Letters — Your voice — for December 9
Time to consider a ‘Sit Lie Ban’
No matter where you live on Hawaii Island, you have come in contact with street people in the downtown areas whether you’re walking the sidewalks of Hilo, Honokaa, Hawi or historic Kailua Village in Kona.
Many streets, corners and alcoves have been overrun with homeless during the day and the night. Issues abound, whether disturbing the peace, drinking in public areas, discarding trash, doing illegal activities or causing sanitary problems.
Our sidewalks are thoroughfares that allow kamaaina and visitors access to shops, restaurants, museums and schools. The current situation in many our downtown areas reflect poorly on our community as a whole and hinders locals from shopping, enjoying restaurants and discourages visitors including cruise ship passengers from coming.
Perhaps it’s time for a Sit Lie Ban county ordinance to make the sidewalks clear again and, most importantly, clean and safe.
The Waikiki Business Improvement District has had a Sit Lie Ban in place with much success since approximately 2020. Many municipalities were previously reluctant to institute these bans fearing lawsuits and the Supreme Court striking the legislation down.
Earlier this year, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that municipalities could enforce sit-lie and camping ordinances against homeless people even if there were not sufficient shelter beds available.
The Honolulu ordinance states that, “No person shall sit or lie on a public sidewalk, or on a tarp, towel, sheet, blanket, sleeping bag, bedding, planter, chair, bench, or any other object or material places upon a public sidewalk in the Waikiki special district.”
The Kailua Village Business Improvement District would welcome such an ordinance. The district and historic Kailua Village would be a perfect pilot project for Hawaii Island.
While being homeless is not a crime, the sidewalks are for everyone and not the domain of a few living on the streets.
It’s time to do something.
Ross Wilson Jr.
Executive director,
Kailua Village Business Improvement District
Trump’s threats of US expansion
History repeats itself, lest we forget.
Hitler annexed Austria and destroyed Czechoslovakia in 1938-1939. Hitler went on to occupy other countries, claiming them as belonging to the Third Reich.
Echoes of these tragedies are what we hear when Donald Trump threatens to buy Greenland, take back the Panama Canal, make Canada a state and rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America.
How can we allow Trump to reenact Hitler’s expansionism?
Lois Margaret Drake
Volcano
