Chinatown residents yesterday applauded the city's plan to address crime in the neighborhood, saying the measures — including setting up a complaints hot line and stepping up street cleaning — would help to allay fears and bring the community together.

City officials drew up the plan following two recent high-profile attacks in Chinatown, which left one man dead and two people injured. Mayor Mufi Hannemann said the measures are meant to increase community involvement and keep wrongdoers out of the community.

"Part of this is to let the bad guys know that the community is stepping up," Hannemann said at a news conference yesterday in Chinatown. "We want to let the bad guys out there know — you're on alert."

Hannemann added, as a message to the community and others, that "Chinatown is safe for people to come. It's open."

Frank Lovoie, chairman of the Downtown Neighborhood Board, said the city measures have gotten good reviews from residents. "It's definitely a step in the right direction," he said. "It's sad that it takes something like these two incidents to get it done."

As part of its short-term plan, the city has set up a complaints hot line for Chinatown, allowing people to call about anything that might be bothering them about the community. The hot line will be staffed during business hours, but people can leave messages after hours.

Complaints to the hot line will be passed on to the appropriate agencies. The city will also ramp up street cleaning in the neighborhood, adding a nighttime cleaning crew to get to streets and sidewalks that may be difficult to clean during the day.

The mayor is also urging residents to get involved in community events, including a community policing information session on April 24 and a community meeting on May 6 to talk about any number of concerns. Surveillance cameras and improved street lighting may be added in the future, he said.

The plan, called "Operation Chinatown Alert," comes as police have tripled the number of officers assigned to Chinatown. At the news conference yesterday, Police Chief Boisse Correa pledged that the additional staffing in Chinatown would not leave other communities short of police officers.

"It's not going to affect the other jurisdictions," Correa said.

Residents and businesses have been on edge about crime in Chinatown following the recent violent attacks, which happened just yards from each other.

In the first attack on March 28, Joseph Peneueta was fatally shot by two men at the intersection of River and Pauahi streets. On April 3, a group of men stabbed a man and beat up his female acquaintance, apparently in retaliation for the first attack, police have said.

Correa has said the attacks involved groups fighting over the distribution of drugs in Chinatown. Yesterday, Correa added no new details on the apparent turf war, other than to say the groups appear to have gone "underground" because of the increased police scrutiny.

The news conference yesterday was attended by several community leaders, including Chu Lan Shubert Kwock, president of the Chinatown Business & Community Association. She said she supports the city plan and is happy that action was taken so quickly.

The association has organized a rally and march today in Chinatown to protest the violence. She said community involvement is key to kicking out bad elements in the area.

"Together, we're going to make it stronger," she said.