Hawaiian lawmaker tackles homelessness with a sledgehammer approach

Jen Hayden

Daily Kos Staff

Tuesday November 19, 2013 · 8:00 AM PST

2013/11/19 · 08:00

Hawaiian State Rep. Tom Brower has had enough of homeless people in Hawaii. How's he helping the situation? By working to get people off the streets? Not exactly. He's decided to destroy the tools they use to get by:

"I got tired of telling people I'm trying to pass laws. I want to do something practical that will really clean up the streets," he said.
In his spare time he scours streets and parks in his district, looking for shopping carts homeless use to store and move their belongings. He returns good ones to stores and destroys others with his sledgehammer.

"I find abandoned junk, specifically shopping carts, and I remove them. I also create a situation where those carts can't be pushed around the city. I think it's a good thing," he said.

And how do people react when they see his homeless rage in action?

When Hawaii News Now followed Brower through Ala Moana Brach Park, we saw him try to explain to a homeless man why he was destroying a cart "To see someone banging on stuff like that, it was very scary for me," Edward Ferreira said.

Interview with Tom Browers from Hawaii News Now available here.

Hawaiian lawmaker tackles homelessness with a sledgehammer approach

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