State plans more sweeps of Kakaako area, Ige says
STAR-ADVERTISER / DEC. 1
Homeless have moved into amphitheater area of Kakaako Park and have set up shelters. In the background is cruise ship Grand Princess.
State officials plan as early as next week to begin removing an estimated 180 homeless people from encampments that mushroomed along the Kakaako shoreline after the city spent six weeks clearing a nearby camp that had prompted intense scrutiny of the handling of Oahu’s homeless, Gov. David Ige told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser on Friday.
State homeless coordinator Scott Morishige later told the Star-Advertiser, “We believe we have all the necessary elements in place to move forward with the enforcement of park closure hours.”
But a number of details still need to be worked out, such as reaching an agreement with a private disposal company to clear out the encampments, and finding a place in Kakaako where seized homeless possessions can be reclaimed by their owners, said Lindsey Doi, spokeswoman for the Hawaii Community Development Authority. The authority owns the state property where the encampments are located.
The HCDA also needs to find a secure, large location for long-term storage of the property it seizes.
“We definitely want to make sure all of our actions are legal and defensible,” Doi said. “We’re being very diligent in our efforts.”
U.S. District Judge Helen Gillmor last month issued a preliminary injunction that prevents the city from immediately destroying the personal property it seizes during its ongoing homeless sweeps. Gillmor also ordered city maintenance crews to video-record any items they destroy.
For months the people living in tents and structures from Kewalo Basin Park to Point Panic to Kakaako Waterfront Park have been warned of imminent sweeps that so far have yet to materialize. All three areas ban overnight park use from 10 p.m. to 5:30 or 6 a.m.
The HCDA expects that its sweeps will occur at night, but “it’s going to be evolving as we go since we’ve never done something like this,” Doi said. “But we do anticipate starting next week. You can’t just do one enforcement. You need multiple enforcements to be effective.”
To account for the property that is seizes, HCDA officials have developed forms that “are almost identical to the city,” Doi said. “They detail where the property was found and detail the process to retrieve the property.”
The seized property likely will be taken to an off-site storage facility, then brought back when an owner comes forward to claim it, Doi said.
HCDA is working with a private disposal company to do the cleanup for up to six months, but no contract has been signed, Doi said.
“It’s the final details that we’re ironing out,” she said. “Otherwise we can’t do the enforcement.”
In October, when social service outreach workers counted 130 people living in an encampment along the Kakaako shoreline, Ige had announced that sweeps would begin as early as Nov. 12.
The majority of people at the time — 90 — were spread throughout Kakaako Waterfront Park, with the biggest encampment directly adjacent to the University of Hawaii Cancer Center in the park’s amphitheater.
On Friday Morishige said social service outreach workers from Waikiki Health and the Kalihi-Palama Health Center estimated that the population had grown to 180 people — 130 in the Point Panic/Kakaako Waterfront Park area and 50 in Kewalo Basin Park.
15 responses to “State plans more sweeps of Kakaako area, Ige says”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Your grade will be E for effort. The gov gave himself a B!
His grade should be T for try
His grade should be “Z” for zero or at the very least “F” for failure.
Ige FAILED and continues to FAIL in solving the problem. Just kick the can down the street…Another one-term Gov!
More failures coming…………..
RE; CHECKING IDENTIFICATIONS OF THE HOMELESS—WHICH LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY IS RESPONSIBLE FOR CHECKING IDS? WHO KEEPS TRACK OF WHO THEY ARE AND IF THEY HAVE ANY OUTSTANDING WARRANTS OR ARE WANTED BY THE POLICE DEPARTMENT?
I want to know these answers also!
It is not against the law to be homeless but it IS against the law to camp on public property without a permit. So what other actions can be taken legally?
I like Judge Helen Gilmore but in my opinion she needs to re visit her decision. If I were homeless I would set up camp in front of her home.
Here we go again with our levels of bureaucracy—-I understand the City owns one piece of property and the State owns the other, can’t they cooperate with a joint effort without reinventing the wheel each time? I mean, they all have the same political DNA’s. It’s called negotiating to reach a solution.
Their homless team in the photos showed the willingness to work together to solve this dilema. Now they are separate entitys all working to help the cause, but where or when will they team up to do the right thing. Dicking around with every government agency trying to reinvent the wheel is not in any way shape or form of working together and this charade should end . I’m sure everyone remembers the photo op of the new homless team, mayor, gov ,council members,secretarys fm our senators and representatives . They looked ready to move on and get the ball rolling after neglecting the problem.
The biggest question after the picture taking was “Where are we eating lunch today?”
Sad but true comment for a lot of hungry children who are really suffering. Don’t judge everyone as a problem…most if not all of them really need our help. The Akua factor in us makes us better people. Be kind and quick to forgive as we protect the children.
No, the State has more experience in sweeping.
Can we accidentally sweep Ige away?