VIEWPOINT: Setting up emergency recovery council could counter economic disruption

Bob Marley has a song in which he sings, "We don't need more trouble." I was listening to it the other day while visiting a business where I used to wait in line to be served. No longer. Business has fallen off, staff let go and those working are on reduced hours.

Bob was right. Now is the time to pull together,

to remember Maui's small-town heritage and her ability to thrive and to grow while facing adversity. It is also the time to set aside what may divide us and to act for the common good. Later, we will have the opportunity to vigorously debate. But now is not that time.

As the 2009-2010 county budget process comes to a conclusion, this is an excellent time for our elected officials - led by the mayor and the County Council - to join with labor, agriculture, business, environmentalists, service clubs, community associations, developers, foundations, Realtors, the visitor and hotel and lodging industry, the faith community, Hawaiian leaders and our nonprofits to create a specific and detailed action plan on how Maui will ride out these tough times and emerge stronger at the end of a tumultuous journey not one of us asked to embark upon.

We can build on the economic planning done by Mayor Charmaine Tavares and her administration and we must continue to believe in ourselves and in our ability to rise above the crisis. However, we must also recognize that real confidence ultimately is based on concrete actions that produce results, put people to work and provide demonstrated and measurable benefits for their efforts - including a crash program to create affordable housing for local people and expanding community efforts to grow more of the food we consume.

Respectfully, I would make the following suggestion and invite others to add their contributions.

At this time, as all reports indicate an increased worsening before recovery, I would propose that our mayor and the County Council form an emergency economic recovery council. Not to have another meeting, but to start immediately on the creation and implementation of a broad-based Maui County economic recovery program.

I emphasize "immediately," "creation" and "implementation." An individual appointed by the mayor to oversee this effort 24/7 and reporting directly to her on a daily basis could drive the program. This position should be paid no more than $1 a year.

Such a recovery program might include, for example, an inventory of all available financial and nonfinancial resources that can be brought to this fight. Coordinating, for example, the grant writing efforts of our nonprofits and government agencies into a strategic whole rather than a myriad of individual efforts. In addition, we could look at increasing the role of the foundation community and rethink priorities to increase their focus on the immediate, growing needs of food, shelter, transportation and health care.

We could ask ourselves what we might do at the local level to strengthen our economy, help create jobs, lay the foundation for future growth and stimulate the creative potential of the private sector, especially our small businesses and micro-enterprises.

As funds from the federal stimulus program become available, we must anticipate and be knowledgeable about their arrival, reduce or waive impediments to their swift implementation and take transparent coordinated action that is understood by the citizens whose tax dollars are paying for the effort. Every effort needs to be made to avoid waste, duplication and to leverage those monies with any other potential national, state, local and private resources.

Maui knows how to do this. We have the ability to do it. Let's support and acknowledge the efforts that have already begun, seek new ways to solve our common problems, trust one another and remember that by working together, no task is too large or impossible.

Tom Blackburn-Rodriguez began working as a community organizer in 1968. He was director of special projects and events for the National Association of Community Action Agencies in Washington, D.C., and worked six years for Maui Economic Opportunity Inc. He is president of Public Service Solutions.com, a consulting firm.