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Sudha Achar <br />Focus Areas: Enhancing Education, Culture, and the Arts, Creating Economic Vitality <br />The striking feature of downtown Hilo is its historic authenticity. It retains the Old Hawaii feel. It makes <br />us delightfully wonder if somehow time stood still! Yet it presents a blend of traditional style and <br />contemporary use with ease. Gracefully, it conveys our pride in our town. It shows our love of the <br />ocean. It shows our love of arts and culture in our everyday life. It reflects a full range of participation by <br />the diverse cultures to which it is home. <br />Just with a visit to the market; one can pleasantly blend with people of Hawaiian, Japanese, Korean, <br />Thai, Chinese, Filipino, Indian, Fijian, Puerto Rican, Portuguese, African, South American, mid Eastern <br />and most European origins. In addition, we become aware of the importance of sustainability and <br />attention to organic sources of food products, an awareness of and respect for the'aina become <br />evident. <br />Downtown Hilo's economic vitality is maintained by a variety of small businesses, shop owners, five <br />different nonprofit arts and cultural organizations and an excellent Library -all located in a very walkable <br />historic downtown. The small business owners are innovative and risk taking enterprises. They include <br />high quality art exhibitors and designers, restaurants, business services, boutiques, bookstores and <br />more. Their human scale and personal connection to the community are what appeal to both local <br />residents and independent travelers who seek a different kind of experience. <br />Downtown Hilo can be proud of architecture as one of its strong cultural elements. We are seeing <br />contemporary builders and architects with sensitivity to build to complement the older works of Dicky, <br />Arakawa, Oda and others. It is a balancing act to maintain the old Hawaii feel of Hilo while encouraging <br />economic growth and vitality. The business community and arts organizations have advocated for <br />development that encourages living spaces for families in downtown. <br />Recently a group of significant government and private sector leaders were asked to name their choice <br />of downtown Hilo's assets. Of the 60 assets they named, a group of the downtown nonprofit <br />organizations were ranked 4th.The heartbeat of any town are its arts and cultural institutions. The Palace <br />Theater brings the world to us through exceptional films and live performances. The Tsunami Museum <br />educates and reminds us about the power of nature and how unique we are in the world. Mokupapapa <br />Discovery Center educates us of the treasures of our ocean. Lyman Museum preserves and interprets <br />our history. The East Hawaii Cultural Council facilitates our contemporary artists to create today's <br />history for tomorrow and offers live performances. These institutions all put a strong emphasis on <br />nurturing the host culture in preserving the Hawaiian in our Hilo downtown. <br />In good times and bad these organizations keep Hilo downtown humming. While encouraging an <br />appreciation of the culture and arts as part of our everyday life, they stimulate the surrounding small <br />businesses. In the absence of a town center these organizations offer a mingling place for our people <br />and our visitors. Describing her feelings for one of these organizations, one newcomer to Hilo exclaimed <br />