Honolulu’s Mayor Rick Blangiardi was chosen to lead Oahu again in the primary election for his position with about 78% of the vote, with no strong opponent to his leadership on the ballot. In addition, all four of incumbent Council members who were up for re-election in last year’s race were voted in in the primary vote. As the mayor remarked in his inaugural speech on Thursday, that is indeed an endorsement from Honolulu’s voters, as well as prominent members of the community who might otherwise have chosen to back a contender.

At his inaugural ceremony Thursday inside Honolulu’s Mission Memorial Auditorium, Blangiardi’s speech was by turns somber and aspirational, and properly so, as he recognized the Honolulu city administration’s broad responsibility for residents’ safety, shelter and security — prerequisites for “thriving,” as any community hopes to do — as well as the expectation that city leaders will show both creative vision and sober stewardship in shepherding Honolulu into the future.

As Blangiardi recognized, Honolulu’s vote for continuity in city leadership is no expression of complacency with the status quo; rather, it’s an expression of faith in Blangiardi’s pledge to untangle and resolve Honolulu’s most pressing and intractable problems.

The “inauguration ceremony is as much about the road ahead as it is about acknowledging the sacrifice of those who work so hard for the good of our home,” Blangiardi said. “This is about us expecting more of ourselves. This is about our cabinet picking up the pace. About our team increasing our focus. About our ability to create change.”

An immediate mandate for change faces Blangiardi on a deadly important issue that has turned for the worse in the past four years: the proliferation of illegal aerial fireworks on this island. Blangiardi must put his leadership ability fully to the test here: working with federal, state and local partners to root out and hold accountable the dealers of shipped-in explosives that come through Honolulu ports; demanding results, and ensuring that results are delivered, in seizing found explosives throughout Honolulu; and arresting, prosecuting and jailing those who distribute or stockpile the deadly aerials.

Heretofore, the buyers and sellers of illegal, explosive aerial fireworks have rarely been caught, much less brought to justice by Honolulu’s police and prosecutors. This pattern of inaction must end, and now — after three women died, a child was severely burned and dozens were injured in a deadly firestorm caused when ignited aerials launched into a carport full of the explosives on New Year’s Eve. The extent of the harm done is still being revealed: On Thursday, Gov. Josh Green said he’d authorized a military transport to an Arizona burn care unit for six severely burned victims.

Blangiardi introduced his concept of “Wicked Problems” afflicting Honolulu at his previous inauguration, and ending the proliferation of illegal fireworks is certainly one of them. These are problems that cannot be solved without the cooperation of Honolulu’s various wielders of power, both public and private. In this effort, it is laudable that Honolulu’s City Council has committed to work collaboratively with the Mayor and his administrators. Blangiardi’s correct in stating that without cooperation, no one person or entity can unlock Honolulu’s full potential.

More important work ahead for the city includes addressing the strong and growing need for housing at levels of affordability attainable for Honolulu’s working residents, including public workers and those in the trades, teachers, firefighters and nurses, and the throngs of less well-paid health care and tourist sector staff.

To help with this, the city must enact a tailored “empty homes tax,” incentivizing the use of residential properties as longterm homes, and continue to fine tune its enforcement actions to root out illegal short-term rentals. Cooperation with the City Council will be key here, as it will be in continuing the city’s push to pay for and create additional affordable housing and kauhale — longterm residential “villages,” whether in tiny homes or high-rise towers, for people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.

Also necessary: Continued, focused attention to improvements in efficiency and transparency for the city’s Department of Planning and Permitting. A workable site and workable plan for a new landfill. And certainly not least, continued progress on the proffered timetable with rail — this despite a $324 million lawsuit filed last month against the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation (HART) by train builder Hitachi over past delays, and an expectation that the city will need to use eminent domain to access property necessary for its “mauka shift” away from power lines along its route. All of these mandates will require considerable leadership and management expertise, with Blangiardi at the apex of responsibility.

It’s heartening to hear Mayor Blangiardi promise to waste no time in moving forward. Now, as he also recognizes, the administration’s success or failure will be measured by its performance.