2 parks beset by the homeless closed for cleanup
JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARADVERTISER.COM
A paper notice saying “Parks Closed for Maintenance” is seen taped to a coconut tree at Kakaako Gateway Park in Honolulu.
Kakaako’s state-owned Mauka and Makai Gateway parks, home to a persistent group of homeless encampments, are now closed indefinitely for repairs and a cleanup.
Notices that went up on the park’s coconut trees say the parks will be completely closed at least until Aug. 15 “or until further notice.”
“As of July 5, the parks are closed, period, 24/7, ” said Lindsey Doi, spokeswoman for the Hawaii Community Development Authority, which controls the parks. “We understand that this isn’t going to solve the homeless issue by any means. But we do have to rehabilitate that park.”
Steve Scott, an HCDA board member, said he hopes the closures will help put an end to the near-constant presence of encampments, which have created public health and safety hazards including an attack on state Rep. Tom Brower a year ago.
“To me, it’s a good thing,” Scott said. “It was an eyesore. It prevented people from going down there. Those parks are for all of the people.”
But for the next several weeks, the parks will be closed to everyone in order to trim coconut trees, fertilize the lawns and repair broken sprinklers.
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Doi said the cost of repairs is included in the HCDA’s maintenance contract.
Normally, the people who sleep illegally in Mauka and Makai Gateway parks pack up and move each time the city and state arrive at the scene for a sweep. Homeless individuals then return the following morning to a newly cleaned park.
The city and state teamed up to prevent homeless people from simply walking across Ala Moana Boulevard to wait out sweeps, which forced them to walk nearly a mile Ewa in front of Waterfront Plaza or across the street in front of Homeland Security.
On Wednesday morning, the first day of the around-the-clock park closures, a knot of tents greeted the sunrise in front of a Homeland Security office and were gone by late morning.
“I know that,” Scott said. “That’s what’s unfortunate. They seem to be locating down Nimitz Highway. It’s not good. Hopefully they’ll get the picture that it’s a lot of hassle to keep moving daily and they’re going to have to seek out shelter. There’s room for them.”
People who were living illegally in the parks were given notice of the impending park closures on June 26 and were offered social service programs, including shelters, said Scott Morishige, the state’s homeless coordinator.
“Some individuals had relocated prior to the start of the maintenance closure,” Morishige said.
The closures do not apply to nearby Kakaako Waterfront Park, which the Hawaii Community Development Authority also controls.
And that worries Scott, who fears some homeless people will simply walk next door and set up camp.
“It is a concern,” he said.
But as of Wednesday, there did not appear to be a noticeable uptick in Waterfront Park’s homeless population.
Scott said HCDA officials determined that Waterfront Park was not nearly as damaged as Mauka and Makai Gateway parks and does not need to be closed.
Morishige said talks continue with the city to allow the city to enforce its separate stored property and sidewalk nuisance ordinances on state land that it uses to keep city sidewalks clear of homeless encampments.
One proposal would allow the city to enforce its ordinances on state-owned Ala Moana Boulevard and Nimitz Highway from Atkinson Boulevard to Sand Island Access Road.
21 responses to “2 parks beset by the homeless closed for cleanup”
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I guess our law-makers better make new regulations to address this problem ,, otherwise it’s going to be a losing situation .
There are many people, who are very frustrated & angry, because of the hostile confrontations with the homeless.
The homeless have aggressively taken over, their very small piece of illegal real estate, and made everyone feel like trespassers, who got near them.
The homeless set up their illegal residences, near foot paths, walkways, bridges, etc. and made people fearful of hostile physical confrontations.
“What are you looking at ?!” said by a homeless person, with a glassy eyed stare, slightly drooling mouth, clenching a broken hammer, smelling like a sewer, and creeping towards you, does not appear to violate any Hawaii Criminal Laws these days.
So let’s just close all our parks, beaches, and other public facilities to EVERYBODY. Problem solved?
They are moving to the area behind the Children’s Discovery Center and along the Kakaako Waterfront Park.
It appears to me that the tax payers are room service. We clean it up real nice at a cost, and they move right back in again. And what do the cleaners find among the junk? Booze, cigarettes, dope paraphernalia.
Hypodermic needles! What do we have here, a bunch of diabetics?
Liberal government fools are being fooled by the rubbish people. Both of these groups should be out in camps and perform mandatory labor . That way the government fools could see what kind of rubbish people they have to deal with.
Homeless are like Hillary Clinton. They are above the law.
^5…and may I add…doesn’t pass the smell test.
enforce exixting no camping laws.. fight the homeless advocates in court and win, or get new judges
The real issue is over crowding and cost of living on Oahu. Whatʻs needed is $700-900/mo 1/1 apartments that people can actually afford. And we need rent control. While the wooly-eyed maniac is a go-to meme for homeless haters, in reality, local families are the fastest-growing homeless demographic. People who work, but cannot afford rent. That is not a crime. Our parks are filling the gap for affordable housing. There is enough shelter space for about 10-15% of our homeless people. The wait list for family shelter is months long. We need to get real about low rent housing and rent control. For all of us, not just the currently homeless. We are most of us 1-2 paychecks or a medical emergency away from financial ruin ourselves.
Agree with your statements yet want to emphasize this part “People who work, but cannot afford rent.”
Problem is most of these are bums who don’t.
THE FARM, have you ever though that the darn population growth produces the high prices? I say stop immigration before we become a rubbish country like most of the rest of the world.
Closed borders, hatred of the poor, and xenophobia are not the answer. But limitations on development and population tied to resources really need be considered. We live on an island, that there is a maximum possible population is a given, and must be somehow balanced against the right of all to freely travel and live in the U.S. Water, roads, arable land, all must be considered – they are limited. Having lived on Oahu 50+ years, it is striking to me how little room there is any more. For anything. Weʻre “cheek to jowl”, as my grandmother would say – and the poor, who used to be pretty distributed throughout our island, are now concentrated and hounded/chased by these stupid policies that do nothing to get people into homes. We treat them like animals, starve them, cut them off from basic needs like sleep, water and hygiene, then complain about how inhuman *they* are, when really we need to be looking into the mirror.
Hawaii was expensive way before we had too many people living here. Major things driving up costs of housing are the huge amounts of military (who get huge taxpayer-funded subsidies and drive higher rents for everyone), and the waves (several in my lifetime from various places) of rich investors who buy up and drive up the costs of housing wherever they go, seeking the next profitable bubble – with no protection or care for the normal income people who live here.
immigration made us and immigration will break us.
It was OK for your family, but now shut the door? Hmmm.
I’ll support rent control, when the government stops increase taxation.
THE FARM , you point out all these problems but what about solutions? And what do you do to make this situation better?
I’m just sick and disgusted about these homeless encampments…..not so bad about their encampment but its their filth and garbage that they leave behind that disgusts me….why don’t all these liberal advocates of the homeless come out and see for themselves this garbage left behind and, in essence, THEY should be cleaning the area and not wasting the time of our city workers not to mention the expense, also.
We don’t need parks. We need parking lots instead. It also provides jobs.
Why can’t we put them in jail? They are violating the laws, right?
Jail doesn’t have to be what we currently have. We can make a temporary jail with chain link fencing and guards. Provide water and toilets and let them use their own tents and bedding materials. Let the churches and charities bring food to this jail instead of to the parks and sidewalks. Medical, if necessary, can be provided but that’s it. It is, after all, a JAIL!