I See Homeless People...Everywhere

Tonight, I was riding my bike on Kona Street, after a few drinks at Jazz Minds. I got to the intersection of Atkinson and Kona and I saw on the little concrete island a small camp that had been set-up by a homeless woman who camps there for the evening almost every night.

There were a few belongings, including a small children's bicycle I suppose that she used to carry her stuff around. I didn't see the woman, though. Then, I turned and saw her bedded-down for the night under the shelter of an awning of one of the small businesses nearby. I guess she moved from the island to the sidewalk when the rain started.

I have ridden past the Atkinson/Kona intersection hundreds of times and this woman has only begun camping there in the past few months.

A week ago, as I rode past Puuhale Elementary, I noticed a homeless man camped next to the school's fence, along the dirt driveway. I used to go to that shool.

There was a time, not long ago, where homeless people used to camp in places removed from the general public view as much as possible. If you wanted to find them, you needed to go to a park or to the beach. usually, it was someplace where they could get lost in a crowd of other homeless people and you would be unable to single them out. Those days are over.

I'm seeing homeless people camped-out in very public places: in front of Puuhale Elementary, at the intersection of Kona and Atkinson as well as the intersection of Kapiolani and Atkinson. You're seeing them camped in ones and twos, instead of in larger groups, no doubt forced there by the evictions from state and city parks.

We're seeing them throwing aside all thoughts of trying to hide themselves from public view, giving-up all sense of being embarrassed by their homelessness and simply camping where ever they can that no one else has staked a claim to previously. It's no longer a matter of trying to be inconspicuous, but of simple survival.

Without a real solution, without giving them a place where they could stay and not be molested by police, they will find other places not currently in use by other homeless people. The undersides of bridges are spoken-for, as are parks and beaches. The government has chased and hounded them from one place to another and they are left with no choice but to camp out in the open where they can easily be seen.

We are entering a dangerous phase in the homelessness crisis, where people are being backed into a corner with no place to go but down. Humans are still part of the Animal Kingdom and no animal is more dangerous than when it has been backed into a corner with no choice but to fight or die.

With a lot of people thinking that the solution to homelessness is simply for homeless people to go out and get a job when even people who are not homeless are having a hard time finding even a part-time job, shows the general lack of concern too many of us have.

The homelessness issue has gone beyond being a problem or an annoyance. It has become a crisis that is becoming more difficult to ignore and evidence of it is in every neighborhood and on every street and park.

I know what could stop the evictions and I know it will never happen. Whenever there is an eviction of homeless people from a beach or park, if there was a corresponding massive protest outside the State Capitol or City Hall and thousands of phone calls, faxes and emails coming to their offices without ceasing, politicians would no longer be able to simply sign-off on an eviction without realizing that there would be a massive protest immediately thereafter in retaliation. Elected officials know that while many people say they care about the homeless, they don't care enough to make a phone call, let alone carry a sign on a picket line.

So, we'll hear a lot about "those poor houseless people" living on the beach and we'll see their little campsites as well as news stories informing the people that yet another homeless campsite has been broken-up and the homeless people have scattered to the Four Winds.

But, we're not likely to see real solutions any time soon.

Duane D. Browning

Kapiolani Blvd Turning Into a Dump

As a follow-up to my discovery of the hole in the ground on Kapiolani Blvd last week, I decided to go back and see if the City had, in fact, filled the hole as they had promised. Sure enough, it has been filled.

I'm wondering how many people had walked past the hole and never considered reporting it because they thought the City would never get around to it or would take forever to do the job. But, here we are about five days after my first phone call and it's covered-up and safe to walk over.

Really, I cannot fathom how people can believe that their government is too busy to take care of things that pose an immediate danger to passersby or simply doesn't care. Sure, government is big and can often seem to be unfeeling. But, there are those times when the government can act quickly and get the job done.

So, thanks to Mr Lester Hirano and his staff.

While riding down Kapiolani on my way to the McCully intersection, I passed what can only be described as a garbage dump. I remember seeing a few bags of trash in the same location, but now the pile has grown by leaps and bounds, along with a swarm of flies to feast on the free food.

There were other places along Kapiolani I had passed where things had simply been left out for whatever fate awaited them. A beach chair, old bicycle tires, a rusty air conditioning unit, etc were all along the boulevard, along with unmowed grass and weeds. As I got closer to the McCully intersection and passed the self-storage business there, there was suddenly a total lack of garbage on the street and the grass was trimmed very nicely. So, in front of the business, it was clean. But, the areas fronting the residential buildings had garbage and weeds.

A sad state of affairs, I must admit.

On Kapiolani, between Kalakaua and McCully, several residences were marked with graffiti, which only added to the rundown look of the area.

I do wonder how long the trash has been piling-up before I reported it to the City. I can only guess that no one who lives in these buildings has called the City about the trash or to request that the grass be trimmed-down. Would it have killed anyone to take a weedeater and trim the grass themselves? I mean, you can borrow one from a friend, if you don't have one.

Maybe this is one of those cases where people think that it's some one else's job to take care of these things and they don't even have to take the initiative and call the City to make it happen.

There is also the very real possibility that the trash has been dumped there by people who do not live in the area and would rather it be left for others to dispose of. It happens all the time, especially if there had initially been just a small number of trash bags and some one driving by had decided that they could simply leave their garbage there for other people to have to dispose. There are numerous places around O'ahu where people simply dump assorted trash of various types and quantities and then drive back home, leaving it to the people who actually live around there to deal with it. Over time, the makeshift dump becomes rather famous and before you know it, everyone and anyone feels perfectly free to dump their shit on some one else's front doorstep. Never mind the health concerns about food waste or the fact that children walk around it every single fucking day.

Fucking inconsiderate bastards.

Still, you'd wonder if area residents are calling HPD about this sort of thing. I would and I'd be camped-out closeby to catch the motherfuckers doing it.

I am seriously thinking that I may be one of the few people who really cares what the City looks like.

Duane D. Browning