State landscaping crews and prisoners are busy this week, clearing out homeless people and their belongings from 17 areas along Nimitz Highway and the H-1 freeway that will be seen by delegations attending next month’s Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.

The weeklong clearing is expected to cost $100,000 and will involve 50 state Department of Transportation landscaping employees and 38 prisoners, according to the Transportation and Public Safety departments.

"We anticipate someone’s going to ask us to do it again as we get closer to APEC," transportation spokesman Dan Meisenzahl said.

Crews primarily are focusing on removing homeless people and their belongings from bridges along APEC travel routes, he said.

Some 30 prison inmates doing the work this week are supervised by a staff member from Correctional Industries, a vocational rehabilitation program in Hawaii’s correctional facilities, said Toni Schwartz, Public Safety spokeswoman.

Eight more prisoners are being paid 50 cents an hour plus a plate lunch and are supervised by an adult correctional officer, Schwartz said.

On Tuesday, crews clearing a bridge by the airport viaduct also asked for assistance from 10 sheriff’s deputies, Schwartz said.

From Aug. 22 to Sept. 2, the Transportation Department spent $180,000 for manpower and an additional $20,000 in disposal fees to remove 90 homeless people and more than 60 truckloads of their belongings from the H-1 freeway viaduct.

Various agencies also are targeting six to 10 homeless encampments in other locations from Waialua to Waikiki, Marc Alexander, the governor’s coordinator on homelessness, has said.

DOT officials plan to return every six months or so to keep the viaduct clear.

This week’s anticipated $100,000 cost to remove 17 locations of homeless people is half of what was spent to clear a viaduct site last month "because most of them (homeless people) and their stuff are already gone," Meisenzahl said.

The DOT’s homeless removal began on Monday, the same day that city crews cleared homeless people and their belongings from Beretania Street across from Aala Park.

Asked about the cost of the Beretania Street cleanup, city spokeswoman Louise Kim McCoy said in an email that 18 Department of Facility Maintenance employees and four police officers involved in the operation worked their regular shifts, and no overtime or additional expenses were involved.

The nearby Institute for Human Services provided volunteers, she said, and landfill costs to dispose of the homeless people’s belongings were waived.

State Rep. Tom Brower (D, Waikiki-Ala Moana) has criticized state officials for planning to spend $200,000 every six months to keep the airport viaduct clear of homeless people and their belongings.

But he supported this week’s plans to clean 17 more areas for APEC.

"In general, everyone supports any cleaning efforts of city parks, highways, roads and sidewalks," Brower said. "We should be clearing up the city as if APEC were here every month. What’s unfortunate is that there isn’t a program to give these homeless people some place to go. None of that cost goes into any long-term efforts to help resolve homelessness."

17 SITES TARGETED FOR CLEARANCE

Sites where homeless people are being removed this week for APEC:

» H-1 freeway at Magellan Avenue

» Nimitz Highway at Kukahi and Sumner streets » Likelike Highway at Kalihi Stream Bridge

» H-1 freeway at Olomea Street (Kapalama canal)

» Nimitz Highway at Keehi Interchange

» H-1 freeway at Nuuanu Avenue and Pali Highway

» Farrington Highway at Kapakahi Bridge (Waipahu)

» Kamehameha Highway at Halawa Street Bridge

» H-201 at Moanalua Bridge (Aiea)

» Sand Island Bridge

» Kamehameha Highway at Waimanu Street Bridge

» Kamehameha Highway at Wilson Bridge

» H-1 freeway at Kahuapaani Street (stadium area)

» Nimitz Highway at River Street

» Nimitz-Kamehameha highways interchange

» Halawa Heights at Ulune Street

» Salt Lake Boulevard at Bougainville Street

Source: State Department of Transportation