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Armed with three city laws designed to enforce park closure hours, sidewalk nuisances and private belongings left on public property, city officials this week collected 12 bins of personal items and hauled away 7.79 tons of waste picked up at Iwilei and Kalihi.
City crews from the Department of Facility Maintenance and Department of Parks and Recreation also made another effort to clear tents and other items used by (de )Occupy Honolulu at the corner of Beretania Street and Ward Avenue, fronting Thomas Square, at 4 a.m. Thursday. The protest group has been at Thomas Square since November 2011.
Following the sweep on Thursday, protesters returned by Friday morning and erected two tents.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, the city’s efforts targeted public sidewalks used by the homeless at Kuwili, Pine, Sumner and Kohu streets.
The city stepped up enforcement efforts on July 1.
The sidewalk ordinance allows the city to remove items deemed “nuisances” from city sidewalks. The law allows for people to retrieve any item seized if they pay a $200 fee. A sidewalk nuisance is defined in the bill as “any object or collection of objects constructed, erected, installed, maintained, kept or operated on or over any sidewalk, including but not limited to stalls, stands, tents, furniture, and containers, and of their contents or attachments.”
The stored property ordinance allows the city to remove personal items left on city property with 24-hour advance notice.
Authorities said the locations selected for enforcement are those where the city has received complaints.
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