City plants shrubs where (de)Occupy camped for months

The trees along the Beretania Street sidewalk of Thomas Square are trimmed, and city workers Thursday planted dozens of ficus shrubs that city officials hope will eventually form hedges like the ones that border the three other sides of the park.

Tamara Fehling, waiting to cross Beretania on the Ward Avenue side on her way to the Hono­lulu Museum of Art, looked skeptically at the plants.

She predicted the plants would be overrun by (de)Occupy Hono­lulu supporters, homeless people living there or both.

"Those are just plants. They’re not going to get in anybody’s way," she told city workers.

Fehling, who along with husband Ken are from Long Island, N.Y., and spend about 100 days a year in Hono­lulu, said (de)Occupy Hono­lulu supporters trash the park and are "disrespectful to the aina."

Fehling also considers the movement’s philosophy, based partly on anarchist philosophies, immature.

"If there was no form of government, they would be hanging from those trees right now," she said.

The stalemate between the city and the (de)Occupy Hono­lulu group is continuing as Mayor Kirk Caldwell plans to spruce up Thomas Square for its 170th-anniversary celebration this summer.

The group remains ensconced on the King Street side of the park.

The group had camped on the Beretania side since the fall of 2011 but was told to move because of the renovations, which is how they ended up on the King Street side.

Two (de)Occupy Hono­lulu members were arrested Wednesday night for staying in the park after the 10 p.m. closing time. That followed a verbal clash between (de)Occupy Hono­lulu members and police and parks workers earlier in the day.

Chris Nova Smith, a member of the movement, said city employees Wednesday morning illegally removed items belonging to homeless people. Existing city law allows the city to remove items stored on city sidewalks, but only if they’ve been "tagged" and scheduled for removal 24 hours in advance. Smith said items belonging to three homeless individuals, who are not part of (de)Occupy Hono­lulu, were taken away or destroyed despite not being tagged the previous day.

"They weren’t even properly following their own law," Smith said.

Jesse Broder Van Dyke, a Caldwell spokes­man, disputed Smith’s account and said city crews followed the stored-property ordinance, seizing only tagged property.

"I was also told that some of the protesters on Wednesday were verbally abusive to the city crews, swore at them and challenged them to fight," Broder Van Dyke said. At one point a police officer stepped in to protect a parks employee from abuse, he said.

He emphasized that city workers spent the week tagging and retrieving items from city sidewalks throughout Hono­lulu, not just at Thomas Square.

As for the improvements along Beretania Street, grass is expected to be planted and fertilized in the coming days before the sidewalks are spray-washed, Broder Van Dyke said.

The Beretania sidewalk should reopen by early May, although work is expected to continue for several more months in other sections of the park, he said.

Work on the Beretania side was originally scheduled to run from March 4 to 25. But a baby white tern was discovered in a tree, and work was halted for a couple of days while the state Department of Land and Natural Resources assessed the situation and educated city work crews on how to avoid disturbing their nesting sites, Broder Van Dyke said.

But that’s just the beginning.

Caldwell’s capital improvements budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1 calls for $1 million to be spent on planning, design and construction at Thomas Square for "park improvements and … related equipment to support cultural and art events."

The mayor, following his State of the City speech last week, told reporters he is talking to Hono­lulu Museum of Art officials about the possibility of a sculpture garden at Thomas Square, and to Straub Clinic & Hospital officials about making the park more accommodating to its patients.

"We’ve talked about maybe even a cafe," Caldwell said. "But nothing concrete at this point."

Makiki resident James Cairl sat on a bench in front of the Thomas Square fountain Thursday.

"It’s kind of neat to live in the city and to have a park in the middle of it," Cairl said. "It’s like an oasis in the middle of a desert."

Cairl applauded the work now underway by city crews, but he added that he hopes the attention will continue.

"It’s like they come here and then they don’t come back for six months," Cairl said.

While he’s had no problem with (de)Occupy’s encampment for the most part, he said he’s noticed that people staying there now are messier and more indifferent to the sightliness of the park.

"It’s not the same people," he said.

Makiki resident Steph­a­nie Nowak walks her dog, Sydney, in the park four times a day. Nowak said she also has not been bothered by the (de)Occupy presence at Thomas Square, but she doesn’t view it as the most productive use of the protesters’ time, either.

Rather than camping out and holding signs, "be the change you want to be in the world," Nowak said. "Get involved in the community somehow. Make a difference."

(De)Occupy Hono­lulu’s Smith, however, said the protesting and the group’s presence have made a difference.

Caldwell’s administration is preparing a Housing First plan to help deal with homeless issues that is scheduled to be released May 1, Smith said. Meanwhile, Councilman Stanley Chang has co-introduced a resolution calling for a comprehensive action plan to address homelessness that leaves open the possibility of a tent city.

Smith said (de)Occupy Hono­lulu’s lobbying efforts have also had an impact on ongoing debates over genetically modified crops and the controversial Public Land Development Corp.

The City Council, however, is moving a bill that would make it more difficult for the (de)Occupy Hono­lulu group, the homeless and others to camp on city sidewalks. Bill 7 (2013) would allow the city to immediately remove items deemed public nuisances, thus bypassing the existing stored-property ordinance that requires 24-hour notice. Bill 7 is up for a final vote Wednesday.