Honolulu to move homeless people from tourist hubs

HONOLULU (AP) — The Honolulu City Council has approved several measures that ban sitting and lying down on sidewalks in a popular area of Hawaii and urinating and defecating in public on the island of Oahu.

The bills aimed at moving homeless people out of tourist hotspots were approved in a meeting Wednesday.

The council was under pressure from the tourism industry. Hotel representatives say visitors complain about safety and defecation.

Critics say the proposals will criminalize homelessness.

Councilman Breene Harimoto, who voted against most of the bills, says the council is helping the public view homeless people as objects to be swept away.

The city also is planning a temporary legal campsite on a remote, mostly industrial island far from resorts, parts of which were previously used as an internment camp and former dump.