Moving Forward xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxBright Idea Awards Announced - First Friday's Continue

Exciting prospects ahead for Chinatown
By Mayor Mufi Hannemann

We held our Mayor's Chinatown Summit last month, and many people that day and since have told me they're excited to have a mayor and City cabinet truly interested and enthused about Chinatown and its future.

The summit gathered 300 Chinatown stakeholders at the Hawai'i Theatre to talk about our hopes and dreams for that richly diverse and unique neighborhood. We all came away optimistic about prospects for a revitalized, vibrant Chinatown that loses none of its rich diversity, but is more attractive and accessible to local people as well as visitors.

I have said all along that I envision Chinatown not only as a place for people to sample the fabulous diversity of Oahu's people, their cultures and wares, but also as a global focal point for culture and the arts.

The City cannot do this alone. It will take active involvement and investment from residents, businesses, community organizations and government. However, based on the discussion at the summit, there are steps the City can take, and we've already begun. As I told the people who attended the summit, I want you to hold my administration's feet to the fire to make sure we get these things done.

As I said at the summit, here is my list of top 10 actions for the City to take:

1. Soliciting suggestions for revitalizing the neighborhood with Bright Idea Mini-Awards, thanks to $20,000 from the Ford Foundation and a matching sum from five local banks that the City helped generate. We received 130 suggestions by last week's deadline. The Hawaii Arts Alliance is already reviewing the suggestions. The top 10 will each receive a $4,000 award.

2. Partner with Internet service provider Earthlink to provide free wireless broadband Internet access for a year. Earthlink will assume the costs of the trial. Wi-fi technology will allow us to test innovations such as video surveillance and wireless cameras for public safety; marketing and online sales, and pay-as-you-go parking and remote traffic controls.

3. Develop housing on a City-owned parcel on River Street makai of Vineyard Boulevard to ease Chinatown's housing and homeless problem. The site currently houses a two-story building with several commercial tenants, who have been notified. The City will seek to a public-private partnership to develop the site.

4. Create a new "arts incubator" in Chinatown to nurture up-and-coming organizations and artists similar to The ARTS at Mark's Garage.

5. Promote more nighttime activities in the vein of the highly successful First Fridays.

6. Seek opportunities for transit-oriented development in Chinatown as part of the development of the planned Honolulu mass transit project. I recently saw a demonstration of this kind of "smart growth" in Inglewood, Colorado, where creation of a transit station caused that town to strive, while maintaining its small-town character.

7. Make recommendations for improvements to the Nimitz Highway corridor that serves as a gateway to Chinatown. The City's Economic Development Office has identified Chinatown as one of Oahu's valuable assets, and these improvements will further our Oahu Strategic Tourism Plan. We will vigorously pursue funding for them.

8. Take advantage of the designation of Chinatown by the White House Advisory Council on Historical Preservation as a Preserve America Community Neighborhood, to ensure that we get our fair of federal funds to preserve and enchance Chinatown.

9. Cultivate Honolulu's sister-city relationship with Zhongshan, birthplace of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, the Chinese revolutionary leader who was educated in Honolulu. The sister-city ties between Honolulu and Zhongshan, where a majority of ethnic Chinese people's roots lie, will be 10 years old next year. We hope to help mark the occasion with a fitting memorial in Chinatown to Dr. Sun, perhaps at the Chinatown Gateway Park that we recently rejuvenated.

10. Sponsor a major international dragon boat festival in late October, a way to leverage what we do so well with tourism. Previous mayors have supported the annual dragon boat races. We envision a larger-scale event, using increased funding. We'll invite our sister cities and dragon boat associations from all over the world.

Community-based discussions and input are a major emphasis of my administration as we've done in Chinatown, Waikiki, Kahuku, Kapolei, Aiea, Leeward Oahu and the upcoming summits we plan for Kaimuki and Kalihi.