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Kokua Line June Watanabe |
Kaneohe pool due
to reopen on MondayDare it be written on the calendar? The city now says the Kaneohe pool will be ready for swimming on Monday.
But the bad news is that the Palolo pool might not reopen until August -- nearly a year after it was drained and shut down. Four municipal pools have been closed for repair and renovation since last August or September.
The other two pools -- Kanewai and Booth -- are targeted to reopen by the end of next week.
Kaneohe residents have been vocal in their anger and frustration over delays in reopening their pool ("Kokua Line," March 29 and April 8). Apparently, the users of the other three pools have been more patient, although a Kanewai pool user voiced her frustration in February over the pool's seemingly indefinite closure ("Kokua Line," Feb. 11).
The work on all four pools initially was going to take just a few months. But, according to city spokeswoman Carol Costa, the announced scheduled reopening of all four pools in early March was thwarted by unacceptable "workmanship" on tiling.
Reinspection of the Kaneohe pool was completed Tuesday and, the city departments of Design and Construction, and Parks and Recreation "both signed off on the work," Costa said.
"We are filing the Kaneohe pool with water right now," she told "Kokua Line" yesterday. "The process to fill and chlorinate, test and open takes four days. We are on track to open this pool on Monday."
The Kanewai and Booth pools are being cleaned this week, then will be inspected, filled with water, chlorinated and opened, "hopefully by the end of next week," Costa said.
But the bad news for Palolo pool users is that the bottom of their pool needs to be retiled.
Reiterating her previous comments, Costa said, "We cannot accept unsatisfactory work that will leave the city to pay high maintenance costs."
Because the Palolo pool is Olympic-size and new tiles need to be shipped from the West Coast, officials are playing it safe by estimating a probable reopening at the end of July or in early August.
The city was assessing the contractor $100 a day in "liquidated damages" for the delays, with the penalty to be taken out of the final payment. The cost of renovating the four pools was tagged at around $976,000.
Question: Regarding the Regal Entertainment Group buying Signature Theatres: Can Signature movie coupons still be used after Regal takes over? A bunch of us bought a lot of these discount coupons.
Answer: More specific information will probably be announced later, an official for Signature said.
It's still too early to say how things will be handled under the new ownership, but "I'm sure we'll still be honoring them," he said.
He noted that movie coupons sold beginning this year do have expiration dates.
"I'm sure we'll honor them up to their expiration dates," he said. Coupons sold earlier, without expiration dates, will probably be given a specified time line in which to be used.
"Once we know, we'll let everybody know," he said.
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