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Kokua Line
Question: I received a bill to renew my post office box at the Kahala Post Office, which was $32 semiannual. But when I went to the post office, I was told I had to pay $40. When I showed them the invoice, I was told "the clerk made a mistake" in printing the invoice because the postal service increased its rates in January. However, they said they would charge me only $32. How much is this mistake costing taxpayers? Were there a lot of bills erroneously sent out with the old rates? P.O. box rate
change doesn’t
affect taxpayersAnswer: There are more than 900 mailboxes at the Waialae-Kahala Post Office, which is similar to other post offices. Customers pay in advance and are billed twice a year, based not on a calendar year, but on when they began renting a box, explained U.S. Postal Service spokeswoman Felice Broglio.
So payments are staggered.
In your case (about 10 cases total at the Kahala post office), your payment came due at the time of the rate change, Broglio said. However, notices are generally sent two to three weeks in advance, when the old rate was still in effect.
Technically, if you were paying after the rate change, you should have paid the new rate, she said. But "the courtesy was given the customer at the old rate."
As far as losing money, "No, we don't," Broglio said. "That's the cost of doing business."
She also said taxpayers do not subsidize postal operations.
"We are not taxpayer-subsidized and have not been since the early 1980s," she said. "We were mandated by Congress in 1970 to break even and work within our own revenues and from 1980 on, we did."
Q: I live on Isenberg Street near Stadium Park and cannot find out why the entire street has to be closed to parking from 8 to 10 every evening, Jan. 29 to Feb. 9. Since the "no parking" barricades went up, I've gone out to see what's going on that mandates this extreme inconvenience. There is nothing going on! Can you please find out who, what and/or why the entire street is closed down?
A: The parking ban is to allow street sweepers to clear the gutter areas on both sides of Isenberg, between Kapiolani Boulevard and Beretania Street.
The same night work is set for the mauka side of Varsity Place, from Kolo Place to University Avenue, a city official said.
The 12-day time frame was set as a precaution. If the work is completed earlier, the "no parking" restrictions will be removed earlier, another official said.
Mo' on "Pu in Sai"
No way did Israel Kamakawiwo'ole originate the pidgin slang "pu in sai," says Kokua Line reader Bob Kamano."Local folks on the Leeward side have been using it for at least 25 years" as a sexual reference, he said.
He was referring to the Jan. 26 column in which music producer Jon de Mello said he believed Kamakawiwo'ole "made it up in 1993" after a reader asked what "pu in sai" meant.
John Berger, Star-Bulletin music critic, noted that not only did Kamakawiwo'ole use the phrase in one of his songs, but that local comic Bu La'ia also had a song called "No Pu In Sai."
Mahalo
To Ron and his mother-in-law, who offered help when our car wouldn't start in the Daiei Kailua parking lot on Dec. 29. He helped push our car out of the parking stall and then aligned his car to ours to jump-start the battery. Unfortunately, the battery was beyond help. But for this random act of kindness and aloha, we are -- Grateful on the Windward side
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