Kokua Line
June Watanabe
Question: I have just canceled plane reservations to the mainland, as I did after Sept. 11, 2001, not out of fear, but because of lack of accessible non-security-location airport toilets. I have incontinence, and, even taking medication, I cannot stand in line for 1 1/2 to three hours (plus fear of a sudden airport evacuation for an additional unknown time) without a toilet break. Some airport restrooms
are hard to findI can't be the only adult in the state with this problem; plus, what about children? When these airport emergencies occur that mean endless standing in either check-in or security lines, why doesn't the airport bring in portable toilets and place them in public areas near checkout lines? This seems only logical and humane.
Answer: The problem is not so much that restroom facilities are not readily available, but that people may not know where they are, according to Davis Yogi, airports administrator for the state Department of Transportation.
So, at least for now, no portable toilets are planned.
Yogi said he walked the interisland and internationaldomestic terminals and noted that restrooms were available -- well less than a minute away from the Aloha and Hawaiian airlines' checkpoints and within a couple of minutes near checkpoints at the main terminal.
But while he saw there are clear ceiling signs for restrooms located, coincidentally, at the checkpoints at the interisland terminal, that's not what he found in the overseas terminal.
In the United Airlines area, for example, there are no signs indicating where the restrooms are at checkpoint No. 5, he said.
He said there are restrooms, which he timed as being two minutes away in either direction from that particular checkpoint, including one down the escalator.
There is also another restroom a few yards beyond that checkpoint, although that would not be available to someone waiting to get past security.
Yogi said he will ask Honolulu Airport officials to install restroom signs as needed in the main terminal similar to the ones in the interisland terminal.
"We need signs in front of the checkpoints in light of the 'new airport' realities," he acknowledged.
Yogi said he had no timetable on when this might happen, "but we will do something."
Mahalo
To Grace Pacific Corp. for an excellent road-paving achievement. In early March they sent out notices to all area residents and concerns that roadwork on Nuuanu Avenue, from School to Judd streets, near Oahu Cemetery, would be involved for about three weeks, and cautioned people to take alternative routes. Their public relations foresight minimized snarling traffic, thus preventing snarling tempers. Throughout the days, the onerous bumpy project was well organized, supervised and accomplished right on time. Nuuanu Avenue, an extremely well-traveled street, is now smoothly paved and greatly appreciated. -- Mabel Chang
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