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Kokua Line
June Watanabe
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Roosevelt work to be finished by October
Question: The front lawn at Roosevelt High School has been a disaster for what seems like years. How is it progressing, whatever it is they are doing?
Answer: The lawn is serving as the staging area for the $12 million project to turn the school's Carter Auditorium into "a cutting-edge performance theater," said Principal Dennis Hokama.
When the work is completed in September or October, people will be "totally astounded," he said. "It will not be recognizable."
The new theater will serve both the school and the community, Hokama said. It will accommodate 750 people and feature an enlarged stage, acoustical ceiling, stadium seating, air conditioning, a small lobby and an attached scene shop.
At about the time the auditorium is completed, work will begin inside Roosevelt's stadium, where synthetic turf, similar to what is found in Aloha Stadium, and an all-weather track will be laid.
When that project is completed next spring, a ceremony will be held to name the stadium after Edmund "Ticky" Vasconcellos, a "great football coach and athletic director" formerly at Roosevelt, Hokama said.
Q: I understand there is a schedule for repairing residential roads. What I don't understand is why this schedule is apparently set in concrete. For several weeks I have watched streets in good condition being repaved in Waipio Gentry. Why resurface perfectly good streets when others, such as Waipio Uka and Moaniani in Waipio, can best be described as "tank traps"?
A: Streets in Waipio Gentry, Crestview and Seaview are being resurfaced as part of the city's "Rehabilitation of Localized Streets, Phase 2."
"These roadways are minor residential roadways that require mainly resurfacing and minimal pavement reconstruction," said Larry Leopardi, chief of the city's Road Maintenance Division.
But, Waipio Uka Street, Moaniani Street, Ka Uka Boulevard and Ukee Street -- major roadways, with "excessive pavement deterioration" -- will be resurfaced under the "Rehabilitation of Streets Unit 47" contract, administered by the city Department of Design and Construction, he said.
The department is in the process of selecting a design consultant. It is too early to say when work on those streets will begin, but the best guess now is in about two years, said Director Eugene Lee.
He explained that the Hannemann administration's "War on Potholes" involves a "four-pronged approach": Pothole Patching, First Aid Resurfacing, Contract Rehabilitation and Localized Rehabilitation.
The theory is that while addressing long-neglected major streets, "we also need to prevent our other streets from falling into disrepair," he said.
This is similar to the federal Pavement Preservation Program, Lee said, in which "the idea is to extend the life of a pavement before it reaches the crisis point."
For every $1 spent fixing a road before it falls into major disrepair, it is estimated $6 to $10 is saved in future major repair costs, he said.
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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