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Downtown anti-drug
plan deemed success

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By Leila Fujimori
Star-Bulletin

Crime has dropped by more than 50 percent in the Kalihi/Palama/Chinatown area after the first year of Operation Weed and Seed.

"Senior citizens on Pua Lane can now go for a walk at 5 a.m., and drug dealers don't harass them," said U.S. Attorney Steven Alm.

The program targets a specific geographic area of high crime and low income, Alm said. Law enforcement agencies work together to weed out criminals based on what the community identifies as its biggest problems.

The program has prompted the seizure of buildings where illegal activities have been conducted in Chinatown.

"We're still working on the last block of Hotel Street between Smith and Nuuanu," said Burton White, Downtown Neighborhood Board chairman.

After the community is made safer, its members get involved in seeding the area with crime-prevention activities. The U.S. attorney's office leads the collaborative effort of government, business, community and academic leaders and hundreds of community volunteers.

Weed and Seed is a strategy for collaboration, bringing people together, including social services, police, business and schools, Alm said.

Program organizers in Kalihi/Palama/Chinatown will honor six "Everyday Heroes" Thursday at the Hawaii Convention Center. The heroes have helped to build a safer, more caring community.

Honorees include: James Marino, Mayor Wright Youth Center; Gary Aki, Kamehameha Homes Tenant Association; the Weed and Seed team in Kalihi; Manuel Silva, Hale Pauahi Towers Tenant Association Neighborhood Watch; Charlotte White, Kaiulani Elementary School principal; and Cyrus Tamashiro, Tamashiro Market.

At Kaiulani Elementary, White has set up an environment for employees to take the initiative in providing for kids in need. A custodian there has started his own program for students who live at the Institute for Human Services and cannot afford to participate in the regular after-school program.

In September, the second Operation Weed and Seed took root in Waipahu, which presently has the highest crime rate in the islands, Alm said.

There, police are working with gang members in programs to get to know them better. Residents are painting out graffiti. "We're so happy to be out there preventing crime," said Alm.