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Kokua Line June Watanabe |
Loose tiles delay opening
of 4 city poolsQuestion: When will the Kaneohe District Pool reopen? We keep having the opening delayed further, and there is no one to speak to.
Q: When is the Kaneohe District Pool really going to open? It has been closed for repairs since Sept. 2, and is so important to the whole Kaneohe community. There were many days that work could have been done, but no contractor was in sight. It seems the buck is being passed, and no one knows if the pool will open at all. With all the emphasis on Waikiki beautification, doesn't the city even care about something the Kaneohe community really needs?
Answer: After initially saying the pool would open by early March, the city is now not giving any date for the expected reopening of not only the Kaneohe pool, but the Booth, Kanewai and Palolo pools as well.
"These four pools have not opened yet because the Department of Design and Construction has not accepted the workmanship," said Carol Costa, director of the city Department of Customer Services.
The problem: The tiles are not sticking properly to the floor of the pools, she said.
"The contractor has been directed to fix the problem of tile delaminating," Costa said.
In response to the second question, she said it is "very unfair" to accuse the city of putting one project before another.
"This has nothing to do with other projects being done elsewhere," Costa said.
Meanwhile, she could not give a time frame as to when the tile problem would be resolved, "but we cannot open the pools with poor workmanship."
In February ("Kokua Line," Feb. 11), a reader complained about the Kanewai pool being closed for months because of resurfacing.
At that time, Costa said the Kanewai pool was scheduled to be completed in February, but that the contractor was given a two- to three-week extension because of field conditions.
"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, she said at the time.
Work on the Kanewai pool started in August, a month earlier than the others, but all four were to be completed about the same time.
Costa said she would let "Kokua Line" readers know when the pools would reopen.
Q: Currently on Oahu, I am able to pay for all of my utility bills, except electric, with a credit card. Does Hawaiian Electric Co. have any plans to allow the public to pay via credit card in the future?
A: You can pay your electric bill by credit card, but you have to do it through a third-party service, according to Hawaiian Electric spokesman Jose Dizon.
Call EDS at 888-386-8173 to pay by credit card. However, you will be charged a service fee.
"HECO does not currently offer a walk-in credit card payment option because our rate structure, as approved by the Public Utilities Commission, does not currently allow us to collect credit card service fees directly from customers," Dizon said.
That's why EDS is used, he said.
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Honolulu 96813. As many as possible will be answered.
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