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Kokua Line
June Watanabe
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Shower heads constantly vandalized
Question: I go to Queen's Surf Beach, across from Kapiolani Bandstand, and commend the maintenance men for doing a great job of emptying the garbage cans regularly. However, the beach shower heads have been broken for months. Instead of the normal four shower heads working, there are only two, with one more soon to go. When and who should fix it? This is an embarrassment both to local residents and tourists.
Answer: Don't blame the maintenance workers.
"Shower heads are always a problem (because) they are constantly vandalized and/or 'borrowed,' " said Craig Mayeda, administrator of the Maintenance and Recreation Division for the city Department of Parks and Recreation.
Parks officials figure people are removing shower heads to increase the flow of water to get the sand off, "but this does not explain why they take off so many of them," Mayeda said.
The problem is widespread throughout the city's parks and was discussed in a column last year (Kokua Line, Oct. 18, 2005).
In the Kuhio Beach area, there also is a problem with all the dry wells not functioning as well as they should, Mayeda said, and hence, problems with "a lot of standing water."
"We have not replaced the heads in the hope that the people would use less water," he said. "The usage has been reduced somewhat, but not enough."
An alternative: purchasing an outdoor shower with a lower water-flow requirement.
The Parks Department already is testing showers with reduced-flow shower heads and push-button, spring-loaded on/off valves, Mayeda said. One is installed at Magic Island, where "it seems to be doing well and we have not had any complaints."
Officials are hopeful that this type of shower will work where others have failed in the past.
If all goes well, "We would like to have a few of these purchased and installed before the end of the current fiscal year (June 30) at Kuhio Beach," Mayeda said.
Q: On the makai-Ewa side of Kapiolani Park, in front of the first restroom, the shower has been busted, with a huge excavated hole, for over a month now. When I asked the city parks people, they said the state tried to do something about it and broke it. I asked a state parks guy, who said they don't know anything about it. It remains just sitting there unusable. What's going in? If a private contractor did something like this on one of my projects, it would have to get fixed in a day or two.
A: This apparently refers to the same shower discussed above, but the two complaints are unrelated, according to parks Administrator Craig Mayeda.
He confirmed that "the shower is indeed 'busted.' "
It seems "the entire shower tower collapsed into the dry well that is under the shower," he said. The state had nothing to do with any of this.
Parks staff are in the process of evaluating whether this shower system can be repaired. Mayeda said he will keep us posted.
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.
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