Honolulu City Councilman Donovan Dela Cruz yesterday said he intends to run for mayor if incumbent Mufi Hannemann steps down next year to contend for governor as expected.

Dela Cruz, 36, has been on the council since 2002 and was chairman from October 2003 to January 2007. Prior to public office, Dela Cruz was in public relations and was best known as the co-author of three books promoting mom-and-pop businesses around the state.

The Wahiawa native is the grandson of Filipino immigrants on his father's side and Puerto Rican plantation workers from the Big Island on his mother's side, and his campaign is expected to focus partly on his local, rural roots.

His grandmother took him and his sister around the island on the city bus and he learned how to swim at the Wahiawa District Park swimming pool and participated in city Summer Fun programs, he said.

"City services have provided a decent quality of life for my family and the people in my community," he said. "So I really feel a debt of gratitude for that."

Politically, Dela Cruz said his campaign will focus on his consensus-building nature and progressive legislation such as establishment of an agricultural task force and environmental legislation.

City Prosecutor Peter Carlisle earlier this summer announced he will run for mayor whenever Hannemann leaves the post.

Others considering a possible bid include council Chairman Todd Apo, city Managing Director Kirk Caldwell and University of Hawai'i engineering professor Panos Prevedouros.

Carlisle, who's been elected prosecutor four times, is the only one to run a successful O'ahu-wide campaign. But Dela Cruz pointed out that he managed Councilwoman Ann Kobayashi's mayoral campaign last year, which took Hannemann into a general election run-off.

Dela Cruz's announcement is expected to have ramifications at both Hono- lulu Hale and the state Capitol. With his current four-year term on the council expiring next year and ineligible for re-election, he had filed organizational papers to run for lieutenant governor next year.

Among those who have either announced or filed campaign organizational papers for the Democratic lieutenant governor's race: Brian Schatz, the chairman of the Democratic Party of Hawai'i, state Senate Majority Leader Gary Hooser, state Rep. Jon Riki Karamatsu and Councilman Rod Tam.