Kokua Line
Kokua Line
Haiku Stairs repair work
to be completed this yearQuestion: Can you tell me if the Haiku Stairs have been repaired? I remember an article in the summer of 2000 saying the repairs would be completed in 2001. I will be coming in June of this year and would like to make the climb.
Answer: Actually, it was in July 2001 that the city announced it would spend $875,000 to repair the 3,922-step "Stairway to Heaven," with a targeted completion date of October 2002.
Despite the inherent dangers in the project -- the top of the stairs is 2,800 feet above sea level -- the project is 80 percent completed, said Joe Galindo, field superintendent for The Nakoa Companies, Inc., which was contracted to make the repairs.
In fact, he says the stairway may be ready to be presented to the city for a final inspection before summer. It will be up to the city to determine when to reopen it after that.
Galindo chuckled when asked if there were any special problems encountered in the project.
For one, "When there is a lot of rain and wind there, we can't go to the top," he said.
There are two "walking bridges" near the top of the job site for workers. To put it in perspective, Galindo explained that there are about 590 "modules" of stairs, each about six feet in length, give or take a few inches, that were installed when the stairway was built by the Navy in 1942. (It was meant to give access to transmission facilities at the top of the Koolau ridge, not as a hiking spot for the public.) The bridges are at the level of the 582nd module, Galindo said.
The stairs are designed so that, depending on the slope and angle of the mountain, "you can tilt" it to conform to the terrain, he said. There are five or six places where the stairs actually lay "flat right against the mountain."
About four to five people have been working on the project, walking up and down those stairs every day, he said.
Galindo said the repaired stairs are "all galvanized and done beautifully. It will be really super nice and safe."
Not all the stairs had to be replaced or repaired, since "some of them are just like brand new," he said. The original stairs were wooden, but as repairs were made over the years, galvanized steel was used.
But the railings are new, Galindo said, noting they are "checkerplate and galvanized." They should be able to withstand the elements for about the next 50 years, he said.
Galindo also said that when people reach the top, where a Coast Guard transmission antenna used to be, it will be a lot safer because the project included installing railings all around the area.
Repair of the stairway is part of the city's plan to create a nature preserve in Haiku Valley.
Q: The U.S. Postal Service has a wonderful TV commercial running these days, fast-paced, showing all the different faces and different services, with the whole theme seeming to be unsung heroes in these perilous times of anthrax, although those words are never spoken. My question is about the background music. It's sung and goes, "Let the river rise, let all the dreamers take (or wake?) the nation ... through the darkening dawn." Sounds like an old '70s peace anthem kind of song. Can you identify it?
A: The music is a reworked version of "Let the River Run," written and sung by Carly Simon, in a 60-second public service announcement to honor postal workers. The commercial apparently has run its course.
It also was the theme song for the movie "Working Girl," which starred Melanie Griffith and Harrison Ford.
The chorus from the original song goes:
"Let the river run, let all the dreamers wake the nation. Come, the New Jerusalem."
The producers of the commercial reworked the song slightly to say:
"Let the river run. Let all the dreamers wake the nation. Come, the day has just begun."
Cabinets for charity
In the next month or two I will be renovating our kitchen and replacing all cabinets, stove, sink, etc.Is there any charitable organization that will accept kitchen cabinets that are in very good condition? I don't want to simply throw them away as all are still usable.
Call 676-8499 in the evenings if interested. -- Charlie
Mahalo
To that wonderful woman who picked up my purse when I left it in the shopping cart just before Christmas at Home Depot. She returned it with everything intact. I am so grateful to her. -- Edith
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.
Email to kokualine@starbulletin.com