KAILUA-KONA — Word of a county plan to permanently relocate homeless from the Old Airport Park has made its way down the beach and into the bush, falling on the ears of many who would be made unwilling wayfarers by the proposal’s execution.
Homeless reaction to the news Wednesday varied from anger and defiance to dismay and doubt.
Steven, who often stays overnight in the park for days at a time, declined to provide his last name for fear of reprisal. His perception is that police and county officials value some segments of society and their desires more than the basic needs of others.
“Who are these ‘stakeholders’ they talk about?” he posed. “Just rich people who want to walk their dogs on the beach? They’re just people, too. To me, children of Hawaii is anyone who lives here.”
In a meeting Tuesday, police and outreach workers agreed that there is a significant segment of homeless who reside or frequent the park that simply aren’t interested in vacating the area, even with the promise of housing and services elsewhere.
It was a revelation Hawaii County Assistant Housing Administrator Lance Niimi — the man in charge of finding a temporary landing site for the homeless who will ultimately be ushered out of the park — said has surprised him as he’s adapted to his new role.
“I was part of a survey with the homeless earlier, and a lot of them said they’re just going to move on and not going to move in to any shelter we provide,” Niimi explained. “They like the lifestyle they’re in.”
Steven didn’t exactly echo Niimi’s words on Wednesday, saying that from his perspective many homeless would voluntarily vacate the park on a permanent basis if a site with basic water and electrical services were provided somewhere in the vicinity of downtown Kona.
But location and amenities, he said, are hard to come by.
When asked what he will do when he’s mandated to leave, Steven said, “I’ll walk that way until they disappear, then I’ll come back.”
He blamed the county for some of the aesthetic issues in the park as well as the litter piling up there, saying they’ve removed all the trash cans. That, in turn, has contributed to the negative optics accompanying the situation and has driven public demand that the homeless be forcibly removed.
Steven added he’s kept himself apprised of the pertinent county officials’ thoughts and strategies on the situation at the park by reading the paper. The county’s plan to trim the brush as a means to create fewer hidden spaces will prove ineffective, he explained.
The day after the cleanup ends and the park reopens, “people will be parked on the sidewalk waiting to come back in,” and “will find places to hide,” Steven said.
Sgt. Roylen Valera, of the Kona Community Policing Division, lamented Tuesday the lack of teeth current laws offer as detractors to recidivism in the park — particularly in regards to occupancy after hours.
Steven confirmed the fruitless nature of the citations, many of which he said get thrown out in court, something Valera mentioned at Tuesday’s meeting. Those tickets that stick tend to invite penalties limited to minor community service hours. Steven’s most recent ticket saddled him with only five hours of said service.
Derek, a homeless man who by his own admission is addicted to meth, said far more serious crimes occur in the park. He said he stopped residing there after he was robbed several times, adding he’s had three separate phones stolen from him.
But there’s also a lot of kindness and friendship to be found there among the similarly afflicted, he explained, which is a force that draws him and others back on a more or less daily basis.
Derek believes a better solution to the issue than trying to herd homeless away from the park’s convenient location is to alleviate the high numbers of homeless in the park, and the subsequent problems those numbers bring, by introducing better mental health outreach to the area.
At Tuesday’s meeting, police and outreach workers estimated that about 75 percent of homeless often found frequenting the park suffer from a mental illness of some type.
Derek said he’s saving money for a psychological examination he believes will render him the medication he needs and allow him to begin straightening out his life. He said he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder due to several years he spent in prison.
“There’s a finite number of people causing this issue to explode,” he said. “And it’s all about mental health.”
Manny, a resident of the park who was openly perturbed Wednesday about the way he and his fellow homeless have been characterized by county officials and the media alike, said all he’s asking for is a little respect.
“There’s no place for people, and pushing people around, you’re going to start something that nobody wants,” he said. “The things they say about us. I’m in no gang. I’m just (Manny).”
Niimi and Hawaii County Department of Parks and Recreation Charmaine Kamaka indicated Tuesday the park cleanup is likely to happen sometime in August, although no official date has been set.