Mayor Blangiardi Administration To Provide An Update On The Improvements And Plans In Chinatown

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Mayor Blangiardi Administration To Provide An Update On The Improvements And Plans In Chinatown
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Mayor Blangiardi administration to provide an update on the improvements and plans in Chinatown

Corner of Maunakea Street and North Hotel Street in Chinatown

HONOLULU – In February 2021, Mayor Blangiardi and his administration made a commitment to beautify, revitalize and improve security in Chinatown. On February 23, 2022, a little over one-year later, Mayor Blangiardi and his administration with top Cabinet members will update the Chinatown community on the status of their departmental projects and the plans for 2022 through a virtual meeting from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. The Webex meeting details are listed below.

“I am incredibly proud of the way our team has committed itself to revitalizing Chinatown in a thoughtful and strategic manner. We have accomplished significant improvements throughout the district and we have a lot more work to do. We look forward to implementing more collaborative measures for the community to give Chinatown the care and love it deserves to thrive in the years to come,” said Mayor Rick Blangiardi. “Of particular note, the highly successful launch of our CORE program (Crisis Outreach Response and Navigation), Weed and Seed, street cleaning and sanitation efforts, increased security, and the solicitation for more affordable housing, are all solutions bringing about visible positive change to the cultural heart of Honolulu.”

This meeting provides an opportunity for Mayor Blangiardi and top city officials to report directly to the public on progress in Chinatown and the mayor’s priorities with respect to efforts to enhance safety and security, address homelessness, and resolve other key issues.

From July 2021, when Mayor Blangiardi authorized the plan to have increased police presence in Chinatown, through the end of the year, the Honolulu Police Department (HPD) was able to make noticeable improvements across several categories in the district, including 947 citations, 143 arrests and more than 18,500 warnings and preventative interactions while officers were on patrol. During that same period, 77 people were referred to the City’s Homelessness Outreach and Navigation for Unsheltered Persons Program (HONU) which provides health care and social services to help individuals move into permanent living arrangements.

The City is committed to expanding truly affordable housing in Chinatown. In 2021, the Department of Land Management worked with property managers to rent 755 affordable housing units in five projects throughout Chinatown and approximately 50 homeless people in the area were taken off the streets and placed in housing either through the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD VASH) program or through Housing First vouchers.

In a significant agreement for the Chinatown community, after 35 years the River of Life Mission (ROLM) will relocate its public feeding operation from its current location in Chinatown to several new hubs on O‘ahu. ROLM is identifying new remote feeding locations to help serve additional areas and make more meaningful connections with our homeless population. The relocation of ROLM public feeding operations out of Chinatown is planned for sooner rather than later.

Projects like street sweeping twice a day, six days a week and sidewalk power washing three days a week will continue into 2022, as well as twice daily trash pickup and the ongoing maintenance of street lights. In 2021, a Capital Improvement Project to reconstruct a catch basin at the corner of North Beretania and Maunakea Street was completed and repairs to damaged catch basins and manholes in Downtown-Chinatown are scheduled to begin this summer. Construction at Kekaulike Mall, which include drainage, landscaping, and lighting improvements, is scheduled to begin in July 2022 with an expected completion date of March 2023.

The public may join the Chinatown Meeting from a computer, smartphone or telephone as follows:

Join from a computer: https://globalpage-prod.webex.com/join Meeting Number: 2481 833 8886
Meeting Password: tiger

Join from the Webex smartphone app:  Meeting Number: 2481 833 8886
Meeting Password: tiger

Join from a telephone (audio only):  408-418-9388 (USA Toll)
Access code: 2481 833 8886
Numeric meeting password: 84437

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Mayor Blangiardi Administration To Provide An Update On The Improvements And Plans In Chinatown

First Friday Hawaii
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