Mayor Arakawa speaks with Ralph Overton at monthly "County in Your Corner" meeting.
By Tyler Vaughan
Staff Writer
(Kahului)– This past Saturday morning from 10 a.m. to noon Mayor Alan Arakawa and members of his cabinet visited the Maui Mall in Kahului as part of their “County on Your Corner” program. This program features elected officials making themselves available to the general public in different locations throughout the county each month. For this event, the civil officers were on call at the tower located near the main entrance of the mall to field questions and interact face to face with the people.
Residents of Maui had the chance to voice any concerns they might have about issues within the community or to show appreciation for programs or services that are already in place. “I guess one thing that comes to mind is the Maui Arts and Cultural Center,” said Nancy Leis Overton. “I think they do a lot of good things for the youth and the arts. People are able to give to that organization and they can keep teaching these kids something that they can’t necessarily learn anywhere else.” Overton also mentioned the ban of alcohol in Kalama Beach Park in Kihei as a positive result of government and citizens working together.
Cabinet members in attendance included Executive Assistant Zeke Kalua, Deputy Director Jan Shishido, and Executive Assistant Mike Molina. “I believe we’ve been, from what I’ve heard from people, much more responsive than previous administrations in terms of getting back to constituents and trying to resolve issues,” said Molina, who is former Maui Council Vice Chair. Molina mentioned administrative cost cutting and economic stimulus as priorities of the current administration and sited the reinstatement of the Halloween Parade in Lahaina as an example of the type of revenue yielding events that the Mayor has worked to bring back to Maui.
Managing Director Keith Regan was also in attendance and was very straightforward about the administrations past and future goals for the county of Maui. “One of our goals was to get people get back to work and to get the economy going again,” said Regan. “I think, if you look around, you’ll see that construction has been invigorated. There are actually shovels in the dirt. We have improved the permitting process, tried to make it easier to flow through in a more efficient manner, and it’s worked. We see that happening everyday.”
Mayor Arakawa was friendly and approachable throughout the entire morning. He gave various citizens personal attention and addressed specific complaints that each individual presented. The Mayor and his team were out there, hitting the streets on a Saturday morning, making themselves available to the general public and which in itself is good sign of what’s to come for the people of Maui.