Kokua Line June Watanabe

---

Summer Fun takes
priority at city parks

---

Question: Why do Summer Fun programs at city parks have priority over the playground equipment? They say other members of the public have to get off to allow the Summer Fun kids to take over. I thought public parks are for the public. It's summertime, and there are a lot of kids who want to use the playgrounds -- it shouldn't just be for the Summer Fun kids.

Answer: Under the city Department of Parks and Recreation's rules and regulations, first priority is given to scheduled department activities, such as the Summer Fun program.

The parks director has the authority to set up such rules and regulations -- subject to the approval of the mayor -- governing activities at city parks under the Revised Ordinances of Honolulu 1978, Section 13-14.3, according to Vicki Borges, executive assistant to the mayor.

Under Section 4A of the department's rules and regulations: "City parks and recreational facilities, when not in use for scheduled Department activities, may be appropriately used by the public."

The Parks Department received one complaint about the public-use restrictions, specifically at Paki Park, and is assuming you are talking about the same park.

Paki Park's extended Summer Fun program runs from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and during that time, "city-sponsored park programs do have priority over public use," Borges said.

But "the public is welcome to use the equipment any time the Summer Fun group is not actively out on the play apparatus," she said.

The problem is that the majority of the public park users are preschool-age children (and their parents), which is "a very dangerous mix to have on the equipment at the same time as the large Summer Fun groups of elementary-age children," Borges said.

In the meantime, at the suggestion of some parents, Paki Park officials have posted signs to advise park users of the restriction.

The signs are attached to traffic cones and posted only when the Summer Fun participants are actually using the equipment, Borges said.

Mahalo

To the staff at Tripler Army Medical Center and the Rehabilitation Hospital of the Pacific. I recently was discharged from both hospitals after suffering from a stroke. I am now recovering with outpatient therapy. I certainly was not a model patient, grumbling about every little thing. But I want them to know how much I appreciate what they all did to help me. Mahalo also to my family and friends for their monetary gifts, flowers and words of encouragement. -- Saburo Fujimori, chief warrant officer, U.S. Army, retired

Auwe

I've seen it many times at the intersection of South Street and Ala Moana where vehicles, driving makai on South Street, turn right onto Ala Moana, when they have the red light. If I'm not mistaken, there is a "no right turn on red" sign posted. Why is this not enforced? -- Kawika

We passed your concerns on to the Honolulu Police Department.

|

---

Useful phone numbers

---

See the Columnists section for some past articles.

Got a question or complaint?
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