residents.
“Our goal is that everyone living along Skyline’s 19-mile route will have access to fresh, affordable, local food,” said Mayor Rick Blangiardi. “Honolulu is building stations of abundance for the people of Oʻahu.”
Healing the land, nourishing the people
Oʻahu imports nearly 85% of its food, and prices continue to rise. Many residents live far from grocery stores that sell affordable local fruits, vegetables, and starches. These barriers intensified when SNAP benefits were paused nationwide in November.
But for Native Hawaiians, food access is more than an economic challenge – it is a spiritual wound born of disconnection from ʻāina momona, the abundant lands that once sustained generations in our own respective kauhale and kaiāulu. Restoring that abundance is about more than food – it’s about restoring mana as our legacy and mauli ola as our destiny.
Grounded in these values, the city began prototyping its “stations of abundance” idea at two stations in West Oʻahu. Partnering with the Hawaiʻi Foodbank, ʻElepaio Social Services, Waipahu High School, DR Horton Hawaiʻi, and local growers, the city hosted farmers’ markets and mobile pantry events that distributed 7,000 pounds of fresh produce – roughly 5,800 meals – to more than 300 households in just a few hours.
Residents lined up early, eager not just for the food, but for the belonging it brought to be part of something positive, growing long-term sustainability. Lina of Waipahu said she came with her friend so they could help each other carry their groceries home between Hōʻaeʻae and Pouhala stations. “We would come twice a month if they came back,” she smiled. “We help each other – that’s how it should be.”
Innovation rooted in Indigenous wisdom
While the stations of abundance vision embraces innovation – like scoping refrigerated food lockers, food-as-medicine vouchers, and transit-linked farmers’ markets – it’s guided by Indigenous knowledge using the Kūkulu Hou methodology.
City staff worked with practitioners to align planting on Skyline’s footprint with Native Hawaiian lunar cycles. Strategic plantings at Hōʻaeʻae and Honouliuli are for both edible crops and cultural plants like ʻuala for lāʻau lapaʻau, acknowledging the full spectrum of nourishment that ʻāina provides.
To hoʻoulu lāhui Hawaiʻi, they are seeds of mauli ola – a return to wellness and vitality.
We’re designing a city that reflects our values, where government acts as a steward rather than a manager. Stewardship here means laulima. While the mayor’s offices and city departments lead this effort, the real strength comes from the community itself. Schools, farmers, Native Hawaiian organizations, social service agencies, and residents each bring their expertise.
By 2028, the city hopes to scale the project across all 13 stations, supported by more than 25 community partnerships and an anticipated 1 million meals provided through local food systems. Each site will reflect the cultural and culinary identity of its neighborhood.
Building pilina along the Skyline
Food is not separate from place or people; it is the bridge between them. This program intentionally weaves relationships and reciprocity across agencies and communities that historically worked in silos.
“Skyline stations are not just physical infrastructure, and now, thanks to this project, they are becoming part of the social and cultural infrastructure of our communities,” said Jon Nouchi, City Department of Transportation Services deputy director.
ʻĀina momona is giving rise to a new kind of city planning that begins with listening, nānā pono, being present, and addressing quality of life. When residents are part of the design and prototyping, the results are quicker and more cost effective, generating community pride.
Those stories have shaped the work. Program participant Hermina shared that she went to an October event – not for herself – but for her ʻohana. “Local vegetables are better. I have 14 grandchildren and they like purple lettuce. I usually go to three markets to get it,” she said, laughing. “Now maybe it’ll grow here where I catch TheBus.”
A model for island resilience
Islands across Moananuiākea and neighboring counties each face the same challenge: cities’ complex role to feed people in ways that are affordable, local, and culturally meaningful while activating the public lands each county is entrusted to steward.
This work reconnects the past to the future. The lands underneath and surrounding Skyline’s 18.9-mile corridor can better host plants that feed local families as our moʻolelo recount. Young people use Skyline stations not just as stops on a line, but as living classrooms for mālama ʻāina. Kūpuna see traditions re-rooting in public spaces once paved over. And city government is reimagining its role – from transit-oriented development to cultivating life.
As trains hum past the young Hāloa, leaves shimmer with promise. The land remembers its purpose, and so do the people. Along Skyline’s path, the city is rediscovering what it means to feed one another.
This article is reprinted with permission from Kealoha Fox, “Restoring abundance along our Skyline," OHA's Ka Wai Ola newspaper, December 2025, Vol. 42 No. 12. Read more at kawaiola.news.
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