I surf a lot at Ala Moana Park and notice that many people who use the public showers there use soap. The soapy water eventually goes into the sand, which seems like pollution. Is this legal and, if not, why aren't signs posted? Biodegradable soap
won’t pollute, clog sandNo one is supposed to use soap, but it's not illegal, said Patti Nagao, spokeswoman for the city Department of Parks and Recreation.
If you must soap off, you're asked to use biodegradable soap because the problem is not so much pollution as it is clogging.
"Any soap that's biodegradable is generally OK," Nagao said. If not, soapy residue eventually will have a clogging effect in the sand, resulting in a flood area, she said.
"Pollution is not a problem because it's so close to the beach and there's no problem of it going into the aquifer."
As for signs, the thinking now is that the problem isn't bad enough to warrant public warnings, Nagao said. "But if the problem persists or worsens, then we will have to place signs."
There is a person who parks three canoe trailers on Kalakua Street in Hawaii Kai and never moves them. Two years ago, someone complained and he removed them. When I tried to come down the street at the same time as a garbage truck, it was too narrow for both of us to pass. Someone should put signs saying no parking. What can we do? Boat trailers are treated as motor vehicles: they have to be registered and the abandoned vehicle law applies to them as well, said Honolulu police Maj. Gary Dias, head of the Traffic Division.
That said, as far as police determined, the trailers you refer to were legally parked on Kalakua Street, said Officer Paul Nakajo of the East Honolulu District. The width of the trailers was not a problem, either.
Since your complaint came in, however, the owner, whom Nakajo described as cooperative and wanting to be a good neighbor, has since removed two of the trailers to Maunalua Bay. He plans shortly to park the third one there, as well.
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