Kokua Line
Kokua Line
Kakaako park sites will get
signs to direct visitors soonQuestion: I have a suggestion regarding the Ehime Maru memorial at Kakaako Waterfront Park: Is it possible to put a sign at the entrance directing the public to the memorial -- whether to go right or left? It would be a big help.
Answer: It'll be even a bigger help, after another memorial -- this one in memory of people killed by drunken drivers -- is erected at the park sometime next year.
Several other people have suggested such a sign for the Ehime Maru memorial, and one will be forthcoming, said Jan Yokota, executive director of the Hawaii Community Development Authority, which oversees the park.
But the thinking now is to have signs directing people to other sites in the park, as well, such as the amphitheater, shoreline, Point Panic and the planned Mothers Against Drunk Driving victims memorial, she said.
At this point, the authority wants to wait until after the MADD memorial is installed sometime next year so that directions to that landmark also can be included, Yokota said.
The memorial was proposed by the Hawaii chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving as a place where people can go to mourn the loss of loved ones. The memorial will be funded and maintained by MADD.
The proposed MADD memorial, designed by Honolulu freelance artist John Koga, is planned for an old planter area at the Ewa end of the park's promenade. It will depict a man, woman and child cast in bronze, five feet high, with a hollow through their hearts representing their loss. They will be atop an 8-foot-high cement column.
The Ehime Maru memorial, financed by Ehime prefecture in Japan and maintained by volunteers, is at the top of the mound on your right as you enter the park from the main parking lot. It honors the nine men and boys killed when the USS Greeneville rammed their training vessel, the Ehime Maru, on Feb. 9, 2001.
Q: I have been living on Waikalualoko Loop in Kaneohe since 1978. Since then, not once has the road been repaved. The road is bumpy and has a lot of patches. Waikalua Road was repaved a few years ago, but they stopped just before Mahalani Street. Why did they not finish paving the rest of Waikalua Road and all those side streets, and when are they scheduled for repaving?
A: The city Division of Road Maintenance, which is part of the Department of Facility Maintenance, is in charge of repaving city streets.
For now, there'll be some patching done along the side streets, but it'll be a few years before they and Waikalua Road can get a new coat of asphalt.
Waikalualoko Loop and other nearby neighborhood roads "will be reprogrammed for contract resurfacing as funds become available," according to Larry Leopardi, chief of the Division of Road Maintenance.
In the meantime, in-house workers were scheduled to do pothole patching and minor pavement repairs to deteriorated portions of roads like yours this month, while more extensive repairs on Waikalua Road will be completed in April, he said.
For the long term, it'll be a while before Waikalua Road is again repaved. The Board of Water Supply is planning to install a new water line along that road in a few years, Leopardi said. The plan is to resurface Waikalua Road from Mahalani Street to its makai end when that project is completed.
In general, Waikalua Road, from Kamehameha Highway to Mahalani Street, which was resurfaced in 1995, is in "fair condition," Leopardi said. He said the makai portion of Waikalua Road was not resurfaced back then because it was considered to be "in generally fair condition at that time."
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