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The Honolulu Advertiser
Updated at 2:05 p.m., Friday, April 10, 2009

Chinatown complaints hot line among Hannemann's short-term fixes

Advertiser Staff

The city has set up a complaints hot line for Chinatown, will step up street cleaning and will hold a community meeting in May in an effort to allay fears following two recent violent attacks that left one man dead and two people injured.

The short-term measures come as the city has also increased its police presence in Chinatown — tripling the number of officers assigned to the district.

In a news conference today announcing the plans, Mayor Mufi Hannemann said he wanted to send a message to Chinatown residents — and criminals.

"You have a couple of high-profile incidents and it makes it seem like all has run amok," he said. "Part of this is to let the bad guys know that the community is stepping up."

In the long-term, Hannemann said, he wants to increase the number of surveillance cameras in Chinatown and improve street lighting.

The short-term measures include:

• Setting up a hot line (768-6800) for complaints about Chinatown. The hot line will be operated during business hours, but will take messages after hours. Information obtained from the hot line will be passed to the appropriate agency, including to state and federal government departments.

• Ramping up street cleaning, including adding a nighttime cleaning team in late April

• Holding a community meeting on May 6, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., at Mission Memorial Auditorium for residents to discuss issues they face in Chinatown.

The two attacks that have Chinatown residents on edge happened yards from each other.

In the first attack, on March 28, Joseph Peneueta was fatally shot about 4:10 a.m. by two men at the intersection of River and Pauahi streets.

Then, last Friday afternoon, a group of men stabbed a man and beat up his female acquaintance apparently in retaliation for the first attack, police said.