State Representative Has Controversial Approach Towards Homeless People's Shopping Carts

Tom Brower, the State Representative for the Waikiki and Ala Moana district has decided to personally do something to reduce the number of stolen or abandoned shopping carts that homeless people use in his district.  If Brower finds an unattended cart, he first checks to see if there is a store logo on it.  If there is one, he returns the cart to its rightful owner, the store.  If not, Brower pounds the shopping cart with a sledgehammer and drops it off at a recycling center or leaves it for the city's bulk pick up service to dispose of it.  Brower stated, "Reactions have been about 70 percent in favor and about 30 percent against. The people that say it's not OK are not the ones that live in this neighborhood. I don't have anything against the homeless, but I'm working on cleaning up the neighborhood and one of the biggest eyesores are the stolen and abandoned shopping carts. I feel comfortable with the legality. The only thing that can stop me is the police, and the indication that I got from them at the Waikiki Neighborhood Board meeting is that they wouldn't have a reason to stop me. Some people are criticizing me, but they are kind of disregarding that these carts were stolen in the first place. They are getting mad at me for stealing them back."

However, not everyone agrees with Brower's tactics.  Connie Mitchell, the director for the Institute for Human Services, cautioned, "What would your response be if you saw someone coming at you with a sledgehammer? If people don't feel that they are being respected, it's only a matter of time before they react." Marya Grambs, the executive director of Mental Health America of Hawaii, added, "He's terrorizing people, and he's modeling that it's OK to commit violence. I cried when I read about what he's doing. We need to have compassion. Every person that is on the street is there because something bad already happened to them."

Source: Honolulu Star Advertiser, 11-19-2013, www.staradvertiser.com
Posted by Jeff Uyemura-Reyes, Broker-in-Charge, REALTOR®
Global Executive Realty, LLC
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