The city is targeting North Shore beach parks for aggressive maintenance work aimed partly at preventing homeless people from becoming rooted there.

Mayor Mufi Hannemann said he hopes to launch the effort in about two months. The state, he said, should provide alternative housing for anyone displaced.

The area from Mokule'ia to Kahuku will be reviewed, but officials have not yet decided which parks will be temporarily closed first, he said.

Hundreds of people camp semi-permanently along the North Shore, including some who were displaced by similar city work in Ma'ili Beach Park.

The city will delay the North Shore projects if the homeless have nowhere else to go, Hannemann said.

But the state should be prepared to hear complaints from residents upset about any such delays, he said.

Hannemann declined to say whether a shelter or other facilities for homeless people should be opened on the North Shore.

The 300-bed shelter the state opened last month in Wai'anae should not be expected to house people from all over the island, however, the mayor said.

Hannemann and Gov. Linda Lingle have clashed repeatedly over Hannemann's contention that the state should take the lead on solving homelessness. And yesterday's announcement seemed to start a new chapter.

"We don't know of any other mayor in the nation who has taken this position that homelessness is not the responsibility of a city," Lingle spokesman Russell Pang said.

The state has also opened shelters or transitional facilities in Kaka'ako, Kalaeloa and Waipahu.

Hannemann said Thomas Square in Honolulu also will get maintenance attention soon and may be closed permanently at night. Police have paid close attention to the square after two men were stabbed there this month.

The city yesterday reopened Ala Moana Park after two days of trimming trees, patching potholes, steam-cleaning restrooms and other work.

"The park looks beautiful, and we want to keep the shine on the crown jewel of our parks," Hannemann said.

Dozens of homeless people lived in the park until the city closed it for several days of intensive maintenance last year, then declared it off-limits after 10 p.m.

The city recently launched a similar effort in Ma'ili Beach Park after it had become overrun with homeless campers.

Hannemann and parks director Lester Chang said the maintenance efforts are not aimed solely at ousting homeless people, but that parks must be kept safe and clean.

"A park should be open and welcoming to everybody," Chang said. "That's why we don't have bars and gates around them."

People who live in parks sometimes become territorial and prevent others from enjoying public space, he said.

North Shore homeless advocate Ron Valenciana said many homeless people he feeds have told him they were warned by police that they would soon have to leave.

"I'm always disappointed in the mayor for doing this without pointing to a solution or an alternative," said Valenciana, the pastor for the Once A Month Church, which provides social services and feeds the homeless after a church service on the last Sunday of the month at Hale'iwa Beach Park.

"It just keeps the homeless people on the run," he said.

The mayor's announcement will make service providers more determined to find a permanent solution to homelessness, Valenciana said.

He said he's looking for land to provide temporary shelter that his church can manage.

Sadrian "Brother Sage" Chee is also looking for land to erect yurts — small tent-like structures — for a program for newly homeless people, to be operated by his church, Ohana, Family of the Living God.

Chee said he advocates for homeless people and the community and understands that residents want their parks available. But police sweeps that move people off the beaches only make transients of the homeless, he said. They will move away for a while, then move back when they feel safe, he said. Instead of sweeps, Chee said, each community has to deal with the problem and not force any one to carry the entire load.

Reach Johnny Brannon at jbrannon@honoluluadvertiser.com and Eloise Aguiar at eaguiar@honoluluadvertiser.com.