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Trash volume delays Kakaako cleanup

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  • DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARADVERTISER.COM
    People packed up their belongings this morning along Ohe Street in advance of the arrival of the city cleanup crew.

The unexpected volume of trash left behind by departing homeless people means the cleanup of the Kakaako homeless encampment will take longer than expected and now won’t be finished until Monday.

A special cleanup crew from the city Department of Facility Maintenance found more debris than expected Thursday — 2 1/2 garbage trucks full — and will not be able to finish clearing out Olomehani Street and Ohe Street as expected today, said Ross Sasamura, who is in charge of the cleanup as the city’s director and chief engineer of the Department of Facility Maintenance.

“We’re going to be asking for the public’s patience and understanding,” he said.

The crews are expected to spend all of today picking up the rest of the debris on Olomehani Street and parts of Ohe Street, Sasamura said .

The crew will get a break over the weekend and return again Monday.

The crew had collected a record 7.26 tons of abandoned wooden structures, metal and assorted trash during a previous cleanup of the encampment around Ala Moana Boulevard and Keawe, Coral and Ilalo streets that ended Sept. 21.

But Sasamura said the last push through Kakaako will break that record “because of the volume of debris that was left behind. This one’s going to be more.”

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