JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARADVERTISER.COM
Panelists Chris Martin, left, director of security for Hawaii Pacific University; Reyn Tanaka of Kurisu Group; Christine Camp of Avalon Group; Trevor Abarzua, executive director of the Waikiki Business Improvement Association; City Councilman Tyler Dos Santos-Tam; and moderator Chris Fong, investment associate with Tradewind Capital, discussed possible creation of a downtown business improvement district on Jan. 15.
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The article on the meeting of business leaders to consider forming a downtown business improvement district was offensive but not surprising (“Downtown business improvement district proposed,” Star-Advertiser, Jan. 21). It epitomized how profit-seeking businesses ignore real social problems and community-building in favor of driving economic development.
Instead of asking people like my family, who live and work in the downtown area, what we need and what kinds of businesses we would patronize, they seek to form an insiders’ club of property owners and rent-seekers to decide the future of our downtown. Homelessness is a longstanding problem downtown, yes, but poking and prodding people to get in line or get out of town is not only ineffective, it is inhumane.
They laughed at their own joke about how that approach simply moves desperate and mentally ill people from one place to another. That pretty much sums up their attitude and my opinion of this effort.
Travis Idol
Downtown Honolulu
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