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Kokua Line June Watanabe |
Police patrol for
illegal orange conesQuestion: More and more, I've observed that people are commandeering parking spaces at Ala Moana Park by placing orange cones in the empty spaces. On Saturday, May 29, I saw seven of them as people geared up for the Memorial Day weekend. Surely, this is not permissible. However, to take one of those spoken-for spaces would be to risk a nasty confrontation, which is all the more reason that it should not be allowed. The police should probably remove the orange cones. What is the rule about this situation?
Answer: It's not a rule, but a law -- 291C-36 of the Hawaii Revised Statutes -- that says placing such "markings" is considered a "public nuisance."
Police officers checked the park and have been warning people to stop using the cones to reserve spaces, said Michelle Yu, spokeswoman for the Honolulu Police Department.
They will be monitoring the area and will begin citing violators, she said.
Yu said this situation is covered under the "Display of unauthorized signs, signals, or markings" in the state Traffic Code, which says that "no person shall place, maintain, or display upon or in view of any highway any unauthorized sign, signal, marking, or device which purports to be or is an imitation of or resembles an official traffic-control device or railroad sign or signal, or which attempts to direct the movement of traffic, or which hides from view or interferes with the effectiveness of an official traffic-control device or any railroad sign or signal."
Also prohibited under this section is any traffic sign or signal on any highway bearing commercial advertising.
An exception is the placement of signs or markers on private property, adjacent to highways, that give "useful directional information and of a type that cannot be mistaken for official signs, nor the placement on privately owned highways, by the owners of the highways, of signs, of a design and at places approved by the county official responsible for traffic control."
Q: I read the June 7 "Kokua Line" about calling 911 to report abandoned vehicles. But isn't there an abandoned vehicle number to call, instead of clogging up 911? Can you print that number?
A: The June 7 column was more specifically about unregistered vehicles cluttering up the streets in Salt Lake.
But, officials say, you can either call police at 911 -- and say it's a non-emergency -- or you can call the city at 733-2530 to report abandoned or derelict vehicles.
Mahalo
To bus driver Mike Griep. I was on the Airport-Hickam bus on Thursday, June 3, when he made a stop to buy some doughnuts from people on the street holding a fund-raiser. Then, on his route, he passed along the box to 23 passengers, offering us the Krispy Kreme doughnuts. I thought that was such a nice gesture. -- A New York visitor
Auwe
To the culprit who destroyed the gardenia plant on Liholiho Street. You had the nerve to dump the plant on someone's property. You deprive people of enjoying the beautiful blossoms after so many years. -- No Name
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