Kokua Line
Kokua Line
Lunch wagons legal
as long as meters fedQuestion: I'd like to know if it's legal to operate a lunch wagon on public streets. I notice that every day on Punchbowl Street between the state Capitol and the state library, there is a lunch wagon operating from about 11 a.m. It parks in the area near the crosswalk. Can I buy a van, cook some food, park on a busy street and open for business? What permits do I need and where do I get them?
Answer: The state Health Department issues a health permit for lunch wagons, but neither the state nor the city issues permits for lunch wagons to operate on public streets, in or out of a metered stall.
There is nothing in the traffic code that prevents vending from a metered stall as long as the meter is fed.
Although you indicated in a follow-up that the lunch wagon was outside a metered stall, a city spokeswoman said it was in a metered stall when someone from the city Department of Transportation Services went to check. The operator said then that he feeds the meter and stays for an hour, 11 a.m. to noon, then goes to another location.
"This was verified that day," the city spokeswoman said.
That said, however, the city Department of Customer Services asked the Honolulu Police Department whether there was any other law that might prevent vending from a public street.
It turns out there is "an obscure law" that calls for vendors to move every 15 minutes, even if they are in a metered stall, on a public street, the city spokeswoman said.
She acknowledged police were being accused of harassing the lunch wagon operator, who apparently has operated there for years, but said "HPD was just following on a 'Kokua Line' inquiry."
"This is one of the things they take a look at in the general monitoring of the streets," she said.
She added that the lunch wagon "is appreciated by a lot of people" and that the case "provides a difficult dilemma."
Meanwhile, Brian Choy, chief of the Department of Health's Sanitation Branch, said his office issues permits for the operation of lunch wagons as "mobile food establishments." There are 201 approved lunch wagons on Oahu, according to Health Department records, he said.
Fees range from $50 to $150, depending on the complexities of the food operation.
Inspectors are interested in sanitation and food protection, Choy noted. "We do not handle where they park," he said.
Contact the Sanitation Branch at 586-8000 or, if you're on a neighbor island, the department's Environmental Health Office for more information.
Q: Can you find out when Costco Iwilei will be opening up its gas station? We in the Honolulu and East Oahu area are looking forward to having lower gas prices, especially since the prices are starting to go up.
A: A Costco spokesman said officials had no comment at this point about when a gas station might be opened in Iwilei.
Last June, it was reported Costco planned to put in gas pumps at the new Iwilei outlet but that those plans had been delayed for an undisclosed reason.
|
Useful phone numbers
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.
E-mail to kokualine@starbulletin.com