Honolulu Homeless Frustrated as Belongings Taken

Michael Levine/Civil Beat

UPDATED 6:15 p.m.

One by one, Honolulu's homeless took down their tents Tuesday.

Some packed their worldly possessions into the beds of pickup trucks, planning to move them elsewhere. Others watched as about 15 city workers packed the belongings into green recycling bins, to be stored in Halawa. Some gave permission to have their items head straight to the landfill. And some just abandoned things on the sidewalk, feeling like they had no options left.

"Why don't they do something to try to help us instead of trying to hurt us?" Jared Castro told Civil Beat. "All they're doing is pushing us back. They tell us to move forward and they push us back.

"We can't go in the streets, we can't go on the sidewalks, we can't go in the parks, we can't go on the beaches, we can't go in the mountains. Where are we going?"

Castro wasn't alone with his feelings of frustration and despair as the city government enforced what it's termed the "stored property ordinance." Passed last month by the Honolulu City Council and signed by Mayor Peter Carlisle, the law allows the city to impound any personal items kept on city sidewalks or in city parks after 24 hours.

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