HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0323.001 2022-2024 p/ Cou.n ci l
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From: Janice Glennie
Sent: Friday, June 16, 2023 1:20 PM :.
To: Council Testimony c ,c
Subject: Homelessness
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Communication 323
Report of attendance of Council members Inaba and Kagiwada at the Justice-Involved Homeless Intergovern.ment V{ ,>
Forum held via Zoom on May 23, 2023
Aloha council mmbers,
Mahalo for this opportunity to chime in on this issue and for the information that council member Inaba and
Kagiwada are providing from the forum they attended.
I was (again) heartbroken to read the recent story in our local newspapers about how the homeless were moved
(well,kicked out) of the tenuous spaces they've been occupying. Providing notice is only good for someone who
can book a hotel or who hasn't already exhausted all of their options.
Housing and social services for our homeless population are woefully overdue.The situation is difficult and
becoming more so. But there are communities that are handling it a lot better than ours.
I've become friends of a sort with a homeless man who "lives"at Old Airport Park.He's a good guy.At the same
time,his challenges are huge including being an ex-heroine addict,then on-agin,off-again alcoholic after becoming
addicted serving his country in Vietnam.He was a skilled carpenter and has his tools stored in a locker just in case.
He was so excited months back when he finally got one of the little shacks (let's call them boxes) provided for the
luckiest of the homeless.But a few months later,he was back at the beach laying in a circle of old beer cans,crying
and drunk when I asked him what had happened.
On his normal better days,he always kept a clean camp,picked up trash from the park,played ball with keiki
hanging out near him,fed a fellow homeless (a cat).We always had pleasant conversations—unless he'd fallen off
the wagon.Then he became lost,sad,slightly(very slightly) belligerent; but he always had hope.This last time
when he lost the shack...well,I'd never heard him speak so hopelessly.He seemed truly finished.
You have a difficult job,and the mayor does,as well but we have to stop enforcing rules that move the homeless
from one area of bushes and sidewalk to another without solutions especially when so many other rules in our
society go unenforced. (We can start with car speed limits,but keep going to blatant,dangerous and obnoxious
land use violations,etc etc...The list is endless.)
So,please.Let's set up some meaningful,simple housing with ON-SITE,consistent social services,particularly
psychological counseling—and not in the boonies where a person needs a car to get basic necessities.Next we can
add job training,and placement for these fellow human beings.It's been and is being done in other places.
Meanwhile,making our society safe and healthy for everyone—not just the obscenely wealthy at the gated resorts
—should be the next priority is this saga.
Mahalo and best regards,
Janice
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