Waimanalo cleanup scheduled
By Suzanne Roig
Advertiser Staff Writer
WAIMANALO — Residents here are fed up with the abandoned cars, piled up trash and overgrown streams and roadway medians.
For information, call Rep. Joe Gomes at 586-9450.
So a group is planning a communitywide cleanup for March 16 and 17. The organizers, led by Rep. Joe Gomes, R-51st (Lanikai, Waim?nalo), want to blanket the area with volunteers, who will clean up everything from beaches to private property — with the proper permission — and streams and back roads.
•
Organizers and volunteers for the Waimanalo cleanup will meet tonight at 7 at the Waimanalo School cafeteria.
"We'd like to see all schools, community groups, churches, businesses, farmers, associations — everyone and anyone who lives and works in Waimanalo — to take part," Gomes said.
At a meeting tonight, the residents will talk about the abandoned vehicles, hear from committees on the status of the March cleanup and set the date for the next meeting.
The idea for the cleanup was spurred by the proliferation of abandoned vehicles and derelict cars left on the side of roads in Waimanalo, Gomes said.
"I don't know why we're getting these cars," Gomes said. "We're trying to get to the bottom of that."
Another member of the organizing group, Mabel Spencer, said the community was fed up with the large number of abandoned vehicles that had suddenly appeared along Waimanalo's back roads.
On one day in August, a resident photographed 17 derelict cars in Waimanalo. While most of the cars have been removed by the city, there are still more.
"A long time ago we used to cleanup every year in April through the state's Community Work Day Program," Spencer said. "When they were talking about how bad it was, I thought it would be nice to do it at the same time. We had a lot of interest then in beautifying Waim?nalo. I want to bring that back again."
The cleanup will help the community re-establish pride and send the word to the rest of O'ahu that Waimanalo is not a dumping ground, Spencer said.
For the long term, residents such as David Thompson, want to find a way to keep people from dumping cars and litter in the community. That is why Thompson would like to see legislation that makes the last registered owner responsible for the vehicle.
"It angers people because we're trying to keep our community nice," he said.
