Posted on: Thursday, March 29, 2001

City Council postpones camping-control ordinance

By Robbie Dingeman
Advertiser City Hall Writer

Honolulu City Council Chairman Jon Yoshimura is postponing for at least a month any action on a bill aimed at strengthening city camping laws to help prevent protesters from gathering for large demonstrations expected during the Asian Development Bank conference in May.

The bill would make it clear that police can cite illegal camping suspects and would allow police to use dogs and horses in public parks for law enforcement purposes. It was scheduled for final approval next Wednesday.

But Yoshimura yesterday said he has heard the issues raised by advocates for the homeless who say the bill would unfairly target those who have nowhere else to go.

"There's some impression that we're going to be using it against the homeless here," he said.

Yoshimura said city officials' goal for the gathering of international leaders May 7-11 is to ensure public safety and protect public property while the meetings take place.

While the bill was introduced as part of a package of measures designed to give police tools they want to deal with large-scale protests, Yoshimura said he's not convinced that it's needed for the conference. An earlier version gave police the power to arrest illegal camping suspects, but that arrest provision was dropped earlier this month.

Arrest is not presently an option because camping is forbidden by rules and regulations, not by ordinances.

Yoshimura said he believes the camping law may need to be changed for other reasons, but that can be handled later, perhaps even after the conference is over.

Lynn Maunakea, executive director of the Institute for Human Services, said she is happy about the postponement, but remains leery of the bill.

"It does seem kind of drastic for a one-week conference to create this law," she said.

Maunakea said she appreciates that Yoshimura and Assistant Police Chief Boisse Correa are sensitive to the homelessness issue. But, she said, the danger is that "once you have a law, that is open to interpretation by any future managers or leaders."