Mayor Kirk Caldwell’s administration is creating a new city team devoted strictly to enforcing the controversial laws used to remove the property of the homeless and others that is placed illegally on city sidewalks and in Oahu parks.
Ross Sasamura, the city’s facility maintenance director, said the intent is to create a section devoted to enforcement of the city’s Stored Property Ordinance and Sidewalk Nuisance Ordinance, which make it illegal to leave objects on the sidewalk, as well as park closure rules.
"Right now that section already exists in contract form," Sasamura said. "All of the people fulfilling that responsibility now are contractors with the city."
Caldwell and supporters of the two ordinances say the enforcement actions are aimed not at harming the homeless, but to ensure the city’s sidewalks are clear and free to serve their primary purpose of providing pathways for pedestrians.
The program, however, has run afoul of advocates for the homeless who accuse the mayor of wasting resources to harass the island’s most vulnerable while not putting enough money into helping put a roof over their heads.
At budget hearings last week, city officials said they are:
» Converting eight contract positions in the Department of Facility Maintenance to full-time employees, at a cost of $342,640. The city now pays seven people on contract to do the work for $223,069, city officials said.
» Budgeting for four contract groundskeeper positions in the Department of Parks and Recreation so the department won’t have to pay overtime to existing employees to help with the effort, at $141,060.
» Buying three trucks for the program so existing department vehicles now being used for enforcement can go back to their intended use, for $320,000.
The new section, which would fall under the department’s Road Maintenance Division, can be formalized once the budget is approved, Sasamura said.
City Parks Director Toni Robinson told the Council Budget Committee, "Right now we don’t have anybody dedicated" to enforcement of the Stored Property and Sidewalk Nuisance laws.
For more than a year, a crew of maintenance and parks employees backed by Honolulu police officers have conducted enforcement actions, which the city insists are not raids, on sidewalks around the island an average three times a week at a cost of about $3,500 each time.
The activist group (de)Occupy Honolulu has taken the city to court over the Stored Property and Sidewalk Nuisance ordinances.
Sugar Russell, a (de)Occupy Honolulu member who has monitored the city budget deliberations, said the city "still intends to violate the Fourth and 14th amendments of the houseless population, opening itself up to more lawsuits and more wasted resources."
U.S. District Judge Leslie Kobayashi has allowed the Sidewalk Nuisance Ordinance to remain in force, but she also ruled that the due-process rights of Russell and her colleagues were violated because they were each charged a $200 fee to get their property back without proper notice about the process.
As a result, the city was forced to change its procedures to make it clear an owner of seized property can request a hearing to waive the fee.
Russell was found guilty by a state court of obstruction of government operations in connection with one of the enforcement actions at Thomas Square. She was sentenced to 60 days in jail, has served three days and is out on bail, appealing the ruling.
The (de)Occupy Honolulu group stopped its two-year, 24-hours-a-day presence in and around Thomas Square on Nov. 29.
Russell said the city should concentrate more of its efforts on a Housing First initiative that focuses on providing permanent shelter to individuals and families without requiring them to enter programs that deal with problems often associated with homelessness such as substance abuse, mental illness and joblessness.
Caldwell’s budget includes $18.9 million for a Housing First initiative and $3 million for related services.
