CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM Though state crews did haul away smaller trash bags, Jeff Alexander stood beside bulky rubbish yesterday that was left behind after a community group's Adopt-a-Highway cleanup.

City and state
wrangle while
bulk trash waits

Ewa Beach volunteers see collected
rubbish sit roadside for weeks

---

By Treena Shapiro
tshapiro@starbulletin.com

A mound of trash collected by volunteers has sat alongside Fort Weaver Road in Ewa Beach for nearly three weeks while the city and state bicker over who is responsible for picking it up.

While state officials said yesterday that they will remove the rubbish, the basic issue of jurisdiction has not been settled.

The trash troubles began after volunteers from the Ewa Beach Ohana did its normal Adopt-a-Highway cleanup on Fort Weaver Road on May 10. They filled two bags with trash and piled up a discarded battery, a mattress, about 10 tires, some old furniture and carpeting on the side of the road.

Workers for the state Transportation Department picked up the two trash bags promptly, but the pile of bulk rubbish remains, and it's growing.

"Someone dragged out a refrigerator and one more piece of carpeting got thrown on," said Jeff Alexander, a member of the community group and chairman of the Ewa Beach Neighborhood Board.

Until yesterday, neither the city nor the state would take responsibility for the bulky item pickup, since it fell into a gray area of jurisdiction.

CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM When volunteers did their Adopt-a-Highway cleanup in the Ewa Beach area, the state took away only smaller bags of trash and left behind the bulky rubbish.

The state expected the city Refuse Department to do the bulky item pickup, a free service it provides to Oahu residents by request, if the items are left in front of a residence.

"We're more than willing to pick up our rubbish if they give us a call," said George Rapisora, a city road construction maintenance supervisor.

In this case, however, he said the state is responsible because the pile was left in front of the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center on Fort Weaver Road -- a state highway -- by participants in the state's Adopt-a-Highway program.

Alexander said the Ewa Beach Ohana has tended its two-mile stretch of highway for 12 years, this year averaging about one clean-up a month. This is the first time the bulky trash was not picked up. He admits that the latest pile was larger than it normally is.

"We did get a little more bulk stuff this time because there was a couple mattresses and a couple chairs," he said. In recent years, the bulky stuff has usually been limited to a few car batteries and up to 10 tires.

Abel Waiolama, the state highway maintenance supervisor for the Leeward side, said that the state will try to pick up the trash this week, since the city is not going to do it.

He said the problem the state faces is that instead of requesting a bulky item pickup from the city, Fort Weaver Road residents often haul their old appliances and furniture across the street, where it becomes the state's responsibility.

To compound matters, he said that sometimes when residents see the Adopt-a-Highway bags across the street, they take advantage of the additional trash pickup.

"Our job is to remove just the bag," Waiolama said. "But when they (area residents) see all the bags there on the weekends, they bring out all their appliances," such as washers, dryers, water heaters and refrigerators.

He added, however, "I don't mind going out there and doing our share of the job and getting our job done."