Moving the Problem Around

Stadium Park: it's beautiful. Too bad you can't see it.

Thirteen years ago there was a homeless encampment in Stadium Park.

Five years ago the tents had been cleared.

Today they're back, not in the park itself but along the entire length of the South King Street sidewalk.

The homeless can't set up in Waikiki--heaven forbid the tourists get a false impression of our Island paradise--and as long as they don't encamp next to homes and apartments the cops will let them stay a while. However, nearby residences will have to put up with sleepers in their carports, home burglaries, upended trash cans, and the occasional tapping into outdoor power outlets.

Eventually the tents will be forced to move so that one neighborhood doesn't bear the entire burden. By moving the problem around people may think it's being solved.