Public Service
He was elected as representative of the 4th district to the legislature of the Territory of Hawaii in 1945, and the territorial senate in 1947 and 1949. In 1950 he ran for Mayor of Honolulu, but withdrew after suffering from tuberculosis.
Blaisdell ran against Frank Fasi and was elected mayor in 1954, taking office in 1955. As mayor, Blaisdell saw the construction of the John H. Wilson Tunnels through the Koʻolau Range from Kalihi Valley, and erected the Hawaii International Center, a multi-purpose complex with concert hall, convention center, exhibition hall and sports arena. After Blaisdell's death, his successor Fasi renamed the complex in his honor. It is now known as the Neal S. Blaisdell Center.
From 1965 to 1966, Blaisdell was president of the United States Conference of Mayors.
Read more about this topic: Neal Blaisdell
Famous quotes containing the words public and/or service:
“I am not building here a statue to erect at the town crossroads, or in a church or a public square.... This is for a nook in a library, and to amuse a neighbor, a relative, a friend, who may take pleasure in associating and conversing with me.”
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)
“Whatever events in progress shall disgust men with cities, and infuse into them the passion for country life, and country pleasures, will render a service to the whole face of this continent, and will further the most poetic of all the occupations of real life, the bringing out by art the native but hidden graces of the landscape.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)