Thomas Square, sit-lie bills vetoed by mayor

Mayor Kirk Caldwell vetoed bills Friday that block the transfer of Thomas Square to the Department of Enterprise Services from the Department of Parks and Recreation and expand the city’s controversial sit-lie ban, citing legal and other concerns.

City Councilwoman Ann Kobayashi, who introduced both bills, said she hopes the Council will override Caldwell’s vetoes. But Council Chairman Ron Menor said Friday that he does not plan to schedule votes to override the vetoes because he does not “sense that there are six votes on the Council to override.”

“When a veto occurs, legislators may take the opportunity to re-examine the issues,” Menor told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. “In this case (Caldwell) may have legitimate constitutional concerns. Instead of overriding, we may want to explore a middle ground with the administration.”

In a letter to the Council, Caldwell said Bill 23, which would prevent the transfer of the oversight of Thomas Square to Enterprise Serv-ices, violates the separation of powers between the legislative and executive branches. He said the City Charter mandates that assigning city property to a certain department falls under the executive branch, not the Council. Caldwell said the Department of the Corporation Counsel did not sign off on the bill for those reasons.

Kobayashi introduced the bill, which was approved by the Council earlier this month with a 9-0 vote, in response to concerns from residents who feared they would lose valuable green space and that the park would become a hub for commercial events.

But Caldwell maintained that the transfer would not commercialize Thomas Square and that many, if not all, of the same activities will remain. He said Enterprise Services has the resources to better maintain and secure the 6.5-acre park with staff from nearby Neal S. Blaisdell Center.

“It is my belief that the significance of Thomas Square must be elevated in the hearts and minds of the community,” Caldwell said in his letter. “The transfer provides an opportunity to better manage the park, especially given the cultural and historical significance of Thomas Square.”

The transfer is part of the Caldwell administration’s plan to overhaul Thomas Square. The park is undergoing what was described as a $1.18 million maintenance project, which includes grading, removing the mock orange hedge, installing a new irrigation system and pruning of several large Indian banyans. Administration officials said upgrades at the park would include a 468-square-foot concession stand.

Kobayashi and other Council members had questioned why better maintenance and care at Thomas Square could not be addressed by funding additional staffing for Parks and Recreation.

“It should be a park,” Kobayashi said Friday in a phone interview from San Francisco. “I guess he (Caldwell) feels so strongly that … Thomas Square should not be a park.”

Also on Friday, Caldwell vetoed Bill 20, which would expand the city’s sit-lie ban to additional sections of the Ala Moana-Sheridan and McCully-Moiliili areas.

The bill, which was approved by the Council this month with a 7-2 vote, extends the law banning anyone from sitting and lying on certain public sidewalks in the Ala Moana-Sheridan area to Victoria Street from Piikoi Street, and also adds all of Makahiki Way in the McCully-Moiliili area to the ordinance.

Kobayashi said she introduced the bill to help small businesses and residents adversely affected by homeless encampments in the area.

“I’m just listening to the constituents on behalf of residents and many small businesses,” she said.

Caldwell said in a letter to the Council that the Corporation Counsel refused to sign off on the bill because it would likely be subjected to legal challenges because a portion of Makahiki Way is a residential area. City attorneys have said that sit-lie laws can apply to only commercial and industrial areas.

Should the Council pass a bill expanding sit-lie into the Ala Moana-Sheridan area excluding the residential section of Makahiki Way, Caldwell said he would sign it.

“I am also gravely concerned that the passage of Bill 20 may result in a challenge to the legitimacy of the sit-lie laws, which are clearly intended to maintain pedestrian access over sidewalks in business and commercial areas and which have been extremely effective in the areas in which they have been enforced,” Caldwell said.