Liliha proposed as National Heritage Area

We all know -- or think we know -- what a national park is. It's an area designated by the federal government as special in some way, and thus should be preserved. The same goes for city parks and historic districts.

But what's a National Heritage Area? And can one be created in, say, historic Liliha?

According to the National Park Service, stewards of the National Heritage Areas, such sites "expand on traditional approaches to resource stewardship by supporting large-scale, community-centered initiatives that connect local citizens to the preservation and planning process."

It turns out that for the last decade or so, some Liliha citizens have quietly been revitalizing the Liliha-Nuuanu area through promotion and preservation. They've gone public in a big way with Senate Bill 359, making the Honolulu neighborhood the first proposed National Heritage Area in Hawaii.