So where are the regular people supposed to go to the beach?

The rich have their beachfront homes in Lanikai and Portlock with their ominous gates and camouflaged access lanes.

The homeless have laid claim to the beach parks.

The tourists have Waikiki.

Raw sewage in the ocean has become a given after every heavy rain.

Where can the average working mom or dad take their keiki to dig in the sand or play in the waves without fear of filth or intimidation? When did everyone become entitled to Hawai'i's beaches except the middle class?

There has been much outward outrage and hand-wringing over the overnight evictions of homeless people from Ala Moana Beach Park.

But where are the voices of reason, the ones who say, gee, it's terrible how some people have to live, but the park is for everyone to enjoy, not for a few people to monopolize for months, even years at a time?

Have we become so squeamish and honesty-averse that no one is willing to say, hey, this is a public park, not a private campground, and you guys are turning it into a dirty, scary place where people don't want to take their kids?

When it was announced the park would be closed overnight for "maintenance," Mayor Mufi Hannemann took a page out of the Jeremy Harris "no bad news from me!" playbook and made his Ben Lee/Malcolm Tom-brand bureaucrat front the news conference. The news release doesn't mention the large homeless encampment there.

Perhaps it's not that the evictions are being done, but rather how they're being done, without warning or plans for alternative housing, that is causing outcry. The whole thing has the feel of a strike-team stealth maneuver.

To be sure, there are many pitiful souls living under the trees in Ala Moana Beach Park, people who lost their footing in the precarious world of gainful employment and self-reliance. Those of us with houses and jobs, albeit overpriced and underpaid, probably can't imagine what it's like to live under a tarp.

But not every homeless person has the same story of cruel fate and few options. Some may have a history of bad choices. Some make a deliberate choice to live off the radar and on the beach. Some started out far away and found that there are a lot worse places to be homeless than Honolulu.

Our community holds very deep, very conflicted, beliefs about personal responsibility and manifest destiny. We expect people to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps; we love stories of people who triumphed over hardship and made a good life for themselves; we tell kids they can do anything they want if they just work hard enough.

But we pass out exemptions to a large group of people and we feel incredibly guilty saying, "Uh, I live in a house, but I'd like to use that nice beach, too."

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