DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM These homeless people were among the six that police told yesterday to leave Pokai Bay Beach Park, where they had been sleeping overnight. Police say they check the park several times a month to evict homeless people.

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Oneula park closed
as cleanup continues

A part of Oneula Beach Park remained closed to the public yesterday as city workers bulldozed kiawe trees and bushes that hid illegal homeless campsites.

City workers and 35 inmates from the Oahu Community Correctional Center tore down sites at the Ewa park yesterday after police evicted the homeless a day earlier.

Police also visited Pokai Bay and Keaau Beach Park on the Leeward Coast yesterday.

"We do it regularly, several times a month, in fact," said Lt. Bert Angut, of the Waianae Police Station.

Police told six people to leave Pokai Bay and about six to eight people at Keaau Beach Park. Police said everyone complied.

Some of the homeless who had lived at Oneula Beach Park attempted to return to pick up some of their belongings, police said.

But the cleanup had begun.

Three people were arrested at the park Wednesday during the sweep. Six citations relating to the sweep were also issued, said police officer Fumi Muraoka, of the Weed and Seed Detail for District 8 (Waianae, Kapolei, Ewa).

Three police officers were at the park yesterday to ensure that the homeless did not return and to inform the public that part of the park was closed.

An estimated 100 homeless people lived at the park. Police had said they would make periodic checks.

Francis Gora, construction equipment operations supervisor for the city Parks and Recreation Department, said workers were clearing some of the kiawe trees to allow refuse trucks entry to the campsites and areas where large amounts of trash were found.

The trash was left not only by the homeless, but by others, he said. Contractors dump roofing materials, and tree trimmers throw away tree trunks there, Gora said.

"This has been like a dumpsite," said Gora, who has become familiar with the area in his 25 years with the Parks Department.

He noted that the accumulation of trash is the worst he has seen at the park and that workers are expected to continue clearing kiawe and removing trash for at least a week.

Items found include tires, kitchen sinks, toilets, car parts, lawnmowers and chain saws.

"A lot of these are broken. It's just a lot of junk," he said.

It costs the city thousands of dollars just to throw away the rubbish, and there are additional costs for equipment and manpower, he said.

He added that there were at least a dozen campsites among the overgrown kiawe.

"The homeless problem wasn't that bad before," Gora said. "This is the worst that I've seen it."