Bus-stop sleeping ban offers no solution
This is the problem: Bus riders feel crowded out of bus stops because of people who are bunking down there.
But this is not the solution: Passing an ordinance to ban sleeping at bus stops.
City Councilman Rod Tam has proposed such a ban in a bill that police and council members say is ineffective as written. They are right.
Residents and bus riders in crowded urban communities such as Waikiki and Downtown are understandably frustrated to find the city's homelessness problem overtaking bus stops, particularly at a time when ridership is climbing and the stops are even more congested than usual.
Honolulu, like many cities, has avoided loitering laws because of constitutional concerns: The U.S. Supreme Court in 1999 struck down such an ordinance in Chicago. That one targeted gang members, but could have precluded other gatherings as well.
Unless people are committing a crime, Honolulu police are powerless to eject people from bus stops, which are public places.
Tam is attempting to empower them, but unfortunately his proposal would be hard to enforce.
It would prohibit the following behavior at a bus stop:
There are "out" clauses in the measure that would exempt people who are physically or mentally incapacitated through a medical emergency or other disability.
That exemption would leave it to police officers to gauge who is really sick and who isn't — something police are neither inclined nor equipped to do.
Police also say that, while they support the intent of keeping bus stops for bus riders, officers don't want to be put in the position of targeting O'ahu's homeless population.
And who can blame them? The growing number of people on the streets is a crisis that requires social services, not an enforcement crackdown. Also, few of the homeless could afford the $50 fine proposed.
Fortunately, the council is now rethinking the measure, with the help of police and others who are researching approaches taken in other cities. For example, bus-stop benches are being redesigned with seat partitions that discourage reclining.
That's one step, but what's lacking is sufficient housing and treatment options for people whose plight reminds all of us about O'ahu's most shameful shortcoming.
