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WAILUKU >> Maui Mayor James "Kimo" Apana plans to start issuing camping permits at Papalaua Wayside Park starting March 20 to move out the homeless living there. Maui moves to evict
homeless living on beachBy Gary T. Kubota
gkubota@starbulletin.comBut some homeless people living in the West Maui park say they don't know where they'll move and that rents are too high for them to find a home.
"I've been looking for a place to live out here, but it's expensive for me and my wife," said Haka, a former Hana resident.
Haka, who declined to give his real name, said he's been working as a roofer and his wife a flower picker, but they don't have enough for the first month rent and deposit, totaling about $1,600.
He said Apana should talk with people living at the beach to find out their situation. Haka said that if the people are forced to move, they'll probably be homeless someplace else.
Some 120 to 160 people are camping on the beach, including 12 children, and many of them work during the day, according to Ka Hale A Ke Ola Homeless Resource Center.
Center official Mike Davis said his organization, which provides a homeless shelter in Wailuku, has a list of people who have been waiting for assistance for three to five weeks.
Davis said conditions for the homeless should improve once a shelter is built in West Maui in about a year and a half.
Davis said the campers include people from out of state, those who prefer to live on the beach, and residents "who really do need help," such as a family with three children and another with six children.
During a meeting yesterday, Apana said he wanted to start the camping permit system at the park before Easter.
Many residents who use the half-mile stretch of beach for surfing and camping on weekends say the homeless have lived there so long they have marked large sections of beach as their living space.
"The people are being run off the beach because they think they own the place," said David Garner, a surfer and weekend camper.
Apana said he's received numerous telephone calls from residents complaining about the "mess out there."
"We need to clean it up," he said. "The goal is to sanitize areas to make if safe for families."
Apana said starting yesterday county parks officials are cleaning the beach one section at a time and moving campers off areas designated for cleanup. The work includes cutting and removing dead trees and spraying off-the-shelf pesticide to kill any fleas on the sand.
The county plans to issue permits for camping at Papalaua at the Parks Department offices in west and central Maui. The fee is $3 a night for adults and 50 cents per child, with the maximum length of the permit for three days.
The administration is considering opening the offices in west Maui for a half day on Saturday and Sunday to process permits or to have an enforcement officer issue permits to campers at the park.
Under county park rules, there is no waiting period required between camping permits, so a person may obtain three-day permits back to back and pay about $90 a month and continue to live on the beach.
Apana said he's hoping people don't abuse the permit system and force creation of more rules.
He said if the system is abused, the county might have to adopt a rule requiring individuals to wait a number of days before they may be issued another camping permit.
Apana said he doesn't plan to provide paved parking spaces and wants to leave the park in its wilderness state. But his administration plans to increase the number of portable toilets, including one for the handicapped, and also barbecue grills and picnic tables.
County law forbids open fire burning and bonfires would be forbidden under park rules.
But parks officials indicated they would be willing to discuss installing open pits for bonfires, although their first priority is public safety.