Kokua Line
By June Watanabe
Thursday, March 4, 1999
Kokua Line
When will we get a traffic light at Rose Street in Wahiawa? It's almost impossible to come out of Rose Street onto California Avenue after dropping off the kids at Wahiawa Intermediate School. Traffic will be worse in September when it becomes a middle school, housing students in grades six to eight. A year and a half ago, I contacted Councilwoman Rene Mansho's office and was informed that it was under study. How long must we wait? Rose Street is booked
for a traffic light in 2000Mansho's office referred us to the city Department of Transportation Services, which says you'll see a traffic signal there in early 2000.
We asked DTS director Cheryl Soon to explain the procedure for determining where traffic signals are installed.
The first step, she said, is determining the jurisdiction of the intersection -- state, city, federal or private. Rose Street and California Avenue are under city jurisdiction.
Then there are "national standardized warrants established by the U.S. Department of Transportation" to determine whether an intersection might qualify for traffic signals, she said. But "even if the warrants are met, engineering judgment must still be used in the final analysis," Soon said.
The cost for a new traffic signal system ranges from $100,000 to $200,000, depending on such factors as number of lanes, intersection geometrics and operational characteristics, Soon said. In the case of Rose Street, federal funds will be available, she said.
I want to take my 89-year-old mother to visit the USS Missouri. Are there any provisions to accommodate the handicapped and is it difficult for someone that age to walk around? My mother can walk, but she is frail.
Tickets for the USS Missouri are sold at the USS Bowfin Museum. From there, visitors take a trolley across the bridge to Ford Island, where the historic battleship is docked.
Since Ford Island is a restricted military reservation, vehicles without military stickers are not allowed on the island.
However, two trolleys are compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, said retired Vice Adm. Robert Kihune, president of the USS Missouri Memorial Association.
Once on Ford Island, wheelchairs are available. People can also be lifted from the pier onto the ship, "so they don't have to climb the ladder," Kihune said. Once aboard, your mother can get about the main deck, but other areas would require going up and down ladders.
The Department of Public Safety's Sheriff's Division wants the public to know it doesn't have anything to do with a group known as the Sheriff's Posse. Sheriff's Division Advisory
"We have received several calls from concerned businesses saying they are being solicited by a group called the Sheriff's Posse," said Lt. Russell Ching, of the Sheriff's Division. The callers said they were being solicited for donations to publish a "Ten Most Wanted" magazine. Ching said the group is not saying it is with the Sheriff's Division or Department of Public Safety, but there apparently is some confusion among the public.
The Honolulu Police Department also said it has received calls from people asking about the group. It also has no affiliation with HPD, said spokeswoman Michelle Yu.
Auwe
Re the Aloha Stadium official saying they don't allow people to reserve parking spaces. When the stadium opened in the 1970s, they would direct you to a space. Now, it's a free-for-all; people reserve all kinds of spaces. No one does anything. That official is ignorant of what's going on. -- No name
Need help with problems? Call Kokua Line at 525-8686,
fax 525-6711, or write to P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu 96802.
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