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Abandoned cars
should be towed

Question: There is an abandoned car in a no-parking zone on Dole Street, next to the entrance of KHET. We have called the Honolulu Police Department several times and called the city's abandoned-vehicles section. This car has been given at least two traffic citations. It has been here now at least 40 days and is creating a serious traffic hazard. How do we get this car moved?

Answer: It should be gone "soon," if it is indeed abandoned.

Neither HPD nor the city's motor vehicle administrator could say for sure why it took so long to get action taken on this vehicle.

The first recorded complaint with the Motor Vehicle Control Section was Jan. 12, when it was assigned to an abandoned-vehicle inspector.

That inspector was out sick when we contacted Dennis Kamimura, administrator of the Motor Vehicle and Licensing Division.

Rather than wait for the inspector to get back to get a status report, Kamimura said he directed another inspector to check the scene.

Last Wednesday, that inspector initiated a new investigation on the vehicle that HPD had cited previously.

The process calls for the vehicle to be marked, then checked sometime after a 24-hour period to see if it has been "attended to," Kamimura said.

"We do not have the staff to return exactly 24 hours after the marking of the vehicle, due to the volume of complaints that the inspectors are assigned to investigate," he explained.

If the vehicle is "not attended to," the city's contractor for abandoned vehicles would be contacted to have the vehicle towed.

The contractor then would have seven days to tow the vehicle.

Meanwhile, everything in your complaint appears "normal," except for the length of time it has taken to get the car removed, said HPD Officer Herb Schreiner.

After receiving a call about an abandoned vehicle, an officer would be sent to check and mark the tires. Twenty-four hours or more later, it would be rechecked and cited if it had not been moved.

The officer then would submit an abandoned-vehicle worksheet to the city, and the Motor Vehicle Control Section "is supposed to follow up on it," Schreiner said.

Asked why the vehicle wasn't just towed if it was in a no-parking area, Schreiner said HPD doesn't have the authority to have a vehicle towed unless it is in a tow-away zone or poses a hazard.

"If it were a hazard, no matter where it is, we would have it towed," he said. But in this case, the officer apparently determined that it did not pose a danger.

Mahalo

To Moses and Yuki. On Thursday, Jan. 27, upon returning to our car in the makai parking structure opposite Sears on the mall level of Ala Moana Center, my daughter and I found a front tire was flat. They were the only ones to stop and offer help. Moses changed the tire very quickly. We so appreciated their aloha. -- Marilyn Keomalu

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