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Kokua Line June Watanabe |
Kanewai pool will
reopen after repairsQuestion: The swimming pool at Kanewai Park on Dole Street was closed months ago for resurfacing. Now we're told that the city can't afford it and it will be closed indefinitely. We are a group of senior citizens who have had water aerobics there for years. It is a very well-used pool, with classes for children and adults, etc. Why is that there is money for new soccer fields and skating parks but the old facilities are so far down the city list of priorities?
Answer: There is "absolutely" no truth to the statement that the city has closed the pool indefinitely because of money problems, according to Carol Costa, director of the city Department of Customer Services.
Kanewai is one of four pools that have been undergoing renovations for the past few months. All four are set to open by early March, Costa said.
The Kanewai project started on Aug. 11 and was scheduled to be completed early this month. However, the contractor was given a two- to three-week extension "because of field conditions," Costa said.
The $182,302 contract calls for installing ceramic tiles in the pool and refurbishing the restrooms.
"We should have a punch list, the pre-finals -- everything -- done by the end of this month," and the pool should be ready for public use shortly afterward, Costa said.
"There never was any budget problem and no higher priority given to soccer fields or skate parks," she said.
The other pools undergoing renovation are the Palolo, Booth and Kaneohe pools. Work on the Kanewai pool started about a month earlier than the others, but all four will be completed about the same time, Costa said.
Q: My safety sticker has been taken off my car twice this past year. I thought I read recently that they were going to pass a law that would allow you to put your sticker inside your back window. Was that law passed, or do you still have to have the sticker in the back bumper? I thought the law said you could have it anywhere in the back of the car that's visible from the rear.
A: The law has not changed.
The safety sticker should be affixed "upon the right, most nearly vertical portion of the rear bumper of the vehicle, or on another appropriate place where the sticker can be clearly viewed by a person who is fifty feet behind the vehicle," according to Section 19-133.2-24(b) of the state Department of Transportation rules.
Dennis Kamimura, administrator of the city Division of Motor Vehicle & Licensing, says you may be confusing the safety sticker with the motor vehicle registration expiration emblem.
A bill was introduced in the state Legislature to allow the registration emblem, which is to placed on the upper right portion of the rear license plate, to be placed in the inside rear window.
The bill did not pass for two reasons, Kamimura said: one, because placement would be a problem for convertibles with rear windows that retract; and two, because states that allow the emblems to be placed inside the vehicle have experienced thieves breaking into vehicles to steal the emblem.
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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
