Hilo DIA

AROUND DOWNTOWN – 02-09-12      The Hilo Downtown Improvement Association held its annual general membership meeting Wednesday January 25 to share their annual report and elect new directors.  Outgoing president Ray Robinson reported on the DIA’s activities and accomplishments in 2011 and executive director Alice Moon gave attendees a look at what’s happening in 2012.  [...]

Around Downtown –01-12-12             Happy New Year to all the members, friends and supporters of Downtown Hilo and Mahalo for everything you’ve done, are doing and will do to help sustain our historic old town’s history, culture, character and economy.  At the end of last year we shared the news about www.ourdowntownhilo.com to encourage public [...]

January 23 marks the start of the Lunar or Chinese New Year and traditionally celebrations are held for fifteen days, this year ending on February 6.  This is the most celebrated holiday of the year for billions of people of Chinese, Korean, Thai, and Vietnamese descent around the world.  It is celebrated with parades, large [...]

Around Downtown – 12 – 08 – 11             Mahalo to Susan Gagorik, long range planner with the Department of Planning and the folks that are keeping the EnVision Downtown Hilo 2025 Community-Based Vision and Living Action Plan updated and on track, there is a new website that stakeholders and community members can go to [...]

Around Downtown – 11 – 17 – 11             For years the Hilo Downtown Improvement Association has been touting the fact that the majority of businesses in the area are owner-operated, local-owned and that Downtown is one of the best places to actively support a local economy.  For years there have been national and statewide [...]

Fred Koehnen has a tendency of downplaying his involvement in creating the Hilo Downtown Improvement Association back in the 1960s, which really tells a lot about the man since he and his family have been and continue to be one of the most involved and active members of the Downtown community for many decades. Sure [...]

Around Downtown – 09-08-11 In 1961 twelve business men began the process of developing the Hilo Downtown Improvement Association, which was eventually incorporated in 1962.  Fred J. Koehnen (F. Koehnen, Ltd.), Harold C. Lottis (S.H. Kress & Co.), Roger Patterson (The Moses Company, Ltd.), Donald V. Theriault (Western Auto Supply Co.), Robert A. Silverman (Von [...]

Around Downtown – 08-11-11 The Hilo Downtown Improvement Association was started fifty years ago by several landowner/business owners partially in response to the negative impacts of the 1960 tsunami that destroyed much of the commercial district.  This group of concerned stakeholders didn’t just talk about what could be done to improve the conditions, even before [...]

Around Downtown – 07-14-11 Have you noticed flowers and plants cropping up around Downtown Hilo?  How about the edible landscaping?  It’s been almost one year since the Hilo Downtown Improvement Association initiated “Let’s Grow Hilo!” and the results are amazing, mostly due to two people: Senior Training Employment Program participant Chiko Arakawa and now-graduated UH [...]

Around Downtown – 06-09-11 It is amazing how quickly time flies, how so many things have changed and how many things have stayed the same.  When starting my term as executive director of the Hilo Downtown Improvement Association in November of 2009, I quickly realized that it was important to set concrete goals.  The following [...]