City conducts homeless sweeps in Waimanalo, Kakaako
CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARADVERTISER.COM
The homeless camp in the area off Ala Moana Blvd., at Kakaako Waterfront Park, on March 29. City clean-up crews today planned to enforce the city’s separate sidewalk nuisance and stored property ordinances from Waimanalo to the persistent homeless encampments around Kakaako.
City clean-up crews today planned to enforce the city’s separate sidewalk nuisance and stored property ordinances from Waimanalo to the persistent homeless encampments around Kakaako.
A special crew tasked with enforcing the ordinances planned to sweep Waimanalo Beach Park, Kaiona Beach Park, Waimanalo District Park and Waimanalo Bay Park from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m., followed by Kakaako, Ala Moana Park, Ala Wai Promenade, Thomas Square and the Kapahulu Bike Trail from 7 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
The work in Kakaako has continued ever since the city spent six weeks clearing out a homeless encampment around the University of Hawaii’s medical school and the Hawaii Children’s Discovery Center. The city has jurisdiction over the streets and sidewalks in the area while the Hawaii Community Development Authority has jurisdiction over Kakaako Waterfront Park, Kakaako Makai Gateway Park and other adjacent parks.
In an email, city spokesman Jesse Broder Van Dyke said, “The city has been enforcing on Kakaako sidewalks consistently since last fall’s coordinated action. There has been no break. The city sidewalks remain mostly clear. The encampments that now exist are almost entirely on state park land in Kakaako where the city does not have jurisdiction, such as the stretch of Ala Moana (Boulevard) between Ohe and Cooke streets that is part of HCDA’s Kakaako Mauka Gateway Park. We hope that better coordination will lead to better results.”
28 responses to “City conducts homeless sweeps in Waimanalo, Kakaako”
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The park looks like it’s taking a beating……time to put a lockable fence around it?
Where is the homeless czar (Morishige) in all of this?
Typical State Administrator. The buck stops with Ige.
I feel sorry for the park.
PLANT A TREE!
Same old failed policy. Please remove them from illegal areas but also have some place for them to go. That is both humane and prudent. Otherwise, they just come back…
Free housekeeping service?
“SLAVERY” was abolished and prior to the “Emancipation”–also “Debtor’s Prisons”…
What about the Pearl City bike path? Can you please clear the chronics there, they pop up like zombies out of graves.
..they’re “plotting” yours (grave)…
The city has been enforcing s***! The homeless comes right back because they know nothing will happen to them. So basically, the homeless are getting free housekeeping thanks to the city.
What do you propose that the City should do? You seem to know the answers.
Send them to your house!!
2smart4me
Yes, you always have great ideas – always very well thought through.
Wow that’s a pretty witty response for a 12 year old!
Spoken like someone who was raised right. Clearly, you got all the lickins you deserved.
Yesterday, the SA said there were 600 empty beds in the shelters. Give them the option of going to the shelters or going to jail.
Yep! Dem’s “homeless: “comes right back”… Gotta gat me’s one ‘o dem thar coon-doggies..!
“sweep”; sweep and sweep all you want and, ultimately, you will discover that there is no carpet large enough to hide all that you believe you have swept… Where is the INTERIM HOUSING “KIRK” alleged would be built–more than one year ago… “Kirk” can hire all the Press-Agents and P.R. Firms on this planet, but what’s finally left–for all to see–is nothing short of MALFEASANCE… Displacing these PERSONS–is not the solution.
Six hundred empty beds per night at State shelters.
wow, I knew lots of beds empty but not this many. Where did you get the figure? would love to use it too but want to see it validated. The bottom line is that the “homeless” folks described in the article and affordable housing have nothing to do with each other. They are two different issues and building affordable housing will not solve the homeless problem or make much dent. The empty shelters attest to this simple fact: homelessness for most of these people is a lifestyle choice. Most are either psychiatric patients, drug addicts or just bums but they all share one thing in common: they do not want to live in a shelter or even a house. They want to be “free” to live in tents wherever they want. Until the city and state come to grips with that reality, the situation will not be fixed. To solve it, we need vagrancy laws to make the place generally unattractive and inhospitable to those who will not move to a shelter. Maybe then these bums will stop buying one-way tickets to Hawaii.
The 600 empty beds was mentioned in a recent article on homeless in this very forum.
A “Homeless Mother” with Children and attempting to spend a night in one of those alleged “Shelters” is NOT SAFE and her Children at very HIGH RISK. Just once– (YOU) Spend a Night in one of “KIRK”s” “HELLHOLES”! Providing a Facility that appears to be a “SHELTER” is nothing more than “KIRK’S” P.R. FACADE! ..just another “Political Sham”; together with his “Consultants”, EXPERTS, and COMMITTEES! ULTIMATELY–a “FLATULENT-IN-A-WINDSTORM”!
Typical shibai rant. Nothing of any substance.
JARP
Passed by the area pictured along Ala Moana Blvd. at 11:30 a.m. today and it really looks bad. Much worse than the picture above and I didn’t see any type of “clean-up” occurring.
The publicized “clean up” needs to start a “CITY HALL”…
” We hope that better coordination will lead to better results.”>>> Yes, hope. That’s an effective game plan. And you’re getting a big fat check to implement it. Could you flow chart just how this “hope” thing works?