Two local leaders active in the Chinatown community say they see glimpses of hope where the crises of crime, homelessness and drug addiction have flourished for years.

Appearing on the Honolulu Star-Advertiser’s “Spotlight Hawaii” Wednesday, City Councilman Tyler Dos Santos-Tam and Chu Lan Schubert-Kwock, a Downtown &Chinatown Neighborhood Board member, spoke about the ongoing challenges and recent improvements within the historic 36-acre area of urban Honolulu.

“Things are improving definitely,” said Schubert-Kwock, noting the city has worked to improve places like River Street, and that she’s seeing more community activities at a newly landscaped Dr. Sun Yat Sen Memorial Park on Bethel Street. “It’s really nice; it’s a good venue for our downtown Chinatown.”

She added her focus is also on improvements at the Sun Yat Sen Mall at the Chinatown Cultural Plaza in order “to bring River Street and the area where you have the temples — the historic area — to really enhance that area, to brighten it up, to enliven it, (to) reenergize it so we can see the perimeter of Chinatown changing.”

Dos Santos-Tam, who represents Chinatown, said the area is a “test bed” for improvement strategies. That includes seeing Mayor Rick Blangiardi’s announcement in January to use $650,000 in federal COVID-related money to beef up the presence of Honolulu police on Chinatown streets, in particular more officers on foot patrols.

“This is really important because it’s one thing to be sitting in the blue and white police car but to be on foot, to be there and be very present on the street is very reassuring to the business owners and the residents,” Dos Santos-Tam said. “And it really helps to deter the criminals in the area.”

The Council member said that he personally witnessed a purse-snatching in Chinatown last summer and then watched as an undercover police officer nabbed the suspect. “If that officer hadn’t been there then that poor woman would have been out of her purse and her grocery money,” he added. “So having that direct presence is so important.”

According to Schubert-Kwock, last year’s removal of the River of Life Mission’s 35-year homeless meal program also helped reduce the number of homeless on the streets.

“Because we’re not having hundreds of people waiting on the sidewalk for their next meal,” she said. “Moving the location of the feeding is the number one biggest impact in two decades.”

Schubert-Kwock added seeing police and related city agencies focused on arresting or curbing drugs — which she said leads to “homelessness, petty crimes and sit-lie violations” — also created improvements.

“The drugs is the biggest issue for decades in Chinatown, much bigger than gambling,” she said, noting she’s aware that police are making more drug arrests in the area.

Schubert-Kwock and Dos Santos-Tam agreed that the local courts need to either more vigorously sentence repeat homeless offenders to jail or see homeless individuals receive mental health and substance abuse treatments to get them off the streets.

To increase convictions of repeat offenders, Dos Santos-Tam said he’ll advocate that more city money be directed to restaff the city’s Department of the Prosecuting Attorney. He added that other groups such as local nonprofits and the city-funded Crisis Outreach Response and Engagement Program, or CORE, have also assisted in outreach to reduce the homeless population in Chinatown.

Schubert-Kwock said the city should bolster its resources to CORE and keep it as “a permanent city serv­ice” of outreach efforts to those who need it in Chinatown and elsewhere.

Dos Santos-Tam said he’d like to see more businesses in Chinatown flourish beyond daytime hours to increase after-hours visitor traffic and activities.

Meanwhile, Chinatown will also see sidewalk repairs.

On Monday, the city announced it has begun notifying businesses and residents from Richards Street to River Street and from Vineyard Boulevard to Nimitz Highway that segments of sidewalks marked for repairs will be removed and replaced. The city’s Department of Facility Maintenance will begin the repairs through parts of Chinatown from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, with construction expected to start in late February and be completed by Aug. 31, weather and other conditions permitting.