By Brooks Baehr - bio | email
HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – People living in more than 20 tents and under tarps along Iwilei Road may be the next to be removed from the sidewalk under a new city law prohibiting people from storing their private possessions on public property.
"What I've been told is tentatively they are scheduled to give out the notices on January 23rd and then on the 24th they'll start removing property that's left behind," said state Representative Karl Rhoads, who serves downtown Honolulu, Chinatown, Iwilei, and Palama.
The sidewalk along Iwilei Road on which the homeless are living is impassable because their personal possessions cover the sidewalk. Rhoads told Hawaii News Now a man who works nearby was recently assaulted by a homeless person. According to Rhoads the assault victim contacted his office asking that the new city ordinance be enforced.
Monday of this week city workers issued 24-hour notices to people in a homeless camp on a sidewalk fronting Old Stadium Park in Moiliili. By Tuesday morning most of the homeless had left, but at least three people still had belongings on the sidewalk. Those items were impounded by the city and the sidewalk was cleared. It was still clutter free as of early Thursday afternoon.
Protesters with Occupy Honolulu expect they will soon be issued 24-hour notices to remove their belongings from a sidewalk at Thomas Square.
"They came by just to give us a heads up that a warning will be coming and, you know, we haven't seen anything from them, but we do expect them," said protestor Chris Smith.
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Chris Smith
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