Each panel member then introduced themselves and talked about what they felt were important considerations for this community.  Cain started the discussion.  She began by stating, “This community maintains the perseverance to recover after each disaster.  Deeply ingrained in the Hawaiian culture is a need to protect the land.”  She then asked the audience to keep our safety in mind, educate ourselves about ways to be sustainable, and ensure that we communicate to our neighbors about this information.  Her last comment was to challenge the audience to ask themselves how prepared they are for the next natural disaster. 
Achar then spoke.  She stated, “Our community makes us wonder if time stood still.  With one visit to the market you can experience the mix of cultures in Hilo…”  Achar further discussed this mix of cultures by listing all the various cultures of Hilo.  She then continued her monologue by discussing the architecture of downtown Hilo.  said, “Downtown Hilo can be proud of its architecture.  Recently a group of downtown leaders chose to name the features of Hilo they were most proud of.  [These features included] the Palace Theater, Tsunami Museum, Mokupapapa, the Lyman Museum, and East Hawaii Cultural Center (EHCC).”  Achar mentioned with this, that the architects Dicki and Arakawa were some of the creators of the architectural designs of Hilo.  She also thought that collaborations were important for cultural institutions, we must increase awareness of these cultural institutions and their importance, and the airport must be improved.  The final point Achar made was that the Hilo Vision Keeper’s plan has become a model for other communities. 
Yuen spoke next.  He felt that the great thing about Hilo was its sense of identity, but that downtown Hilo was being eclipsed by Prince Kuhio Plaza and big box stores, like Wal-Mart.  Yuen then spoke about the advantages and disadvantages of the current situation and policies, of downtown.  He said that the best aspects of downtown are that
sidewalks are next to stores, which forces people to get out of their car, walk around, and talk to other people.  He further stated that the downtown Hilo 2025 plan started out as a county resolution that has many dos and few don’ts.  Yuen quoted, “One of the restrictions is that the county has a restriction on building things in tsunami zones. [This] applies to renovations of existing buildings.”  This means that renovations of buildings in tsunami zones, usually have to be drawn out in the length of time spent renovating them.  These restrictions and their loopholes are enforced by the Special Management department of the county council. 
Zane then spoke.  He said that he had been here since 1971, but felt that he grew up in Hilo.  Zane had comments about the old-fashioned appeal of Hilo, “Walking [in] downtown Hilo gives you a sense of being stuck in time.  Our tsunamis may have given us our current structures with our many open green spaces, but it’s been a blessing in
keeping us similar to how it was in the 1950s, but also has made us afraid to develop.  The feeling of Hilo is romantic.”  He also gave advice about ways we could improve downtown Hilo, “Enhancing the green areas would give us more visitors.  We must always sharpen our fishhooks.  We must build a place that our kids can be proud of.  I always believe that we can preserve Hilo for our children.  We must embrace this change [that the plan could bring].”  Sharpening our fishhooks is a metaphor, Zane learned, for remaining aware.  
The panel then asked the audience to voice their questions and comments. 
The first person commented on his observations of present day Hilo.  He stated, “I have seen vandalism that I have never seen in this town.  I have seen anger that I have never seen before.  How can we get that pride in the community back.  We do not need to ask why, we need a solution.”  Yuen commented on this by saying, “There have always been problems.”  Zane also commented that, “We need to start at the dinner table to instill pride…” 
The next audience member stated that they were there for the class participating in democracy.  This student then asked, “What kind of activities for teens are there and how can they help out?”  Achar answered, “At the EHCC they have mask making, drawing, glass making, and teen theater, and dance, at different times of during the year and during the winter and spring.  [You] can check these out on the web or in the Sunday paper.  For 2025, [you] can make suggestions to the plan.” 
    The next person said that they would like a skate park.  Their reasoning for this is that they have to go to Volcano to skate, since it is currently not allowed in downtown Hilo.  Yuen said that he did not think this was not currently on the plan, but he did not think it was a problem to add.
    The fourth person said they would like a parking permit for people attending classes, downtown.  Yuen told them that they should contact the county council about this.
    The next audience member came to Hilo from Oahu.  He commented, “Growing up in Oahu, [he] grew up with a sense of pride, but now there is a great deal of homeless people [and] the young people ignore the homeless.” He felt that the people and town of Hilo were also falling apart.  He also felt that we must protect against a breakdown of democracy and would like to have a way to know that his vote is counted.  The last two ideas were the most important to him.  Achar commented on this that she did not have an answer, but would like to see something done about this.
    Keypads were then used in the theater to survey the audience about their demographics and opinions about downtown improvement ideas.  About 150 people participated in the keypad polling.  It was stated, by one of the hosts, that this was the first time the keypads had been used in a public forum and they first were brought to Oahu, and then Hilo. 
Demographic questions revealed that the highest age groups in the audience were 65 and older (43 percent) and 18 and under (20 percent).  Also, 44 percent of the audience was white, 36 percent had been born and raised in Hilo, 36 percent were business owners, and most people were from North or South Hilo.  As for the audience’s opinions on improving downtown Hilo, many topics were brought up by the Vision Keepers.  The first topic was economic vitality.  Most audience members wante to increase the economy by allowing more buildings to have residential units
above them (34 percent), but when asked if there should be a limit on the height of new buildings in Hilo, 49 percent wanted to reduce the limit to 40 feet.

The next topic was the Hilo Bayfront Trails project.  71 percent of the audience strongly agreed that this was an
important project. Other agreed upon park and community projects, by majority vote, were having more public gathering spaces, having public employees speak about the Legends of the Wailuku River (39 percent), wanting to hear about trails information from interpretive signage and promote a storyteller’s fund, and a downtown Hilo walking tour (67 percent).  Safety was then brought up as a topic.  68 percent of the audience wanted a bike police patrol program and 46 percent wanted the most police patrolling to be done from 2:00pm to 11:00pm.  The last topic was whether or not it was possible for community members to make many choices, to improve the environment.  80 percent
said that they could change their mode of transportation to biking or carpooling.  A representative for Mayor Harry Kim then spoke.  She stated that he could not come to the town meeting, because he was still recovering from triple bypass surgery.  He went to a county council meeting the day before, in order to get away from just watching television, though.
The evening ended with slack key guitar player, Ben Kaili, and the Downtown Dynamos playing, while participants perused booths setup by the Hilo Vision Keepers or their partners.  You can contact either Alice Moon, their sponsor, by phone, at 808-933-9772, or go to the Vision Keeper’s website at http://www.co.hawaii.hi.us/edh2025 , for more information.