Kokua Line

By June Watanabe

Wednesday, October 29, 1997

Speed bumps and signs
changed after complaints

Since city workers installed six speed humps on Kakahiaka Street in Kailua on Oct. 8, traffic noises have increased 10-fold. On Oct. 11, "No parking any time" signs were installed along one side of Kakahiaka, eliminating 50 percent of all residential parking on the street.

There are now six humps on Kakahiaka and only two on Aumoe Street, where the speed complaint originated and a children's park is situated. We have no park on Kakahiaka and two humps would have sufficed.

There also are all these signs warning about the humps. What determines how many humps one street will have or why our street parking can be taken away? Shouldn't residents have a say?

Your complaint was shared by other Kakahiaka Street residents, which prompted Cheryl Soon, the city director of Transportation Services, to call a meeting at Lanikai Elementary School on Oct. 20.

The humps were installed at the request of other Kakahiaka residents, she said. The department's policy is to consider putting in the humps on a first-requested, first-reviewed basis.

Residents attending the meeting agreed on these alternatives, Soon said: Remove three of the six humps and cut the number of warning signs from 12 to two - at the beginning and end of the street; restore parking; don't install a center line.

Kakahiaka Street residents are being surveyed and at least 60 percent must agree before the changes can be made, Soon said.

As for why the humps were put in, the city confirmed that drivers were speeding "sufficiently often" to warrant them. Six were installed, based on the distance needed between humps to prevent cars from going more than 25 mph, Soon said. The city used standards/guidelines established by other cities with speed hump programs, she said.

The elimination of parking was part of those guidelines, she said, and meant to discourage motorists from weaving between parked cars and approaching the humps at an angle. However, residents felt that parking helped to slow people down, Soon said.

Speeding is a growing concern in many neighborhoods, with 47 other requests for the humps, she said. Kakahiaka was only the third neighborhood where the city installed them.

"Each time we learn," Soon said, adding that next time, officials will point to the objections voiced by Kakahiaka residents. It comes down to a balancing act: reducing speeding in a manner acceptable to most residents, she said.

For about a month, it sounds like audio from public radio is feeding over Channel 4. What is the problem? It's very distracting and is forcing me to turn to another station.

Unfortunately, you did not leave a contact number or indicate where you lived. Mike Rosenberg, general manager for KITV-4, said it sounds like an obvious "RF" - radio frequency - problem.

The station hasn't received any other complaints.

Call KITV at 593-4444 and engineers will help you straighten out the problem, Rosenberg said.

What government agency or legislative initiative is producing the bumper stickers saying, "Have you hugged your keiki today"? I am interested in obtaining one for my husband, who is from New York and still learning about the Hawaiian and local culture.

They're distributed by the Mental Health Association in Hawaii. Call 521-1846.

The Hawaii Kai Shopping Center underwrote the last batch of 5,000. Only a few are left, but the center has agreed to pay for another printing, said Greg Falstrup, MHA's public education director.

The sticker, about 20 years old, is the local version of ones found on the mainland saying, "Have You Hugged Your Kid Today."