Public access for public spaces

A lot of the city’s effort to restore public access to public spaces rides on a court ruling that’s expected today. At issue is the new ordinance enabling property stored on sidewalks to be seized, a law that drew a legal protest from the protest group (de)Occupy Honolulu.

It’s (de)Occupy, of course, that’s one major target of the law, to remove tents most recently set up on the edge of Thomas Square and on the opposite sidewalk, fronting the Blaisdell Concert Hall.

The Star-Advertiser hopes the law is upheld. But whatever happens in court, the city is a long way from discouraging the ad hoc campsites set up by the truly homeless (as opposed to those using squatting as a form of protest).

With the recent unveiling of the city homelessness plan, the search for accommodations is just beginning. Let’s hope the effort stays on track.

Watch the trends in baby names

Poking through baby names is fun — even if you’re not adding to your own family — because all kinds of trends emerge.

The Social Security Administration enables the research at its website (http://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/index.html), with lots of state-by-state popularity lists. Hawaii’s Department of Health keeps track of the islands’ unique middle names, too, many of them in the native language.

The online database tracks the popularity of names over time. Take the top-ranked Hawaiian-language name, Malia. No mystery why that’s No. 1, based on the SSA tally: It shot up from 344th place to 191st in 2009, the year after Barack Obama introduced his eldest daughter, Malia, to the world.