The city ramped up pressure on supporters of the (de)Occupy Honolulu movement Tuesday afternoon, tagging 15 of their tents, chairs, tables, pallets, signs and other items placed on the sidewalk on the makai side of Thomas Square.
Under the existing stored-property ordinance, the campers have 24 hours from the time the items were tagged to remove them or risk having them seized by the city.
Members of (de)Occupy said they fully expect city officials to return this afternoon to try to seize any tagged items that might still be there because Mayor Kirk Caldwell last week told reporters he wants city officers to increase enforcement of the ordinance.
Members of (de)Occupy, an outgrowth of the Occupy Wall Street movement, have camped in and around Thomas Square since fall 2011. By law they may stay in the park until it closes at dusk, and then can stay on the sidewalk after hours provided they follow the city’s stored-property law.
The encampment of about 20-30 (de)Occupy supporters moved Sunday to the sidewalk on the makai side of the park along South King Street, across from the Blaisdell Center Concert Hall, after city officials warned them that the sidewalk on the mauka side of the park along Beretania Street, where they had been since fall 2011, would be shut down Monday for a three-week tree-trimming project.
Jesse Broder Van Dyke, spokesman for Caldwell, said the mayor specifically asked that workers from the city Department of Facility Maintenance and Honolulu police officers use measuring tape to ensure that (de)Occupy Honolulu objects leave the legally allowed amount of space for pedestrian passage. The Star-Advertiser reported Tuesday that a man walking by the encampment tripped over a tent and fell to the sidewalk Monday afternoon. The man, while angry, was not injured.
The stored-property ordinance requires that there be at least 36 inches of clearance on the sidewalk.
"We have to make sure all of our sidewalks are in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act," Broder Van Dyke said via email. A check by city workers Tuesday afternoon showed "there were no tents or property blocking the sidewalk (less than 36 inches clearance) or causing a hazard," he wrote.
Sugar Russell, a (de)Occupy Honolulu member, said she was pleased no violations were found. "It’s good to know that the city is acknowledging we are not in violation."
Russell said police officers actually measured 47 inches of space. The campers have made it a point to keep as much space clear as possible, she said.
Monday’s tripping incident should not have happened and was caused by a new type of tent that (de)Occupy campers have since agreed to no longer use, she said.
Russell, who attempted to apologize to the man after he tripped, immediately packed up the tent after the incident and said that it had not been fastened or weighed down properly.
Campers are also ensuring that motorists who park in the metered stalls along King Street are given the space to exit and enter their vehicles, she said.
City Councilman Ikaika Anderson, among those trying hardest to clear the sidewalks at Thomas Square and elsewhere, said the fact that city officials found no ADA violations is probably of no comfort to the man who tripped Monday.
Anderson said he supports Caldwell’s stepped-up efforts to clear sidewalks at Thomas Square and elsewhere. "He’s fulfilling his obligation to ensure all Honolulu citizens equal access to the sidewalks," he said.
Anderson is one of several Council members who introduced bills recently that will make it tougher for (de)Occupy members, the homeless and others to camp on city sidewalks.
Bill 7 (2013) would allow the city to summarily remove any objects that are deemed a "nuisance" from sidewalks without the need for a 24-hour warning.
Russell and other campers have opposed the bills, arguing that they hurt the homeless, those who are most vulnerable.
"Criminalizing houselessness is deteriorating the population and keeping people in poverty," she said.
Instead, Russell said, the city should be focused on finding new options to help the homeless.
On Feb. 22, Councilman Stanley Chang introduced Resolution 13-41, urging the administration to explore "alternative solutions" to homelessness including the possibility of setting up "safe zones" for campers and "wet" housing facilities that would allow consumption of alcohol.
