[ OUR OPINION ]

No drastic action
needed against vendors

THE ISSUE A city councilman has proposed that sidewalk vendors be banned from Chinatown and that merchants pay for having outside displays.

PEOPLE selling fresh fruits, vegetables and an assortment of other goods have lent charm to the sidewalks of Chinatown for decades, but there can be too much of a good thing. The sidewalks have become too crowded with vendors, and the City Council should take measures that return a semblance of order to the area without entirely banning the sidewalk activity.

The city already bans the sale of goods in a number of areas, such as school zones, the Pali and Makapuu lookouts, Waimea Bay, Fort Street and Union Street malls and Waikiki in its entirety. Chinatown probably should be treated differently, perhaps with areas partitioned to accommodate licensed vendors.

"It gets so crowded down there with boxes and piles of fruit and just all kinds of different stuff, potential customers to the stores can't get to the stores because they can't get through the maze of stuff that's in the way," says downtown resident Karl Rhoads.

"It's really a hodgepodge of activity down there," Chinatown police Maj. Michael Tucker told the City Council recently. "We don't want to prohibit everything. We want to maintain that flavor of Chinatown, but I think something more orderly would help."

The city has learned that it cannot ban sidewalk activity protected by the First Amendment, but it can prohibit or limit commercial activity. The U.S. Supreme Court rejected a 1996 appeal by two nonprofit groups against a ruling upholding Honolulu's prohibition of T-shirts from Waikiki sidewalk stands that had created a blight and safety hazard on Kalakaua Avenue.

Waikiki store owners complained that they were being underpriced by vendors who didn't have to pay rent and taxes. The same complaints now are being heard in Chinatown. Some merchants have retaliated by installing display stands on the sidewalk outside their stores in an apparent attempt to push aside the vendors, but that has simply aggravated the problem by making the sidewalks more crowded.

Councilman Rod Tam has proposed that store owners pay fees for having outdoor display stands and that street vendors be banned from the sidewalk. Allowing merchants to display their merchandise on limited stands without charge would be more acceptable. A Harris administration bill would allow 18 inches of display at store fronts and 48 inches of space on Kakaulike Mall, at no charge.

The city should be able to devise a plan that would allow sidewalk vendors to market their products without being a nuisance. If that means partitioning areas for sidewalk vendors and charging fees for usage, the vendors would have no basis for complaint.