Plants will separate protesters from graduates and concertgoers

City officials said they will begin installing potted plants along the rim of the Neal Blaisdell Center Concert Hall lawn to separate people camped on the sidewalk from high school graduates and their guests, as well as people attending public performances at the music hall.

A member of (de)Occupy Hono­lulu, the group that has pitched tents and placed other objects on the sidewalk on the makai side of South King Street since being booted from the mauka sidewalk fronting Thomas Square on April 22, likened the latest action to the racial segregation policies of the pre-1960s South.

John Fuhrmann, chief of the city Department of Enterprise Services’ Customer Services Division, said the pots are being installed beginning today and will be placed on both the Ewa and Diamond Head lawns fronting the concert hall entrance.

The action is being done "to separate the people that are on the sidewalk from the view plane of the people who are using the concert hall and the lawn area," Fuhrmann said. The concert hall is being used by eight schools for graduation ceremonies this spring, and graduates typically greet throngs of family and other well-wishers on the lawn.

Kalaheo High School, which graduates its 2013 class May 21, is the first of the eight schools. Fuhrmann said the plan is to have all the pots installed by May 20.

Fuhrmann emphasized, however, that Blaisdell officials are not responsible for the sidewalk and will not remove anyone there.

(De)Occupy Hono­lulu, an offshoot of the Occupy Wall Street movement which opposes government policies on a variety of fronts including homelessness, has maintained a 24-hour presence at or near Thomas Square since Nov. 5, 2011.

Christopher "Nova" Smith, a (de)Occupy member, said the group will continue to camp on the sidewalk.

"Basically, the Blaisdell has made a stand that graduates and other people who utilize the Blaisdell need to be segregated from the homeless," Smith said. "What’s next? Are the homeless going to have to sit at the back of TheBus?"

City workers have attempted to remove the tents through a stored-property allowance that requires 24-hour notice. (De)Occupy supporters have played a cat-and-mouse game by removing tagged tents and replacing them with new ones.

That could end this summer when the city implements the sidewalk nuisance law, which eliminates the need for the notice.