Of course many factors contributed to the dramatic increase of homeless campers in Waikiki: the economy, the housing crunch, mental illness and addiction, cuts to human services. ...

But one of the biggest factors has been the appearance the city was allowing it to happen; the police walking on by the clusters of tents, people sacked out on picnic benches and guys relieving themselves in the bushes. Lack of enforcement is tacit approval.

The City Council fumbled around to craft a workable law that could differentiate illegal camping from legal napping in the sunshine. Thankfully, Mayor Mufi Hannemann didn't wait that out and found a way to work within existing laws.

By closing the park for repair and maintenance, the city has a clear reason for clearing everybody out.

Discussions on how to solve the problem of homelessness in Hawai'i get tangled up in debates about compassion.

Compassion is not a simple thing in the real world. It is much more than teaching a kid to share a toy or split a cookie. Addicts and criminals see compassion as a weakness to be exploited. Compassion leads to enabling, a term that means letting somebody get away with all kinds of bad behavior while you foot the bill and clean up their messes. Enabling isn't healthy for the enabler nor the enabled. Help those who help themselves. Teach a man to fish. Right?

Points to Hannemann for having the answer to the big question already in his pocket. Aren't the big homeless shelters in Iwilei already filled to bursting? Oh no, Hannemann assured at the Waikiki press conference. They got lots of room. We called and checked.

What are the chances people living in Kapi'olani Park and along the lawn near the Waikiki Aquarium will load up the shopping carts and rumble over to those clean beds at the IHS shelters?

Put it this way, residents of Chinatown are already bracing for impact.

"The mayor's new measures on Kapi'olani Park will make the situation in Chinatown worsen," begins an e-mail circulated in Chinatown. "As it is now, people cannot take it anymore."

The people on the Leeward Coast cannot take it anymore. The folks who want to enjoy the beach at Ala Moana cannot take it anymore. The businesses, residents and recreational users of Kapi'olani Park cannot take it anymore.

Moving the problem around doesn't solve it, but letting people get comfy in high-use public parks doesn't help them get back on their feet, either.

Lee Cataluna's column runs Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at 535-8172 or lcataluna@honoluluadvertiser.com.