It's a nasty problem but not a crime, yet

By James Gonser
Advertiser Urban Honolulu Writer

All day long, men urinate on the wall about 20 feet from the door of the 'A'ala Park Boardshop, says owner Chad Hiyakumoto.

Heavily tinted windows mean that they can't see him, but from his spot behind the counter of his store on College Walk adjacent to Nu'uanu Avenue, he sees them — over and over again.

"It is the old guys that urinate on the wall," Hiyakumoto said. "We yell at them and ridicule them. We throw things at them, but it really doesn't discourage them. They keep peeing over and over again in the same spot and it begins to smell really bad."

The stench is bad for business, he said.

People urinating or defecating in doorways and other public places is a persistent problem that has plagued businesses in Chinatown, downtown, Waikiki and other primarily urban areas for years.

And there's no city law against it.

Police hope to change that.

Police Maj. William Chur wants to create an ordinance making it a petty misdemeanor to relieve yourself in public, punishable by a maximum $1,000 fine and up to 30 days in jail.

"There really is no specific law that says you can't," said Chur, who heads the Police Department's legislative liaison office. "In the past, officers have used other statutes to deal with the situation, including littering and open lewdness, something that would offend other people. That really doesn't work real well."

Police get many complaints from individuals and businesses, and the proposal is an attempt to address their concerns, Chur said. Because the Downtown Neighborhood Board also had expressed concern, Chur appeared before the board last week with a draft of the proposed ordinance.

The downtown board voted to support the proposal.

Hiyakumoto said many of the offenders near his shop are the men who sit at tables and gamble during the day, too lazy to walk to the public bathroom across the street at 'A'ala Park.

Much of the problem occurs in areas frequented by homeless people, where a lack of restrooms is a contributing factor, said Chur.

"In fact there is a lack of public restroom facilities in a lot of business areas," he said. "If you are not a customer of most restaurants, they won't let you use their facilities. The businesses lock up their restrooms. If you are far away from a public restroom, it is hard."

Sharon Black, director of the Kau Kau Wagon, a group that provides free meals to homeless people every Saturday at Gateway Park downtown, said she agrees with the concept of the law, but would like to see more public bathrooms made available to people, especially downtown, so people are not made criminals simply for needing a toilet.

"I agree with it but we need to provide an alternative," Black said. "As a society, it is our responsibility to have bathrooms."

Black suggested that businesses could partner with the city and install self-cleaning public toilets similar to those that have been used in other cities in areas without restrooms.

"There are individuals that are not homeless that do it too, and mostly when they are intoxicated," Black said. "It's pretty nasty sometimes, so I can understand wanting to do something legally about it."

Chur said the next step is to refine the language, submit the proposed ordinance to the city managing director's office and then to the City Council.

Chur expects the proposal to be before the council in four to six weeks.

"We would like to get a dialogue started at the City Council to see how we can fix this," Chur said. "We may have to put up more porta-potties around in certain areas. I'm not sure what it will take, but at least we will start the discussion very shortly."

Reach James Gonser at jgonser@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2431.