{"id":1288,"date":"2026-06-13T04:34:46","date_gmt":"2026-06-13T04:34:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=1288"},"modified":"2026-06-13T04:34:46","modified_gmt":"2026-06-13T04:34:46","slug":"oahu-farmers-seek-help-as-city-officials-discuss-future-of-office-of-economic-revitalization","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=1288","title":{"rendered":"Oahu farmers seek help, as city officials discuss future of Office of Economic Revitalization"},"content":{"rendered":"
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HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Farmers on Oahu\u2019s North Shore are still drowning financially from March flooding that destroyed their homes and livelihoods. <\/p>\n

Read more Maui Council approves $1.7M in AI surveillance tools for police<\/a><\/p>\n

Now, cuts proposed for the City\u2019s Office of Economic Revitalization (OER) could further dampen their recovery.<\/p>\n

Three months after the Kona low storms devastated their 2.5 acres of farmland in Waialua, Mirriam and Rudy Garcia say they\u2019ve had to start over and are still cleaning up. <\/p>\n

The only help they\u2019ve gotten from city so far is a wheelbarrow. They received a $1,500 relief grant from the state and are still waiting on aid from the federal government. <\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Mirriam Garcia shows us what\u2019s left of the farm she\u2019s cultivated for the past five years, thousands of dollars worth of broken equipment, and containers full of ruined furniture and debris that smell like mold.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s been able to grow green onion, eggplant, and star beans using a makeshift tool, but it\u2019s back breaking work for the 61-year-old.<\/p>\n

Pictures document more than $140,000 in damages, with all kinds of crops, seeds and fertilizer swept away in a matter of hours.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m crying because I lost everything,\u201d she said. \u201cMy tractor cannot work. We\u2019re working right now, only our hand, we use our hand.\u201d<\/p>\n

She joined several farmers at last week\u2019s City Council Meeting to ask for help. <\/p>\n

But critics of a $1.4 million dollar cut to OER and loss of 18 employees say it will hurt the city\u2019s work in communities.<\/p>\n

Read more New list spotlights Hawaii\u2019s friendliest small towns<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cYou cannot see through budget and other documents the work that we were doing, or it also wasn\u2019t going through the regular council process because overall, OER has executed $408 million in programming, whether it be federal or other private and external resources to our community,\u201d said OER executive director Amy Asselbaye. <\/p>\n

The majority of city council members pushed back on claims cuts to OER would affect recovery and disagreed with the administration on OER\u2019s function.<\/p>\n

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\u201cOER has shimmied through its legal mandates to become a secondary social service agency that is not authorized in the charter,\u201d said budget chair Val Okimoto during the City Council meeting on June 3.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s give money straight to the farmers bureau. let\u2019s have them distribute that to the farmers. that would cut out out all the bureaucracy,\u201d said vice chair Andria Tupola. <\/p>\n

OER\u2019s head says government doesn\u2019t work that way.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone wants to make sure their tax dollar doesn\u2019t go to waste,\u201d Asselbaye said. \u201cIt takes people, it takes a procurement process, it takes someone who understands how these systems work to actually create a program and get the dollars out to the people who need it most.\u201d <\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

People like the Garcias.<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully do not forget us because still we are still hurting,\u201d said Miriam Garcia. <\/p>\n

In a statement, Honolulu\u2019s Mayor said in part: \u201cWe are engaged in ongoing discussions with our team… as we carefully assess the best course of action moving forward.. we remain focused on evaluating all available options.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Mayor\u2019s office says he has until June 19 to decide if he should veto the budget. <\/p>\n

Read more National blog ranks Hawaii small towns among friendliest in U.S.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Critics of a $1.4 million cut to OER and loss of 18 employees say it will hurt the city\u2019s economic work in communities, including those impacted by the Kona low storms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1287,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1288","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nOahu farmers seek help, as city officials discuss future of Office of Economic Revitalization - Hawaii Moving Insider<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=1288\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Oahu farmers seek help, as city officials discuss future of Office of Economic Revitalization - 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