Gov. Neil Abercrombie said Thursday night that he wants people to view state government "as an institution that works for you" and described himself as the largest impediment in getting his vision and goals accomplished.

"I’m the biggest obstacle," Abercrombie said at a community meeting he called at Washington Middle School. "Because I think it’s very important that I remind myself — it’s one of the reasons I’m here tonight — I need to remind myself — and you’re helping me to do that — that I need to be a catalyst in this."

Abercrombie has said his administration has not lived up to expectations since his overwhelming election victory last year.

The meeting was a chance for the chief executive to wade into the community after two public-relations mishaps: his dismissal of state money for the Pro Bowl as "stupid," and his request for courtesy resignations from former Gov. Linda Lingle’s appointees to five major boards and commissions.

During a wide-ranging discussion, the Democratic governor — standing first on a long cafeteria bench, then on center stage — did not shrink from responsibility. He said that if people are looking for someone to answer for his administration’s shortcomings, "you can start alphabetically."

Donalyn Dela Cruz, Abercrombie’s spokeswoman, gave the governor screened questions from the audience on adult education, age-appropriate sex education, early childhood education, homelessness, locally grown food, protecting the environment and promoting business.

Asked how he will pay for early childhood education, he said it was a question of priorities for state investment, "not how to pay for it, but how can we not pay for it?"

Challenged to explain what his administration was doing immediately to reduce the number of homeless people on the streets, the governor said he has urged nonprofits and others to stop feeding the homeless in parks and has created hot lines to help get the homeless treatment and into shelters.

"We can’t get people out of homelessness if other people, out of an understandable sense of good will and decency, keep feeding them so that they don’t have to come to grips or we can’t put them — structurally — into a situation where we can give them some help," he said.

Abercrombie said one of the reasons he asked for the resignations of 28 members of boards and commissions is to enable him to make structural changes in public housing and other policy areas.

Many of the appointees have said, however, they will not resign until their terms expire.

"What we’re trying to get is a vision going where we stop making excuses," he said.

Abercrombie repeated his desire for public schools, hospitals and prisons to purchase and serve more locally grown food as an example of the importance of reducing imports and sustaining agriculture.

"I’m not saying all this is necessarily going to be cheaper," he said. "But I am saying to you we need to decide whether or not we want cheap stuff that comes from some other place, with somebody else making decisions for us, or whether we want to invest in ourselves and pay what it takes to be independent and dignified here in the center of the Pacific."

Several young slam poets were given a platform to speak to the audience.

Students sang and danced, with the governor joining in for a few steps of Cee Lo Green’s "F*** You."

But the entertainment squeezed the amount of time for audience questions. Several activists, particularly progressives who feel a kinship with the liberal Abercrombie, have complained that his administration has not been as accessible to their ideas as they had expected.

Some of these activists left last night’s meeting unfulfilled, even though Dela Cruz promised all of the questions submitted would be answered.

"I voted for these people. I know these people. This is the least responsive governor’s office I’ve ever known here," said Mary Osorio, a gerontology case manager who lives in Palolo.

Bob Erb, a Waikiki activist for the homeless, was also disappointed. "More rhetoric to say. ‘Look at how good I am,’" he said. "I don’t see anything happening."