A bill making lying down on city sidewalks illegal was given initial approval by the City Council Public Safety and Economic Development Committee on Thursday despite concerns by members of the public and a city official.
Bill 59 states "no person shall lie down on a public sidewalk, or on a tarp, towel, sheet, blanket, sleeping bag, bedding, chair, bench, tent floor or any other object or material located on a public sidewalk."
Councilman Stanley Chang said he introduced the bill to ensure public sidewalks are kept free for all members of the public to traverse, adding that the measure includes language that exempts the homeless.
The bill lists several exceptions, including people with a medical condition or emergency, those engaged in "expressive activity" and those who can prove that they attempted but failed to obtain overnight accommodations from a homeless shelter on the day a citation or arrest is to take place.
But members of the protest group (de)Occupy Honolulu and other advocates for the homeless criticized the bill as being unfair to those without permanent shelter. They said a provision requiring the homeless to show proof that they attempted to obtain shelter is particularly objectionable because it tries to pressure them into shelters.
"The idea behind it seems to be to harass homeless people so they go to shelters," said Michael Daly, a (de)Occupy member and homeless advocate.
Many homeless avoid shelters because "they are inadequate, demoralizing and inhumane," he said. Instead, they rather stay on "a hard, concrete cold sidewalk."
Blade Walsh, another (de)Occupy Honolulu member, said city money being used to boot the homeless from their camps could go toward programs that would help them.
Waikiki resident Melody Young said she supports the bill. When she walks to the gym at 5:30 a.m., she said, the street is "lined with various people sleeping or laying out on the sidewalk."
People come from around the world to visit Waikiki "to spend a lot of money," Young said. Workers at a Waikiki restaurant told her of one man lying on the street who held out a long stick and refused to let people pass unless they gave him money, she said.
City Facility Maintenance Director Ross Sasamura said while the bill "attempts to address the health, safety and welfare of (citizens), we do suggest, however, that the Council continue to dialogue with (its) legal counsel to ensure that all of the legal issues regarding Bill 59 have been appropriately addressed before proceeding further."
Chang said the current Council "has done more to appropriate funds and more to help the homeless with compassionate services than any other Council."
He said the Council recently approved the use of $10 million in federal grants to provide hygiene and service centers for homeless people and also approved Mayor Kirk Caldwell’s Housing First pilot project designed to use up to $4.5 million in federal dollars annually to provide permanent shelter for up to 100 chronically homeless by 2015.
Bill 58, a second measure given a preliminary approval Thursday, would make it illegal to "affix" personal property onto city property, including streets, sidewalks and malls.
Sasamura said he is concerned that bill has an "overexpansive scope" that could divert city resources away from enforcing existing laws, including the Stored Property Ordinance and the Sidewalk Nuisance Ordinance. The city has been using the two bills, as well as existing park closing laws, to remove homeless encampments throughout urban Honolulu.
Members of (de)Occupy, who have raised legal challenges against both the Stored Property and Sidewalk Nuisance ordinances, also raised objections Thursday to Bill 58.
