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Kokua Line
Question: Almost every Monday and Friday afternoon, about 4-5 p.m., police officers are giving tickets to motorists who violate the traffic rule and block the intersection at Lunalilo and Piikoi. The officers order drivers who do so to pull their cars over on Lunalilo Street, next to the post office vehicle parking lot. This creates hazardous conditions for cars turning left from Piikoi, especially for postal vehicles that need to turn into their parking area. Only one smart female officer had a car pull into the side road next to the postal employee parking lot. Could you notify the police chief about this? Cops ticket drivers
who block LunaliloAnswer: Poor police. They're damned if they do and damned if they don't.
That intersection has been "an ongoing, continual problem area for us," with drivers trying to beat the red light on Piikoi blocking the intersection, noted Capt. Mark Nakagawa, of the Honolulu Police Department's District I.
"We try to do enforcement when we can," he said. "However, sometimes enforcement slows things up too."
Officers have been advised to pull errant motorists over to the private post office parking lot when possible, he said. Postal officials were "receptive" to HPD's request to use the lot because "that lane is hardly used," Nakagawa said.
"This is a good opportunity to remind motorists that they shouldn't come flying around that turn (from Piikoi to Lunalilo)," he added. "Any motorist is supposed to be able to stop for any kind of road hazard or stopped vehicle in front of them. Part of the problem is that motorists come around that turn too fast."
Q: What can be done about a boat that drops 500 to 600 round Kona crab nets off the Waianae Coast? After they drop the nets, there are no crabs for about three months.
A: Call the state Department of Land and Natural Resources' Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement. It has a 24-hour hot line, 587-0077. Provide as much detail as possible. You can remain anonymous.
Q: On McCully Street, between the bridge and Kapiolani Boulevard, two to six cars are parked every day with a "for sale" sign. Today, six cars were parked. We residents would like to have free street parking space, too. I don't think we can park overnight, yet all those used cars for sale are using the space. Is it legal to use public street parking to sell cars?
Q: Why are cars allowed to be parked on the Ala Wai bridge with "for sale" signs on them and are never tagged by police?
A: We passed on your complaints and the license numbers provided in the first question to the Honolulu Police Department.
Apparently, the practice of selling cars by parking them on public streets is not uncommon. We had a similar complaint in June, involving cars being sold from metered parking stalls on Kapahulu Avenue. The answer back then, and now, is that it is illegal to use a public street as a venue for selling cars. However, that doesn't mean you can't have a "for sale" sign in your car and park it on the street.
HPD, meanwhile, cautions people to be wary of buying any vehicle "off the street."
Auwe
To the driver of a blue, four-door Toyota. While driving alone in the car-pool lane during rush hour, he purposely drove slowly to further aggravate other drivers (with two or more passengers) in the car-pool lane. While other motorists tried to go around him, he sped up and kept them at bay. It's because of people like him that road rage is alive in the Hawaiian Islands. -- Concerned motorist
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