Over the long weekend, Kapi'olani Park and the open spaces on either side of the Waikiki Aquarium were crowded with tents. You couldn't tell the weekend campers from the homeless campers.

Well, you kind of could.

The weekend revelers were out with hibachis and coolers and tents that looked just out of the box. The homeless camps looked weather-worn, hunkered down and a lot less celebratory.

People said it was going to happen. The experts said it was going to happen. Homeless people said it was going to happen. Surprise, it has happened. Driven from other beach parks and public areas around the island, the homeless have converged on O'ahu's tourism mecca, Waikiki and, specifically, the part of Waikiki that is hardest to police: vast Kapi'olani Park, where there are no set hours and no gate to lock at night.

It shouldn't be so shocking to see a homeless village growing in and around Kapi'olani Park. There are homeless people all through Waikiki, and a large ragtag encampment of tarps and shopping carts and bed rolls has been at the other end of Waikiki for years, festering in the hot sun along the Ala Wai down to Ala Moana Beach Park. But something about Kapi'olani Park, its graceful lawns and gentle breezes, makes the thought of ceding that space to homeless camps seem like a last straw.

Kapi'olani Park has survived as the oasis at the end of overbuilt Hotel Row. It is the breathing space among the concrete parking garages and looming guest towers. It is the gathering place used by ethnic groups and civic clubs for their various festivals, for sports from tai chi to ultimate Frisbee, for family picnics with little babies learning to crawl across patchwork quilts spread out under the shower trees.

When a homeless colony takes over a public park, it isn't public anymore. It is theirs, with tents staking out their turf and a perimeter of no man's land around their stuff.

So now what? Close the park and have them move to the lawn outside the police station again? Open more homeless shelters that they don't want? Shake down Gensiro Kawamoto for space in his empty Kahala mansions?

Homelessness is a problem for more than the homeless. It is a problem for the community.

Compassion is called for here, but so is order. The option should not be, "Well, if you don't want to live in a shelter, then you can go back to the beach or the park." Shelters have been built. When are the homeless going to move into them?

When they don't have the option of living in parks.

Lee Cataluna's column runs Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at 535-8172 or lcataluna@honoluluadvertiser.com.