The city belongs to us all;
so do its problems

The retail run-up to Christmas had yet to take hold so there was just the two of us -- me, wandering from shelf to display case, and the shopkeeper behind the cash register, trying to be attentive without being pushy.

To diffuse the awkward situation, I began a conversation, noting banally that the wind had picked up a bit.

That was one good thing about the city not doing its job, the shopkeeper said sardonically. If not for the litter that escaped unemptied trash cans she'd never know it was breezy outside, pointing to a flapping, tell-tale plastic bag snagged on the scrubs along the sidewalk.

She complained that rubbish was a blemish on her store's "image," negated the city's sprucing up Kaimuki with new sidewalks and landscaping. Malls have custodians to keep things tidy, but shops along streets are left to the unreliable devices of the government, she growled.

She went through the common litany: I pay taxes, I called "them" and "they" don't do anything, what to these high-paid city workers do all day but eat lunch and move like cold molasses.

I nodded and made vaguely agreeable noises before slipping away, leaving her with elbows planted on the counter to petulantly survey the whirling debris outside.

Not wanting to offend, I didn't say that she might consider picking up the trash herself, and that it wouldn't take much time. I didn't say that if each owner collected the litter in front of their shops and swept up the few feet of sidewalk there, the retail district would look better; that they really weren't singularly dependent on the sluggish bureaucracy.

But you can't say these things. People have to have someone or something else to blame. The thinking seems to be that there's no reason decent, law-abiding, taxpaying citizens should have to pack home their picnic trash when the beachside garbage cans are full, as they often are during holiday weekends. Nope. Government owes them a convenient place to dump chicken bones, half-eaten hot dogs, plates and paper napkins.

An attitude of "them vs. us" seems to have strengthened its hold in the city, the "them" being a vaporous government and the "us" being the public. Oftentimes, citizens and their leaders are at odds, which is how things are supposed to work, but in many cases, people seem to shrug off responsibility when simple acts, like clearing the litter in front of their homes, can solve a problem.

For the first time in a decade, Honolulu has a new mayor. I don't envy Mufi Hannemann as he shoulders what has to be one of the toughest government jobs in Hawaii.

The city encompasses such varied terrain -- from long-established urban neighborhoods and newly minted suburbs to keeping-the-country-country communities. While they all share basic difficulties, such as traffic congestion, they also have diverse needs and desires.

The recent conflict over where to locate a city landfill bared perceptions that some communities had the favor of officials over others. The heated exchanges pit people against people on an island so small that no one community can claim more importance over another, not even tourism-centric Waikiki.

Mayor Hannemann will have many issues to take on, but one of his first tasks should be to stimulate a sense of citizenship among residents so that they aren't just grumbling, passive taxpayers, but participants and problem-solvers.

The city belongs to all of us. It's up to us to take care of it.