Hawaiian vacationers don’t want to see homeless on the streets — and that’s the driving logic behind a handful of Honolulu City Council measures approved this week that would make it nearly impossible for those without fixed addresses to loiter in public.
“There’s an expectation for Waikiki, for Hawaii. It’s a dream,” said Helene “Sam” Shenkus, the marketing director for the Royal Hawaiian Center, The Associated Press reported. “And because they’re families and it’s their money, they don’t have to come here.”
Toward that end, Honolulu City Council members just passed a range of measures that would make it difficult, if not impossible, for homeless to hang around — including a new law that bans anyone from sitting or lying on sidewalks in the Waikiki region.
City officials are also planning to establish an encampment, albeit temporary, on an industrial island that’s far away from the resort area to shelter up to 4,700 homeless. The spot, Sand Island, was the former internment camp for Japanese-Americans during World War II and is now known mostly for its wastewater treatment plant, AP said.
The homeless in the Waikiki area have been reported lying down near the entrance to Macy’s and defecating on the sidewalks, AP reported.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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