Kokua Line
Kokua Line
Overwatering should
be pau on Pali by nowQuestion: About a year ago, the city undertook a beautification program on the medial strip on both sides of Pali Highway, between School Street to above Kuakini Street. Trees and sod were planted and a watering system was installed. On the Diamond Head side of the strip, watering starts at 4:30 a.m. and continues past 9:30 a.m. On the Ewa side, the type of sprinklers are different and put out a heavy volume of water until it shuts off. This section spills water onto the Ewa side of the road over the two lanes, and onto the right-turn lane to School Street. Rain or shine, the system waters grass and trees, spilling over and "washing the road" down to School Street. No one in the city or state governments appear to care how much water is wasted. The grass and trees do not appear to be in need of water, considering the amount used daily. No doubt adjustments can be made to the timing mechanism and water volume, thereby saving water and, just as importantly, avoid wasting taxpayers' money. Can you help?
Answer: The Board of Water Supply has a water waste hotline that people can call to report water waste caused by individuals, private businesses or government. The number is 527-6126.
We called the BWS, which tracked down the responsible agency. The excessive watering should have been halted by now.
According to the city Department of Parks and Recreation, the city and state agreed to beautify the Pali Highway median, with the city designing and installing the project and the state taking over landscaping and irrigation once the project was completed.
In defense of the apparent overwatering, a parks official said the newly planted grass needed to be kept wet until it was established. That's apparently happened and watering now should be done in the early morning hours before sunrise. The city is currently maintaining the strip every two weeks, which includes checking the irrigation system.
If you still see watering during daylight hours, call the park's Division of Urban Forestry at 971-7151.
Beware voice-mail hackers
About 20 cases of voice-mail fraud have been reported so far on Oahu, part of a nationwide scheme in which hackers are able to make expensive long-distance calls and charge it to an unsuspecting third-party account.That's according to Verizon, which is warning both business and residential voice-mail customers to take precautions, namely changing passwords to something unique and secure.
The gist of the fraud involves a hacker accessing someone's voice-mail by guessing the password, then changing the outgoing greeting to say, "Yes, I accept third-party billing" or something similar, according to Ann Nishida, spokeswoman for Verizon Hawaii.
"The hacker then makes a long-distance, often international, phone call and asks the operator to bill it to the number of the voice-mail box he accessed," she said.
Although Verizon requires a live person to consent to a third-party billing, Nishida said the company is participating in an industry-wide effort to crack down on the hacking.
Useful phone numbers
Got a question or complaint?
Call 529-4773, fax 529-4750, or write to Kokua Line,
Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210,
Honolulu 96813. As many as possible will be answered.
E-mail to kokualine@starbulletin.com