North Shore junked cars reduced
By Will Hoover
Advertiser North Shore Writer
As the North Shore surf season kicks off and visitors from all over the world arrive to experience O'ahu's famed northern beaches, Honolulu officials are riding a wave of good will directed at their efforts to keep abandoned vehicles off the roadsides.
There has been a noticeable decrease in public griping about the number of abandoned hulks clogging the narrow North Shore coastline from Ka'ena Point to Kahuku. Some residents' comments could even be construed as praise.
"These abandoned vehicles will show up along Kamehameha Highway and within a few days they're gone," said Zane Clark of Kahuku, who last June was complaining loudly about rust heaps piling up on some of the most scenic beaches in the state. "The road has looked pretty good, I must say."
"There aren't as many as there were," said Jennifer Carlsen of Pupukea, who one day during the summer counted as many as eight abandoned wrecks along a 2-mile stretch between her home and Hale'iwa. "I don't know if people aren't junking them as much as they did, or if they're hiding them better."
The outcry started after the city halted the islandwide removal of abandoned vehicles at the end of April because of a contract dispute with the company hired to haul away junkers. The company's new contract bid was too high to accept, the city said.
Within two months, clunkers were stacking up all over O'ahu. Although the city had the statistics to prove there were fewer along the North Shore than anywhere else on O'ahu, area folks said the castoff eyesores were more noticeable because they contrasted with the scenic shoreline.
On June 27 the city announced that it was again picking up abandoned vehicles "as an interim measure" even as it tried to iron out an agreement with the towing company. That dispute has since been resolved and a new contract signed, city spokeswoman Carol Costa said Friday.
Costa said the towing company, Abe's Auto Recyclers, has done a good job of getting abandoned vehicles off North Shore roadsides as quickly as possible. Her office has received far fewer complaints about the problem, she said.
Last Wednesday, between Hale'iwa and Kahuku — a 12-mile Kamehameha Highway stretch that last June was littered with more than a dozen decaying rust buckets — there was only one abandoned vehicle, near Turtle Bay. By the next day the car had been removed.
However, all was not pristine. At the entrance of Marconi Road, not far from Turtle Bay, junk cars resembling a 12-vehicle pileup marred the landscape.
Maile Niutupuivaha, who operates a banana, coconut and melon stand adjacent to the Marconi Road disaster, shook his head in disgust.
"Whoever did that should know better," Niutupuivaha said.
"I talked to a (city) supervisor who said they can't touch those vehicles because the road is on private property."
Costa confirmed that and added, "The law doesn't allow us to go onto private property. So the city should not be faulted for the vehicles on Marconi Road."
Costa said the private landowner could be cited by the city's Department of Planning and Permitting for failure to have the location cleaned up.
She also reiterated that vehicle owners can have unwanted cars and trucks removed for free by taking the title and license tags to any satellite city hall and filling out a form.
But Zane Clark says in the past the city would haul off Marconi Road junkers along with those on Kamehameha Highway.
"Now, they totally ignore Marconi Road," he said. "If I was giving the city a report card, I'd give them a B+ on Kam Highway and an F on Marconi Road."
Reach Will Hoover at whoover@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8038.
