Posted on: Thursday, April 7, 2005

BUREAUCRACY BUSTER

By Robbie Dingeman
Advertiser Staff Writer

Q. We live in Kane'ohe and find that residents and businesses on Luluku Road frequently park in the no-parking areas in this busy residential area. The lack of street parking seems due to the expansion of Oahu Publications from light industrial to 24/7 heavy industrial and the lack of proper planning to accommodate this conversion. Could there be more red zones or police patrols?

A. The Honolulu Police Department is aware of the problems there, responds to complaints often and encourages residents to call 911 to report violations, said Lt. Gilbert Brown of the Kane'ohe station.

Just last week, officers checking the area issued three citations for parking violations over a two-day period. Brown said the complaints come in at least once a month there because that road is so heavily used by residents, including those in a large apartment complex, the shopping center nearby as well as the publishing company.

"There's a tremendous amount of traffic there," he said. Brown said police also are working with the community and the businesses to try to ease problems there.

Q. There is an increasingly distinct dip in westbound H-1 near the Waimalu off-ramp, most evident in the right lane.ÊIt reminds me of other significant dips in the freeway and one wonders if something is happening to the subsurface of H-1. Could you please investigate?

A. State transportation spokesman Scott Ishikawa said the state seems to have figured out what caused the dip near the H-1 Pearl City off-ramp but hasn't fixed it yet. "We found that a sunken drainage line running underneath the freeway may be the problem," he said.

Engineers said that section of the freeway won't settle further, which gives them some time to come up with a fix "without tearing up the whole freeway and causing major inconvenience to the H-1 drivers."

We'll check back in a few weeks for a progress report.

Q. Is it legal for me to just carry the copy of my car registration papers so we don't have to leave the original in the car? I'm worried that the car will be stolen with my street address clearly printed on the registration papers, so I'd prefer to have a copy with each of the drivers, which would avoid the problem.

A. You could be found in violation if you did that because state law requires that the original registration papers be in the vehicle when it's being driven, according to city motor vehicle license administrator Dennis Kamimura.

Phone: 535-2454 and leave a message with your name and daytime telephone number.