We asked Federal Transit Administrator Peter Rogoff for his take on the leadership behind Honolulu’s rail project in an interview at the U.S. Conference of Mayors on Wednesday, but Carlisle was in earshot. 

Rogoff’s response: “The leadership in Honolulu has an excellent first name.”

Later, in an interview with Civil Beat, Carlisle put it this way: “What we do joke about regularly is that we have the same first name. It puts us a cut above all of these mere mortals.”