City employees and private social workers will spend this week implementing the county’s new law designed to remove homeless campers and others from Honolulu sidewalks.
On Monday the city raided three spots used by the homeless campers: the Ala Wai Promenade at the Ewa entrance to Waikiki, Honolulu Stadium Park and Moiliili Field.
No one was arrested in the three sweeps.
Jay Parasco, city spokesman, said "everything went smoothly" as city officials started enforcing the "sidewalk nuisance law."
About 10 campers on Kalakaua Avenue near the Hawai‘i Convention Center were given 15 minutes to move their personal belongings or have them seized. There were only two people at Stadium Park and one at Moiliili Field when city crews arrived midmorning.
The Waikiki operation, which began at 8:30 a.m. Monday, was conducted by the city Department of Facility Maintenance. Assisting city officials were representatives from U.S.VETS, the Waikiki Health Center and the Institute for Human Services.
More sweeps are planned, but city officials said they won’t be releasing information until after the cleanup operation is completed.
Left untouched by the city’s actions Monday were the (de)Occupy Honolulu protesters who have been camping on the sidewalks at Thomas Square since November 2011 and who have been the target of various sweeps.
Parasco said people at the three sites were allowed to take what they could carry.
The rest of their belongings will be taken by city’s maintenance workers to Halawa and stored for 30 days.
Parasco said the city also is giving the campers the option of having the items hauled away and destroyed.
In April the City Council adopted Bill 7, which allows city workers to remove any item deemed a sidewalk nuisance. Bill 7 allows for people to retrieve any items seized if they pay a $200 fee.
The city delayed implementing the sidewalk nuisance law to finalize the rules on how to enforce it.
The new city law replaces a 2011 ordinance that allowed the city to remove objects left on sidewalks if tagged 24 hours in advance. The items were held at the city’s Halawa base yard for 30 days before being destroyed.
A sidewalk nuisance is defined in the new law as "any object or collection of objects constructed, erected, installed, maintained, kept or operated on or over any sidewalk, including but not limited to stalls, stands, tents, furniture, and containers, and of their contents or attachments." The new law allows the city to remove items without tagging them.
Both the old law and Bill 7 were opposed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii and (de)Occupy Honolulu, which argued that the bill would criminalize homelessness and stifle free speech.
Besides Kalakaua Avenue and Thomas Square, the city during the past year has tried to implement the old sidewalk ordinance at Aala Park, Smith Street, Pauahi Street, River Street, Cartwright Park, Pawaa Park, Kalamalu Playground and Park, and Punchbowl and Queen streets with little success.
"We think it is disgusting that the city has legalized theft," said Sugar Russell, spokeswoman for (de)Occupy.
She called the city’s actions "a waste of money," adding that the new ordinance is "immoral and unethical."
"The city needs to be focusing on real solutions."
Russell said her group is still conferring with attorneys on whether to challenge the city’s latest sidewalk ordinance in court.
Supporters of (de)Occupy last year filed a federal lawsuit claiming that city officials damaged, seized and disposed of their belongings without proper notice in raids at Thomas Square. They also claim that the 2011 city law that prohibits people from storing belongings on public property is unconstitutional.
