Tougher sidewalk bill clears first hurdle

A bill making it harder for people to keep tents and other items on Oahu sidewalks was given preliminary approval Tuesday by the City Council’s Public Safety and Economic Development Committee.

Bill 7 (2013) has won the support of residents living near the (de)Occupy Hono­lulu encampment along the mauka edge of Thomas Square, as well as others who feel tents on sidewalks create an impediment and are unsanitary and unsightly. But (de)Occupy Hono­lulu supporters object to the bill and think it criminalizes homelessness and stifles free speech.

The city currently has in place a "stored property" ordinance where items placed on city sidewalks are "tagged" by city officials for a 24-hour period before authorities return the next day and seize them. Bill 7 differs in that there would be no need for a 24-hour notice before removal if they are identified as nuisances. As with the stored-property ordinance, property owners would have 30 days to retrieve their items for a fee, though the fee could be waived if contested successfully.

The bill now goes back to the full Council for a public hearing and the second of three required approvals.

Bill authors Ernie Martin, Ann Koba­ya­shi and Ikaika Anderson insist the bill is not aimed at punishing the homeless, but to rid city sidewalks of "nuisances" that impede the path of pedestrians.

"Obviously there is an issue … with our public areas being blocked and certain members of the public being denied access because other members of the public are deciding to occupy our sidewalks for whatever reason," Anderson said. "I’ve long believed that this Council owes it to the public to ensure equal access to our public spaces to all members of the public, and not to allow for any one particular group or any one particular person to utilize public space at the expense of the general public."

Councilman Breene Hari­moto said he and colleagues are receiving "numerous complaints from our constituents all over the island. … I believe it’s really, truly evolved into a matter of public safety."

Staffers from the Institute for Human Services said they support the bill, as did the directors of the city Facility Maintenance and Community Services departments, which work with Hono­lulu police in enforcing a controversial stored-objects law.

Pam Witty-Oakland, Community Services director-designate, said the city keeps in constant contact with service providers to find suitable housing for those in need.

Downtown resident Ann Beeson said she’s growing increasingly annoyed at the presence of tents on Thomas Square. She noted that last month she watched as items along Beretania were tagged by the city and then removed by their owners before city workers returned 24 hours later. A week later the same tents, sofas and other items were back. "It was impossible tell that anything had happened."

Beeson said what was originally created as a symbolic gesture "no longer bears any resemblance to Occupy. It appears simply to be a homeless site." Walking through the area at least once a week, "I’m tired of trying to tightrope along the 12- to 18-inch strip that’s left for pedestrian use. I often run into an okole sticking out into this little strip where someone is reaching inside to do housework inside their tent."

Karen Edwards, also a downtown resident, said she’s nearly tripped several times because of the people, tents and other objects occupying the sidewalk in her neighborhood. "It is vital that we not add additional hazards to an already crowded area," she said.

"Sanitation is also a problem here," Edwards said. "I’ve stepped in what very much looked like human excrement and urine."

(De)Occupy Hono­lulu supporters, who made their opposition to the bill known at a full Council meeting last week, were not present at Tuesday’s committee meeting.

However, reached later, several movement supporters said the bill is a further escalation of the city’s unfair treatment of homeless people.

Sugar Russell said the movement has a lawsuit in federal court seeking to strike down the city ordinance and said that is the reason the Council is attempting to craft new language.

"The problem with criminalizing houselessness is it really puts up a divide within a community," Russell said. "It encourages assumptions and stereotypes of a population that is in struggle and in crisis. Nobody grows up thinking they want to be homeless."

Russell and others in the movement at last week’s Council meeting invited Council members to stay overnight at the encampment. While there were no takers, Russell said the offer still stands.

H. Doug Matsuoka, another supporter, said city officials should be doing more to help the homeless. If the city is worried about safety and sanitation, he said, it should provide tents for the homeless and open public restrooms for their use.

Council Public Safety Chairwoman Carol Fuku­naga said the sidewalk bill is designed to address only part of a complex issue. "Today’s discussion was a good starting point," she said.

She noted that Witty-Oakland and other city officials and homeless providers are working on an "action agenda" to tackle homelessness. She added that Councilman Stanley Chang introduced Resolution 13-41, which calls on Community Services and the Office of Housing to explore "alternative solutions" to helping the homeless.

On Tuesday, city employees tagged items left on sidewalks in more than a dozen locations from Aala Park to Waikiki, said Jesse Broder Van Dyke, spokes­man for Mayor Kirk Caldwell.

Among the locations visited was Thomas Square, "where the city has received by far the most number of complaints of reported … violations," Broder Van Dyke said.

Russell, who was among those who had items tagged, said she and others were treated badly. One man was lying on the sidewalk waiting for an ambulance because of an emergency condition when city workers tagged his walker and other items and ignored him.

Broder Van Dyke said an ambulance was called as the city workers were about to leave for one of the people living in the area. A city worker told him that person did not appear to be a member of (de)Occupy, he said.