En Vision Downtown Hilo 2025

By Tiffany Edwards

Imagine a walking path and bike trail from Hilo Harbor to the Wailuku River. Imagine a clean Hilo Bay. Imagine the farmer's market with a permanent building. Imagine a multi-level parking structure downtown. Imagine the vacant lot across from the old Palace Theatre transformed into a town square.
Envisioning Downtown Hilo in year 2025 isn't just an exercise of the imagination; it was the subject of a recent town meeting at the historic theatre on Haili Street.
An estimated 350 to 400 people, including the mayor, shopkeepers, college students and librarians, watched the unveiling the draft of Downtown Hilo 2025, a Community-Based Vision and Living Action Plan. Friends of Downtown Hilo formed and initiated the community visioning process and seeks input on the 105-page action as it evolves.
After numerous community meetings and workshops, Beth Dykstra-a county Research and Development grant writer who sits on the Friends of Downtown Hilo Steering Commit-tee-prepared the document for the county, the Hawai'i Community Foundation and the Big Island Resource Conservation and Development Council.
That plan calls for improved public transportation, more walking and bike paths, mixed-use developments allowing residences above storefronts, new and diverse commercial activities like boutiques and sidewalk cafes, and more festivals and celebrations.
Also proposed is a Wailuku River trail and park; a Bayfront trail connecting the harbor to the Wailuku River trail; the improvement of Hilo Bay's water quality (which could mean altering the breakwater); rehabilitation services for the homeless, a community history project, the perpetuation of Hilo's "unique cross-cultural heritage, environment, culture, arts, and institutions."
Aloha Green owner Steve Shropshire and Deputy Planning Director Brad Kurokawa offered details about how they and others volunteering as "lead solution partners" were actively pursuing a Wailuku River park and trail, which would ultimately connect to a Bayfront trail extending to the harbor.
County Public Works Director Bruce McClure indicated that the Army Corps of Engineers was developing a plan to improve Hilo Bay's water quality.
He added there will be "plenty of community meetings later in the year" about this project, for which field work has been completed and studies have begun.
Hilo Farmer's Market owner Keith Dela Cruz plans a new two- or three-story structure on the existing site, promising the farmer's market would continue across the street during construction.
"We have a lot of small businesses and farmers that need to continue their work," Dela Cruz said. He has contracted with green architects and will seek out energy savings systems-not just photovoltaic but a water catchment system.
"We intend to keep the parking lot open and hopefully one day expand it-maybe one day go vertical. We'll see if there's people support for that," Dela Cruz said.
Keynote speaker Suzanne Crowhurst, author of Livable Cities Observed, noted that a community is strengthened by revitalizing shops and businesses, and creating a sense of place. Caring for the homeless, mixed-use development, and historic preservation should be the priorities, she said.
The farmer's market should not only be an "aesthetic experience" and "the best place to buy fruit and vegetables," but "you also meet your friends and relatives there," she said. "The farmer's market is like an engine for community development, socially and economically."
"Shops, outdoor cafes in Downtown Hilo, that would be nice. People living above the streets-the real key issues in revitalizing Downtown Hilo. Housing the homeless is really important, not only morally and the right thing to do, but as a statement about the improvement downtown," she continued. "The measure of success of a revitalized downtown is, is it good for children and young people? Access to downtown, are they able to bike around? Children are the measure of a livable city."
In a video, historians and cultural experts Kepa Maly, Dr. Manu Meyer, Tom Wolforth and Ian Birnie called for Hilo's rich and colorful history to be woven into the action plan.
The anti-annexation petition began in Hilo, and once upon a time it was known for "beloved shore breaks and perfect lefts." Hilo was one of Hawai'i's earliest settlements because, like Waipio, it is easily accessible by canoe.
"Understanding how your land lives is so important," said Maly, a cultural historian and resource specialist. "Altering land and water must be thought through," said Meyer, a Hawaiian scholar and UH-Hilo education professor.
"Hilo was famous for gratitude, excellence and peace. They are standards for today we can reinvent, reissue, as we rethink the Makahiki."
Meyer called for Native Hawaiian participation in the community building to offer "historic memories to tie in the present."
She noted there were kupuna who didn't participate, who don't share their stories because they were not heard. She stressed the focus of the plan should be on building relationships.
Maly concurs, saying it is not enough to talk, or to have a plan on a shelf; "the plan has to be implemented." n
On the Web
Hawai'i Island Community Development Portal
hawaiiislandplan.com/southhilo.asp

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