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GREGG K. KAKESAKO / GKAKESAKO@STARADVERTISER.COM
City workers loaded trash and debris onto a garbage truck this morning in Kakaako.
GREGG K. KAKESAKO / GKAKESAKO@STARADVERTISER.COM
Remains of the Kakaako homeless encampment were seen this morning before city crews arrived to clear the area.
About two dozen people were removed from Ohe Street this morning as city crews completed its first block-by-block sweep in Kakaako to enforce the city’s stored property ordinance and sidewalk nuisance law, which allows for the removal of homeless campers from city sidewalks.
Several displaced women, who declined to give their names, said they didn’t know where they would be going.
Ross Sasamura, director of the city Department of Facility Maintenance, anticipated it would take two days to clear Ohe Street because of “the sheer volume of trash.”
He pointed out that Ohe Street has “the highest concentration” of people living on the sidewalks in Kakaako.
Six facility maintenance workers moved into Ohe Street at 7:30 a.m. with two garbage trucks and one flatbed truck to remove trash and recyclable metals.
Honolulu police officers used red tape to close short portions of Ohe Street as city crews worked the area. Also assisting in the effort were deputy sheriffs.
The sidewalk cleanup was supposed to start Friday along Ilalo, Ahui, Olomehani and Ohe streets, but the unexpected amount of trash and debris postponed the final sweep of Ohe Street to Monday.
Sasamura said crews on Thursday and Friday removed 26.8 tons of trash and 52 cubic yards of metals, which is what the city maintenance crews normally pick up in one month.
Crews last week removed nine shopping carts, stored eight bins of personal property and issued six summary removal notices.
Monday’s operation was postponed until today because several homeless providers were closed for the Columbus Day holiday and there would not have been enough providers to help those being moved.
The Kakaako clean-up began in mid-September.
Between 15 and 25 people were living on Kakaako sidewalks Monday afternoon. At one time in August there were 293 individuals living in the encampment.
Since August, 158 people have moved into permanent housing or shelter, according to state officials.
A hearing is scheduled on an American Civil Liberties federal class-action lawsuit, which claims city crews were improperly confiscating property and destroying it instead of storing it away.
