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Detectives need to park
in Chinatown

Question: I visit Chinatown frequently and have trouble walking far. In the Maunakea parking lot, between Hotel and King streets, lots of valuable stalls are reserved for the Honolulu Police Department on the second floor. But I notice there are very few, if any, police vehicles utilizing the stalls. I end up parking on the third or fourth floor, but many others seem to disregard the signs and park there anyway. Do police need all these stalls? I also notice more and more on-street parking stalls are taken away and being used for police vehicles.

Answer: Maj. Kevin Lima of the HPD's District 1 personally checked the situation in the Maunakea parking garage after receiving your complaint.

He counted 13 stalls reserved for police, including members of a Burglary/Theft Detail -- one lieutenant, six detectives and a civilian clerk.

"I understand parking spaces are a premium in Chinatown. However, we feel having our detectives actually working in the area is better for the community and HPD," Lima said. "Throughout the course of a day, our detectives are in and out of their offices, which is the nature of their job. So it may only appear that the stalls are not needed."

He also noted that the 13 stalls were designed for "very small compact cars," not the full-size vehicles used by police. HPD has tried to have the stalls resized -- unsuccessfully -- so detectives' cars end up using more than one stall.

"We regret the situation makes HPD appear selfish, which is not the case," Lima said. However, he said, "The use of these stalls will be monitored and reduced if they are deemed unnecessary."

Regarding "street parking being taken away," Lima said he's not sure what stalls you are referring to.

There were stalls temporarily designated for HPD on Smith Street when construction on Maunakea required the removal of reserved police stalls. But the temporary use of the Smith Street stalls ended in September.

Meanwhile, the number of stalls around District Court on Alakea Street has "increased and decreased through the years," he said.

Dozens of officers have to attend court each weekday, and they end up driving around looking for parking like everyone else, Lima said.

"The problem was exacerbated when the municipal parking lot on South Beretania Street became unavailable," he added.

At one time, HPD paid for parking on a monthly basis, but that became too expensive, he said.

Q: I voted absentee by mail. How do I know my ballot reached its proper place?

A: Just call the appropriate county clerk, said Glen Takahashi, city elections administrator.

For Honolulu, call 523-4293, "and we can do a quick check" of voter rolls, he said. Takahashi noted that 90 percent of the absentee ballots requested by Honolulu residents were returned.

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