In 2009, the Council shelved a bill that would have outlawed sitting,
sleeping or lying down on a public sidewalk. Earlier this year, the city banned tents ...
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Councilwoman Ann Kobayashi, who introduced the bill, said the police can begin enforcing
the bill by just issuing warnings. Meanwhile, University of Hawaii students can help with
the surveying, she said.
The sidewalk proposal is the latest in a series of moves that clear the homeless from public
areas.
Daniel Gluck, senior staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, submitted written
testimony opposing the bill. Not only does the bill violate First Amendment rights
guaranteeing individual liberties, he said, but the measure is punitive toward the homeless.
Kobayashi said the bill is designed to ensure the rights of pedestrians to use sidewalks,
not to single out the homeless.
http://www.eastwestcenter.org/, www.apec.org
