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Kokua Line
Question: Why does the Board of Water Supply allow its employees to direct traffic if they're not competent enough or trained to do so? On March 1, on Harding Avenue, between 8th and 9th avenues, they were doing repair work in the Ewa-bound lanes. I tried to make a left turn onto 8th Avenue. The work was going on beyond that and there was no oncoming traffic, yet the employee would not let me turn. After waiting about 40 seconds, with my blinker on and no oncoming traffic, I turned left only to have the employee yelling and screaming at me. Water worker trained
in traffic safetyAnswer: The Board of Water Supply talked to the employee who was directing traffic that day. His explanation was that he was waiting for the flagman at the opposite end of the repair area to signal that it was safe for you to proceed.
According to Clifford Jamile, manager/chief engineer for the Board of Water Supply, the worker said he had turned away from you briefly to watch for the all-clear signal when, apparently, you turned your left-turn blinker on.
"He, therefore, was not immediately aware that her intention was to turn left," Jamile said. "As he turned back and noticed her turning left on a red light, he called out to her that she was moving against a red light."
Jamile said the employee, as well as others assigned to help with traffic control, "are given multiple courses on traffic control."
In this particular case, the finding was that the employee "exercised proper precautions to safeguard traffic conditions at this post," Jamile said.
However, in the future, "The employee has been instructed not to call out to motorists in circumstances such as this one," he said.
Q: There was an emergency call at 2:45 a.m. one recent morning. We were awakened by police making random calls to many people in our 14-story apartment building. It turned out to be an apartment three floors away. We were shocked and dismayed and couldn't get back to sleep. We have a resident manager and also a guard on duty. These people could've been contacted instead of waking up the whole building. We could understand if the building was on fire, but it wasn't. We understand that it had something to do with a medical problem.
A: Don't blame police.
Officers responded to a "dropped 911 call" at your building that night, said Honolulu Police Department spokeswoman Michelle Yu. They did not know exactly what unit was involved.
When officers arrived at the building, they contacted the security guard, Yu said. The guard, in turn, tried to reach the building manager, who didn't answer the phone, she said.
It apparently was the private guard who made the calls to the various apartments, she said.
Auwe
To Queen's Hospital. They're doing all this construction work but not doing anything about the dirt flying all over the place. I think they should at least be wetting it down. -- No name("A very large water hose was being used to wet down the soil and keep the dust down," according to David E. Kerr, a consultant to Queen's on the construction project. He said the hose was being used every time he's been at the site. "In any case, I will advise the contractor that we have received a complaint and that they must be diligent in their dust control efforts," Kerr said.)
Need help with problems? Call Kokua Line at 525-8686,
fax 525-6711, or write to P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu 96802.
Email to kokualine@starbulletin.com