Wai'anae denied Weed & Seed
By Peter Boylan
Advertiser Staff Writer
The U.S. Department of Justice has denied Wai'anae designation as a federal Weed & Seed site, hurting hopes within the community that the much-needed crime-fighting and community-rehabilitation initiative would arrive this summer.
The Leeward Coast community was one of two state sites applying for the program. Pahoa on the Big Island received partial approval pending revisions to parts of its application.
While that may be a partial victory for the state, Weed & Seed officials and Wai'anae residents are discouraged by the denial. The application for designation was submitted in October, but had been two years in the making.
"I believe Wai'anae should have a Weed & Seed program and I believe it needs a Weed & Seed program," said U.S. Rep. Ed Case, D-Hawai'i. "It is just a refinement that they need to go through. I think Wai'anae will step up and do what they need to improve their application."
The DOJ agreed with the application's description of Wai'anae as a high crime area. The areas the department took particular issue with were resident involvement and organization. The DOJ said Wai'anae provided material from community meetings held in 2001, and that "more timely resident input" was needed to "validate the issues identified."
In the application, Wai'anae was identified by Weed & Seed coordinators as an area beset by drug and juvenile crimes, and in serious need of treatment programs for substance abuse.
"The drug crimes and domestic violence are very high for such a small concentrated area," said Michelle Johnson, a Makaha resident who runs a printing business in Wai'anae. "It is disappointing."
Maile Kanemaru, Hawai'i Weed & Seed director, said she plans to re-submit the Wai'anae application this fall. She is requesting assistance with the application from DOJ's headquarters in Washington, D.C. As part of the program, DOJ will pay for a Weed & Seed program manager to fly to Hawai'i and assist with the application process.
"It is very disappointing," Kanemaru said. "The task force worked so hard for almost two years, doing surveys, recruiting people, getting it all put together. A lot of man hours were put into it."
The state has three active Weed & Seed sites: Kalihi/Palama/Chinatown, Waipahu and 'Ewa Beach. Crime statistics show a significant drop in major felonies in Waipahu and Kalihi, and Kanemaru has said it is too early to tell if 'Ewa Beach will show similar success.
While Waipahu will receive federal money for fiscal year 2004, Kalihi and 'Ewa Beach will not, as areas in other states have a higher priority. Weed & Seed areas can receive as much as $175,000 from the federal government per year.
The loss for Kalihi and 'Ewa Beach has left the financial burden of the program to local administrators, who are soliciting help from private industry and the Legislature.
Weed & Seed was established in 1997 to weed out drug dealers and violent criminals from communities nationwide while fostering a sense of communal responsibility.
The "weed" portion applies federal law enforcement to rid high-crime areas of gangs, drug dealers and repeat and violent offenders. Federal prosecutors look twice at cases that normally would be processed through the state system, especially career criminals and repeat drug offenders. Convicts then face harsher penalties and federal prison time.
The other part of the program applies crime prevention, intervention, treatment and neighborhood revitalization to "seed" a safer community.
The $175,000 in federal money is split between the "weed" and "seed" initiatives. However, receiving five-year federal recognition as a Weed & Seed site does not guarantee federal aid; a large number of sites compete for money.
Hawai'i's three sites are among 351 nationwide, of which only 170 receive some form of federal money. Hawai'i sites often fall short in neighborhood crime rate — a crucial criterion used by the Justice Department to evaluate applications for federal money — compared with their urban Mainland counterparts such as Philadelphia or Compton, Calif.
Case is scheduled to testify today before the House Appropriations Committee's subcommittee on commerce, justice, state, the judiciary and related industries, the group responsible for making fiscal year 2005 appropriations for the Justice Department. He said he is going to tout the Weed & Seed program as one of his major points.
"I'm going to tell it like it is. The program works, the president proposes to reduce it, we have great communities across the country that need it so let's do it," he said.
Reach Peter Boylan at 535-8110 or pboylan@honoluluadvertiser.com.
