http://www.kitv.com/r/28539213/detail.html
HONOLULU -- A city bus stop has been temporarily moved so bus drivers and riders can get away from the smell of a homeless woman who's living at a busy Honolulu bus shelter. That’s the first time the city has relocated a bus stop because of a homeless person, according to City Transportation Director Wayne Yoshioka.
The concrete bus shelter on Kapiolani Boulevard, right across from the Nordstrom store at Ala Moana, has been home to an elderly homeless woman for at least the last year.
“We were getting quite a few complaints from bus riders about her smell,” Yoshioka said. “We are trying to be as sensitive as possible,” he added, noting that it’s not illegal for the homeless to stay at bus shelters.
Bus drivers told KITV 4 News that the woman is sometimes so smelly that her odor wafts in buses when they open their doors outside the bus shelter and the smell lingers for a while inside the bus.
So the city temporarily moved the bus stop 60 feet down the street to the area in front of the Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant on the corner of Kapiolani Boulevard and Keeaumoku Street.
“It’s difficult to co-exist with someone like that,” Yoshioka said.
When a reporter tried to interview the homeless woman, she declined, saying, “No. Excuse me, I don't want no question ... No comments."
Bus riders said the woman she usually keeps to herself and she sometimes talks to herself with no one else nearby.
"She's not all there. Gotta be compassionate, you gotta be nice. Just, if you see her, eh, leave her alone," said Eleazara Jessmon, who was waiting to take a bus home to Aiea.
HONOLULU -- A city bus stop has been temporarily moved so bus drivers and riders can get away from the smell of a homeless woman who's living at a busy Honolulu bus shelter. That’s the first time the city has relocated a bus stop because of a homeless person, according to City Transportation Director Wayne Yoshioka.
The concrete bus shelter on Kapiolani Boulevard, right across from the Nordstrom store at Ala Moana, has been home to an elderly homeless woman for at least the last year.
“We were getting quite a few complaints from bus riders about her smell,” Yoshioka said. “We are trying to be as sensitive as possible,” he added, noting that it’s not illegal for the homeless to stay at bus shelters.
Bus drivers told KITV 4 News that the woman is sometimes so smelly that her odor wafts in buses when they open their doors outside the bus shelter and the smell lingers for a while inside the bus.
So the city temporarily moved the bus stop 60 feet down the street to the area in front of the Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant on the corner of Kapiolani Boulevard and Keeaumoku Street.
“It’s difficult to co-exist with someone like that,” Yoshioka said.
When a reporter tried to interview the homeless woman, she declined, saying, “No. Excuse me, I don't want no question ... No comments."
Bus riders said the woman she usually keeps to herself and she sometimes talks to herself with no one else nearby.
"She's not all there. Gotta be compassionate, you gotta be nice. Just, if you see her, eh, leave her alone," said Eleazara Jessmon, who was waiting to take a bus home to Aiea.
