The ordinance that bans sitting and lying on public sidewalks has been a handy tool for Honolulu Police Department officers to clear the homeless and other sidewalk dwellers off of busy sidewalks in Waikiki and the downtown/Chinatown areas over the past two years.

But in the 15 neighborhoods from Waimanalo to Wahiawa that were added to the sit-lie law by City Council members, the law does not appear to have been used.

Honolulu Police Department spokeswoman Michelle Yu, in response to a Honolulu Star-Advertiser query, reported that as of April 3 there have been:

>> In Waikiki, 2,161 warnings, 417 citations and nine arrests for violations of the sit-lie ordinance since the law was first applied there in September 2014.

>> In Chinatown-downtown, 19,942 warnings, 148 citations and six arrests for sit-lie violations since the law went into effect in December 2014.

>> At downtown-Chinatown pedestrian malls — Union Street, Fort Street, Sun Yat-sen and Kekaulike malls — 574 warnings, no citations and no arrests for sit-lie violations since the law went into effect there in February 2015.

Yu, however, said there is no record of sit-lie warnings, citations or arrests outside of those three areas. It’s not even clear whether the department has received any complaints of possible sit-lie violations in those other areas.

“We don’t have stats on the number of sit-lie complaints received,” Yu said in an email. “Anecdotally, there are relatively few complaints received for the areas that you’re asking about.”

It’s not clear whether the lack of complaints is the result of people not violating the sit-lie ordinance or because HPD is not enforcing sit-lie in those areas.

Yu said it could be that in some cases, officers responding to sit-lie complaints felt it more appropriate to apply park rules instead of the sit-lie ordinance. Additionally, the stored property or sidewalk nuisance ordinances, which are administered by the city Department of Facility Maintenance, might have been used to address complaints, she said.

Mayor Kirk Caldwell introduced the first sit-lie bill in summer 2014 for Waikiki only, arguing that it was necessary to impose a 24-hour restriction in Oahu’s economic breadbasket. The Council passed the law and the ban went into effect in September. By December 2014 the Council had passed another bill adding downtown and Chinatown to the ban, which was supported by Caldwell.

From there, however, Caldwell and the Council leadership split on the bill.

Council members argued that the imposition of the sit-lie law in Waikiki, downtown and Chinatown was forcing homeless campers into other neighborhoods. But Caldwell and city Corporation Counsel Donna Leong warned that the sit-lie ordinance could withstand constitutional challenge only if it were used to keep sidewalk campers from blocking pedestrians from entering or leaving businesses.

Despite the warning, Council members in February 2015 introduced Bill 6 (2015), imposing the sit-lie ban in portions of the Sheridan-Lower Makiki area, McCully-Moiliili, Kailua, Kaneohe, Waialae-Kahala, Kapahulu, Aina Haina-Niu Valley, Hawaii Kai, Waimanalo and Wahiawa. Some of the areas include two sit-lie prohibition zones.

Caldwell vetoed the bill May 21, insisting that many of the areas listed would not pass constitutional muster.

The Council voted 6-3 to override the veto June 3.

“The sit-lie ordinances are enforceable and prohibit sitting and/or lying in certain designated areas during certain time periods,” Leong said in an email. “The purpose of the original sit-lie ordinance is to prohibit sitting and lying in areas zoned for commercial and business activities in order to permit pedestrian access to business.”

HPD has advised her that “if anyone wants to report any matter that requires a police officer to respond, including possible violations of the sit-lie laws, regardless of location, the person should call 911 so that an officer can be dispatched,” Leong said. “Responding officers will initially warn and subsequently cite offenders, if necessary.”

Councilwoman Ann Kobayashi, who represents the area from Palolo to Makiki, said that as she predicted, problems tied to the homeless and other sidewalk dwellers appear to have worsened in the past year in those areas where the sit-lie ban is not in place.

Among the worse situations is along South King Street just outside of the sit-lie zone, Ewa of Piikoi Street, she said.

“We’ve gotten a lot of calls, and we’ve reported them to the police,” Kobayashi said.

Tam Huynh, owner of Bac Nam on South King Street, a block outside one of the zones, said many tourists have told him they won’t go to his Vietnamese establishment anymore. “People told me it’s because they are scared of the homeless people,” Huynh said.

Police will arrive, when called, and shoo the sidewalk dwellers away, he said. But they sometimes return almost as soon as HPD leaves, Huynh said.

As a result of complaints like that, Kobayashi is urging the Caldwell administration to step up patrol and enforcement of the other sidewalk ordinances in those areas.

Jeff Mull, who owns a business in Chinatown where the sit-lie ordinance is in place, said the law has been working for the most part in most of the area, including the area in front of his office. If issues arise in sit-lie enforcement areas, he makes complaints, and officers come and take care of them, he said.

Councilman Trevor Ozawa, who represents East Honolulu and was among those who asked for neighborhoods to be added, said he isn’t surprised there hasn’t been more sit-lie enforcement given the administration’s argument that the law should be in place only where sidewalk dwellers were impeding commerce.

To see the maps where the sit-lie ordinance is in place, go to bit.ly/cchnlsitliemaps.