Kokua Line
By June Watanabe
Thursday, November 5, 1998
Kokua Line
Can you tell me how much OHA trustees and Board of Education members get paid? OHA trustees paid
$32,000, plus expensesTrustees for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs are paid $32,000 a year. The chair is paid $37,000 a year. They are also paid for any transportation fares between islands or abroad and for expenses incurred while at board meetings or on official business.
Members of the Board of Education are not paid a salary. However, they are paid $100 per day for each day's attendance at meetings, for transportation between islands and abroad, and for personal expenses incurred on official business.
Who is responsible for cleaning Fort Street Mall? There is an individual who cleans it at 5:45 a.m. using the blower. This occurs again at 9 a.m. They should have consideration for people living nearby. Also, they use the blowers to blow garbage and leaves down the storm drain.
The city Department of Facility Maintenance's Division of Road Maintenance is responsible.
The first shift that cleans Fort Street Mall starts at 6 a.m., said division assistant chief Albert Miyashiro. Workers clean the mall with a blower from Pauahi Street down to Queen Street. They begin early because there are fewer people around that time of day.
The crew returns after 7:30 a.m. to complete cleaning the mall between Beretania and Pauahi streets. That's to accommodate the church at the top of Beretania, which holds Mass at 6 a.m., Miyashiro said.
At 9 a.m., another shift comes on to clean the roads and sidewalks in the downtown and Chinatown area, he said.
Blowing debris down the storm drains is not allowed. Miyashiro said he doesn't believe that's happening because the city systematically has been putting screens across the storm drains in the downtown/Chinatown area to prevent people from throwing in trash. He said workers may just be blowing the debris to the side of the road for pickup.
Workers clean Fort Street Mall during the day Monday-Saturday and wash it down at night seven days a week, Miyashiro said. He said the official work start time is 6 a.m., but there's nothing to prevent a worker from starting earlier.
He said his office hasn't had any complaints about noise. If you would like to voice your complaint, call 523-4472.
Signs on the Ala Wai say no biking, no rollerblading, etc. But why put up all those signs when police don't do anything? They ticket cars parked illegally but they don't ever stop the bikers and rollerbladers. What's more at stake, human lives and people getting run over by skaters, or ticketing a car? One day, someone is going to get really hurt. What is HPD going to do then?
Police do issue citations when they spot violators, said Honolulu Police Department spokeswoman Jean Motoyama.
She noted that Waikiki is a special district in which no bike riding is allowed on any sidewalk. Motoyama also said that the city is working on a master plan for bike lanes in Waikiki.
Call 527-5044 to get more information on that plan.
Mahalo
To everyone who helped retrieve our fishing poles on Saturday, Oct. 3. My father and I were coming back from fishing that morning when, just past Honokai Hale on Farrington Highway, our poles fell out of the truck. We didn't notice it until a woman and her friend in a sports utility vehicle pulled next to us and let us know. When we went back, we discovered some people had pulled the poles off the road and held them for us. -- Mike
Need help with problems? Call Kokua Line at 525-8686,
fax 525-6711, or write to P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu 96802.
Email to kokualine@starbulletin.com
