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Kokua Line June Watanabe |
Electrical short to blame
for street outageQuestion: I've been noticing that lately, the street lights on the H-1 freeway between University Avenue and 6th Avenue don't work. It seems as though these lights have been out for some time. Can you find out more? Is it the same issue that plagued the Pali Highway, near the tunnels, about a year ago?
Answer: In the interim between asking the state Department of Transportation about the problem and today, the lights were finally repaired.
The lights had been out since the first week of January because of a short in the electrical wiring placed in the highway's median jersey barrier, according to transportation spokesman Scott Ishikawa.
The problem was thought to have resulted from water and mud generated by recent heavy rains. The lights were restored last week.
"Since there are no shoulder lanes near the median barrier, we had to arrange several daily lane closures to provide a sufficient work area for repair crews," Ishikawa said.
The problem with the Pali lights was a transformer malfunction.
It took months for a new transformer to be shipped from California, then a further delay caused by the shipment of a new transformer with the wrong voltage.
Q: A while back, I recall someone telling me that any eating establishment was prohibited from charging a fee for water if its premises did not contain a public source for water consumption, such as a drinking fountain. And that any eating establishment could only charge for water if such a public source is available to its patrons or for a reasonable cost of the container if that public source is available. Is my source out in left field altogether, or just incorrect on the specific facts?
A: Your source was in left field.
There is no federal law prohibiting restaurants from charging for non-bottled water, if they so choose, said Annika Stensson, spokeswoman for the National Restaurant Association.
Neither is there a state law prohibiting someone for charging for water, "although there may be issues regarding the manner in which disclosure is made or not made, but that has to be looked at individually," said Stephen Levins, of the state Office of Consumer Protection.
And, while the Board of Water Supply has set a regulation that restaurants should serve water only upon request, it has no authority on whether they may or may not charge for water, said spokeswoman Wanda Yamane.
Q: I would like to report a clogged storm drain catch basin near my home on Kulawea Street, which leads to Aiea Intermediate School. Two months ago, we had a heavy rainfall, which washed the roadway gravel into the catch basin. I looked into the trunk of the basin and saw it is half full with gravel. Can you notify the proper department to clean it up before we get another heavy rain?
A: We passed your concern along to the city Department of Customer Services, which forwarded it to the Department of Facility Maintenance.
In the future, residents with similar concerns should call Customer Services at 523-4381.
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