Here are two pieces of advice that sum up the first State of the City speech by Honolulu’s new mayor, Rick Blangiardi.

First the warning given to new doctors: “First, do no harm.” And from Sir Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of the Boy Scouts: “Leave this world a little better than you found it.”

Both are good thoughts with a timeless relevancy, but like Blangiardi’s speech, neither breaks new ground nor moves the ball down the field.

The speech was short and well delivered, sparing us the pretension of some former mayors’ oratory.

Blangiardi had no dramatic wish lists nor any out- of-the-ordinary demands, so you couldn’t say anything proposed would cause harm. At the same time, what he did call for, if enacted, wouldn’t cause controversy and could help.

Although it is not a City Charter requirement for each Honolulu mayor to proclaim his or her love for Chinatown, Blangiardi fell right in line with all the rest, declaring in last week’s speech: “Chinatown is a hidden gem with so much potential that has been terribly neglected.” Every mayor swoons over Chinatown, but never with the depth that gives it the revitalized deep cleaning and rebuilding it needs.

If Blangiardi had instead called for bringing back the district by perhaps turning Chinatown’s River Street into a local version of San Antonio’s famed River Walk or a pledge to return Aala Park to its much-needed urban gathering place in the middle of some of the denser Honolulu areas, the mayor would be on to something.

Blangiardi went on to decry, “The same old tired solutions to our affordable housing crisis is clearly not the answer, it hasn’t worked for 30 years,” before announcing the not-new idea of expanding the Mayor’s Office of Housing into the Office of Housing and Homelessness, with the hopes that increased support and focused attention will help.

The sentiment is worthwhile, but affordable Honolulu housing has mostly been a mirage.

I checked back to the opening days of Honolulu’s last Italian-American mayor, Frank Fasi. Fifty-two years ago, Fasi started in office announcing plans for construction of a “high speed, cross-city mass transit system.”

According to projections, if the latest version of Fasi’s mass transit dream were to actually start hauling passengers, it will not be until March 2031 — at a cost of $12.449 billion.

In his speech, Blangiardi could have spent a bit more time worrying about how Honolulu is going to pay this soaring price tag.

“The project is being re-engineered with a fresh perspective, especially along the Dillingham corridor. Shifting the route slightly will prevent the costly relocation of utilities. However, it will take the cooperation with landowners to make it happen,” the mayor said.

The city’s lack of money doesn’t end with rail. As the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported last week: “The city is facing a budget with a $73 million hole … to balance the budget without raising property taxes or furloughing employees, Blangiardi proposed a city hiring freeze and pausing contributions to retirees’ health care benefits.”

Those financial solutions are emergency thinking at best.

Eventually, Blangiardi is simply going to need more money, and how the city gets it was left unsaid in the new mayor’s first big speech.

Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays. Reach him at 808onpolitics@gmail.com.