Homeless near Aala Park disperse

Cynthia Thomas removed three carts filled with her belongings Monday after she and dozens of other homeless people were forced to leave a Beretania Street sidewalk near River Street Mall in Chinatown.

Thomas, 45, said she might relocate to a spot near Kapalama Canal in Kalihi. She could move in with her daughter at Kalihi Valley Homes, but that would mean giving up her pit bull-mix dog, Bella.

"I’m not letting her go," she said, adding that her dog has protected her.

In response to a complaint from a nearby property owner, the city on Monday took down a chain-link fence that the homeless used to support their tents.

Alerted to the impending cleanup, about 12 to 15 homeless people broke down their tents and tarps before workers from the city Department of Facility Maintenance, with the help of police, removed four dump-truck loads of debris.

Workers also power-washed the sidewalk and used a truck with a vacuum to suck rubbish and human waste from a storm drain in the area.

About 50 to 60 people had lived along the fence across from Aala Skatepark.

In August, HighMark Investments LLC, a Seattle-based company that owns the property, sought the city’s help to address the homeless situation, according to city spokeswoman Louise Kim McCoy. When the city looked into the matter, officials discovered the fence had yet to be removed from the HighMark property even though construction plans were dropped four years ago.

HighMark now plans to repave the property, which is being used as a parking lot, and possibly plant hedges where the fence was, according to Connie Mitchell, executive director of the Institute for Human Services. Mitchell has been working with HighMark concerning outreach efforts for the homeless. Officials from HighMark could not be reached for comment.

Staff from IHS helped the homeless remove their belongings from the site Monday. For the past six weeks, the homeless shelter intensified outreach efforts when they learned of the upcoming work.

They held classes at Aala Park to inform the homeless of housing and social service programs. IHS returned two weeks ago to notify the homeless of Monday’s scheduled cleanup.

About a dozen adults moved into the women and men’s homeless shelters. To date, about 300 people are living at the shelters. Space is available for 30 to 40 more people in each.

But some homeless choose not to stay there because of the rules.

Police who conduct bicycle patrols at Aala Park said they expect the homeless to return by next week, saying there is nowhere else for them to go.

Some have relocated to other spots of Chinatown, including grassy, shaded areas on the North Kukui Street side of River Street Mall.

With help from a friend, Thomas pushed her carts to a bus stop a block away. As she ate a Spam musubi and drank a cup of coffee, she weighed her next move.

Thomas had lived at the bus stop for about a year before moving to the Beretania Street site a few months ago.

Chu Lan Shubert-Kwock, president of the Chinatown Business and Community Association, said the group is happy to see the sidewalk cleaned, but she wonders how long it will last.

For nine months the homeless commandeered the sidewalk, creating unsanitary conditions, she said. People in wheelchairs were forced to negotiate around the tents to go down the sidewalk.

"We hope they don’t return," she said.

Hawaii News Now video: Homeless on sidewalk near Aala Park moved