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Kokua Line
June Watanabe
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Call stores to get carts off the streets
Question: There are about 60 to 80 shopping carts lining the road on Akepo Lane, near King Street. It's a very narrow street. I see carts belonging to Safeway, City Mill, Longs and Kmart. Can you let them know so that they can claim their carts?
Answer: There weren't nearly that many when we checked out your complaint, but still, there were dozens of carts left on the street as you noted.
Next time, just call the stores directly. They'll be more than happy to claim their carts.
In this case we called the four stores you named.
A Safeway spokeswoman said to either call the district office at 524-4554, then 0 for the operator, or call the nearest store, with the address.
Safeway will do routine sweeps for carts in certain areas, otherwise, it appreciates when people call to let it know where a cart is abandoned, she said.
A Kmart employee said to call the district office at 528-2280 and "we'll come down and pick it up."
"We always want to retrieve our shopping carts," said Carol Ai May, vice president of City Mill.
She suggested calling the manager of the store nearest the abandoned cart or administrative offices at 533-3811.
Meanwhile, store managers for Longs Drug Stores go out weekly to collect shopping carts that have been taken off store property, said Farra Levin, spokeswoman for Longs, based in California.
"We definitely encourage customers" to contact store managers if they see a Longs cart out in the community, she said.
Q: There are loading zone signs behind Wesley United Methodist Church on Keanu Street, which has gotten very busy in recent years. The area was used by parents dropping off children at the church's day-care center, but the children are now let off in front of the church. The loading zone gate is chained. The director of Wesley's children's program asked to have the signs removed several years ago, but to this day the blurry signs haven't been removed and cars are sometimes ticketed. Can you help?
A: The passenger loading zone signs were installed in 1983 at the request of the church's Child Care Center, according to the city Department of Transportation Services.
"We have no records of a subsequent request ... to remove the signs," said Director Melvin Kaku.
The department contacted the current director, who confirmed that the loading zone area had not been used for years and asked that the signs be removed.
A work order will be issued to the city Department of Facility Maintenance to have the signs removed, Kaku said last week.
Q: I've got an old cell phone that I'd like to donate. Do you have a suggestion?
A: One option is to donate the phone to Big Brothers Big Sisters.
The organization itself does not use the cell phone, but recycles it, receiving part of the proceeds for its programs. Call 524-6111 for more information.
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.
See also: Useful phone numbers