MA'ILI — With only hours before the city's deadline for them to move out of Ma'ili Beach Park, the remaining 20 or so families left in what was once a tent village got ready to head their separate ways yesterday afternoon.

Some were packing up their belongings and going to the new state-sponsored shelter in Wai'anae. Others said they would move to beaches elsewhere. At least one person said she intends to stay beyond the deadline so she can be arrested as a symbolic gesture.

"Anybody still remaining will be asked to leave," Morikawa said. "And if they refuse, they run the risk of HPD being forced to arrest them for obstructing government operations."

Morikawa said she believes city officials will enter the park at about 8 a.m.

When the renovations are completed, the city intends to reopen the park as a 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. facility, except for weekend camping by permit only, as requested by the Wai'anae Neighborhood Board.

City officials agreed to leave the parks open for the homeless until the state was ready to open its 300-bed emergency shelter in Wai'anae. Pai'olu Kaiaulu, which can house up to 300, opened several miles up Farrington Highway on March 1.

Mae Meacham, 50, is among those who have decided to take up residence at the Wai'anae shelter. Yesterday, Meacham was sorting through her belongings and getting ready to take down a tent with the help of some friends.

"I'm just going to take what I need," Meacham said, adding that she began packing up on Friday. "Most of this is going in the dump."

Meacham said she's looking forward to staying in the shelter. "I know I'm going to be in one house, the next move," she said.

The number of individuals staying at the shelter was up to 123 yesterday afternoon, said Darryl Vincent, Hawai'i site coordinator for U.S. Vets Hawaii, the lead organization overseeing the shelter. Twenty to 30 people have moved in since last week, when service providers went tent to tent at the park, urging people to move there.

"We're doing as much intake as possible," Vincent said. "We're doing five to six households a day. We'll do as many as they send us. We're ready."

But not everyone was ready to leave. Marlene Anduha, 52, said she will be in the beach park this morning and expects to get arrested. "This is the land that was supposed to be for the Hawaiians," she said. "We're foreigners in our own land. If I'm obstructing justice, they can take me too."

Anduha said she does not expect to make a fuss as she's being arrested, recognizing that police have a job to do. She said she's been to jail and is not afraid of going back. "I'm going to have three meals, a place to sleep and a hot shower. It costs (the government) more to house me than to give me a check here." She gets about $170 a month in food stamps, she said.

"Homelessness is not going ever, ever to end unless they do it right," Anduha said, adding that she believes the government should institute rent caps and put up more affordable housing that more people can get into.

Debra Nacapoy, 55, also was packing up her belongings, although she was not sure where she will sleep tonight.

While her boyfriend decided to move into the Wai'anae shelter, Nacapoy said, she's not ready for a rigid lifestyle that requires tenants to abide by a number of rules, including bed checks.

Nacapoy said she works daily as a house cleaner for East Honolulu families. "I don't make quite enough right now to pay rent, so I just stay on the beach," she said. "I don't want to go to a shelter."

While there's a perception that some of those on the beach may be refusing to go to the shelter because of requirements that tenants stay free of drugs and alcohol, that's not the case with everyone, said several people who remained at Ma'ili yesterday.

One man said he didn't want to leave behind his dogs, while a woman said the shelter wouldn't give her enough room to take in all her belongings.

Kananikaaiawahia Bulowan, executive director of Wai'anae Community Outreach, said there's a misconception by many of the families on the beach that they will be allowed to move to other beaches permanently and that Ma'ili is just the first.

"The harsh reality is all the parks are going to be closed," she said, adding that options like the Wai'anae shelter or a facility at Kalaeloa may no longer be available to many families who wait too long.