Weed & Seed area expanding
By James Gonser
Advertiser Urban Honolulu Writer
With federal backing for a crime-fighting push in Kalihi Valley and the Ala Moana area all but assured, residents have a message for the drug dealers, prostitutes and others who work their streets:
"If you terrorize our neighborhoods, beware — we're coming after you," said Rep. Ken Hiraki, D-28th (Iwilei, Downtown, Makiki).
The U.S. Department of Justice has approved a plan to expand the Weed & Seed law enforcement program from Kalihi-Palama/Chinatown west into Kalihi Valley and east into Ala Moana pending an on-site visit by a federal official.
Official designation would bring federal money to fight crime and toughen federal penalties for violations in the area — the "weed" side of the equation — combined with crime prevention and efforts at intervention, treatment and neighborhood revitalization to "seed" a safer community.
Weed & Seed has had tremendous success since it began in Hawai'i in 1998. Kalihi-Palama/Chinatown, the first location, has seen a 70 percent drop in crime in four years. A second site was designated in late 2000 in Waipahu, where drug crimes have fallen by 78 percent.
The 'Ewa site, the third on O'ahu, got started in September. There are more than 351 Weed & Seed sites in 46 states.
Police Capt. Ed Nishi said the coordinated effort among city, state and federal law enforcement agencies and residents has proved to be a good tool for transforming neighborhoods.
"It helps us to use the federal prosecution to get criminals locked up for a longer period of time," Nishi said. "We look to the community groups to do the seeding, but we are helping with that, and will continue to help."
Maile Kanemaru, Hawai'i Weed & Seed executive director, called the program's success in Hawai'i "exciting."
"It is revitalizing neighborhoods," Kanemaru said. "It's like going back two or three generations to when people used to care for their neighbors and watch out for each other's kids."
Last year, residents on both sides of Chinatown were working to set up programs when they decided to join forces and create one large area to address mutual needs, Kanemaru said.
The group submitted its joint proposal in October and now must show the Justice Department what they have in mind for seed projects, Hiraki said.
Once the designation is official, the group can apply for $175,000 a year from the Justice Department to pay for a site coordinator, neighborhood restoration efforts and training for police officers and residents.
The Chinatown site reaches from Nu'uanu Avenue downtown to Kapalama Stream. Ala Moana residents want that expanded west to Kalakaua Avenue, and Kalihi residents would like to see it extended east to Middle Street and up into Kalihi Valley.
Both areas have documented a need for the "weed" part of the program with police reports on prostitution, drug dealing and gambling. Residents must now develop a plan to "seed" the area.
"Now they have to come up with specific plans of strategies they are going to implement," Kanemaru said. "If there are a lot of immigrants in the community, they might decide to provide English-language classes. Now they have to come up with the benchmarks and outcomes, the specifics — how do we know if we are successful in a year or two."
Several other areas are working toward Weed & Seed designation, Kanemaru said, including the Wai'anae Coast and communities on the Big Island and Kaua'i.
Sen. Carol Fukunaga, D-11th (Makiki, Pawa'a) said two bills moving through the Legislature would help finance Weed & Seed efforts and create an alliance of government and private-sector groups to fight crime.
"We like the notion of partnering government with business and residents," Fukunaga said. "We can build on that base and get a lot more done. That is what makes community-building successful — attacking specific problems in your area."
Reach James Gonser at jgonser@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2431.
