The newly formed Maui Economic Recovery Commission held its first meeting last Friday. Top of the agenda was laying out a blueprint for Maui’s economic recovery following the Lahaina fire.
State Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism Director James "Jimmy" Tokioka is heading up the commission. He left his state House seat to take up the post in Gov. Josh Green's administration.
Tokioka estimates that almost 100 people attended Friday’s meeting. He said the commission wanted to get as much input as possible.
"All of the groups had some cultural specialist that was there that would share, you know, direction as far as what they think is important to recovery on Maui. And, you know, we broke it out into nine different groups. So the groups will meet via Zoom every month, twice a month," Tokioka said.
"In May and in August we'll convene the big group again just to tie things back up together from all of the different working groups," he told HPR.
Once the plan is done, he said it will be shared with Luana Mahi, who is the economic development director for Maui County and the co-chair of the commission.
Tokioka said one early priority is to create pop-up locations to support local Maui businesses.
This story aired on The Conversation on Jan. 8, 2024. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on HPR-1.
