You decide to get rid of the carpet in the living room. So old already. The shag isn’t even shaggy anymore. The color was all the rage in 1968 but now looks like 14-faded shades of spilled guacamole. So you rip it up. The underside padding, too. You pile all that up on the curb outside your house so that the city’s handy bulky-item disposal service will come by and pick it up. You don’t pile it on the side walk. Oh no. You know the rules. Only on the grassy strip between the sidewalk and the street. That way, you don’t block your grumpy neighbor who takes her walk up and down the street at 5:30 in the morning. God forbid you make her mad. She has that nice avocado tree and when she’s in a not-grumpy mood, she shares. Those avocados make the best guacamole — not the ugly-carpet-color guacamole. The fresh kind. The ono kind. You want to stay on her good side.
But after all that care and forethought, you get the pick-up schedule mixed up. Or maybe you need your beefy nephew Bernard to carry it out to the curb and his only day off is Sunday. So your pile of carpet is out there longer than it’s supposed to be and oops, you get a notice that the city is making you pay a fine having an item on the curb on a day other than the specified collection day. How much? Brah, up to $250 for each offense.
However, if a homeless person decides to set up camp on that very same spot on the sidewalk, advocates and attorneys would argue that they can’t be rousted, fined, cited or otherwise hassled because no one should be penalized for being homeless and poor.
Most people in Hawaii would agree that being poor and helplessly homeless should not be criminalized. Hawaii residents generally are soft-hearted about such things. But at the same time, and this is very hard to say without being accused of being cruel, the truth is that there are people for whom homelessness is a defiant choice. They have other options. They just don’t like them. Perhaps it’s time to stop being big-picture about the homeless problem and start getting really specific because some homeless people need help while many are willfully, criminally, living off public resources and ruining stuff for everyone. Everyone. Including homeless people who are trying to find safe shelter and gainful employment.
The homeless have sharp attorneys arguing against the government for their rights. What about the rights of everyone, homeless and not-homeless, to clean parks, safe sidewalks and a downtown that doesn’t reek of hot urine?
This week the Honolulu City Council passed two bills aimed at keeping sidewalks clear so that they can be used as sidewalks.
Bill 51 makes it illegal to cause an obstruction on a public sidewalk that interferes with or prevents people from walking freely in that area. That’s only from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., though. Overnight is a free zone.
Bill 52 makes it a petty misdemeanor to “lodge” in a public place, defined as sleeping, resting and refusing to vacate. The bill requires that before issuing a citation, a police officer must verify there is shelter space available within a reasonable distance and then offer to take the person there.
Reasonable, right? There shouldn’t be only SOME people who aren’t allowed to block sidewalks and others who have impunity or immunity. Homeless people shouldn’t have fewer rights than people who live in houses or apartments or little rooms off grandpa’s garage. Maybe they shouldn’t have more rights, though.
Reach Lee Cataluna at 529-4315 or lcataluna@staradvertiser.com.
