Honolulu Lite
Prettying up a city makes it
really ugly for the homelessIt is ironic that San Francisco, the city with a heart, could beat out Honolulu as the meanest city in America for the way it treats its homeless.
Just about everyone in Hawaii -- well, a lot of people, at least -- found it surprising earlier this year when the National Coalition for the Homeless named Honolulu as one of the meanest cities in the country.
Honolulu? Ground Zero of Aloha? The Island of A Thousand Sweethearts? The City of Huggable Lugs? Mean? Please.
But there we were. Listed among human hell-holes like Atlanta, New York, Baltimore and Chicago. In fact, it turns out just about every large city in the country is mean when it comes to the homeless, according to the self-appointed monitor of all people without homes. That seems a tad unfair to large cities. The homeless don't like small towns. You may recall that Mayberry had only one homeless person, Otis, who also was the town's designated drunk. But even he wasn't really homeless since Sheriff Taylor let him have his own jail cell whenever he wanted it.
Anyway, Honolulu was crowned one of the meanest cities because, the coalition charged, the mayor wanted to move the homeless out of the city and business owners showed a "lack of aloha" for homeless. This overlooked the fact that Honolulu homeless enjoy many perks that the homeless in say, Atlanta, don't, like free year-round sunshine, pristine beaches and no snow to speak of.
The coalition was more bothered that Mayor Jeremy Harris had the temerity to take Aala Park from drug dealers and the mentally ill, and return it to children, old people and taxpayers.
But Honolulu looks like Santa Claus now compared to mean old San Francisco. Voters there just passed Proposition N, slashing welfare payments to its 3,000 homeless from $395 a month to $59. Ouch. You might expect that kind of wickedness from malevolent metropolises like Cedar Rapids, Iowa, or St. Paul, Minn. But San Francisco, the city of brotherly, sisterly, uncle-y, next-door-neighborly love? Who knew?
What happened is that San Francisco had the most generous homeless programs in the country, leading, naturally, to the homeless flocking to San Francisco. Business owners got tired of their doorsteps and alleyways becoming urinals, drug dens and flop spots for the homeless. By cutting the homeless welfare payments, voters hope to make San Francisco less attractive to homeless or at least assure they don't have enough taxpayer money to stay blasted on drugs and booze. Those big meanies.
Honolulu should keep a eye on the City by the Bay. For one, Honolulu may be the second comfy choice for homeless who leave their heart in San Francisco but move their buns to Hawaii. And second, because if this kind of meanness works in SF, we might have to try it here.
Charles Memminger, winner of National Society of Newspaper Columnists awards, appears Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. E-mail cmemminger@starbulletin.com