BUREAUCRACY BUSTER

By Robbie Dingeman
Advertiser Staff Writer

Q. We did a service project for our school by cleaning up the litter at the Old Pali Highway trailhead, past the front entrance of the Ko'olau Golf Course. The area keeps getting trashed after it's cleaned up. Why can't the city put a Dumpster there?

A. The mayor's office said the city won't put a Dumpster there because people will use it for more than just cleaning up the area. Your question got all the way to Mayor Mufi Hannemann, and he said Dumpsters attract people who want to

illegally dump their garbage. He pointed to Dumpsters at schools, which often have problems with people dumping rubbish after school hours.

Hannemann said the city tries to help by picking up bags of litter from cleanup crews like yours.

Q. Why doesn't the city go paperless as an option to having applicants stand in line every summer for Summer Fun registration or other classes offered by the city Department of Parks and Recreation? For some reason, the workers make it inconvenient for parents and residents when it seems like they could use computers to make the process quicker and easier for everyone.

A. City Parks and Recreation Director Les Chang said they've considered an online system, but so far it's been too complicated and expensive to create for their programs.

"An online system would be complex and difficult to set up, simply because of the number of parks and the fact that there are limited spaces available," Chang said. That means "if demand exceeds the spaces, someone has to go on a waiting list." He said putting once-a-year events like Summer Fun registration into the system "would be cost-prohibitive."

Travel tips

Some weeks back, a reader worried about keeping safe from thieves during a European vacation. Kailua resident Myrna Zezza travels frequently and called to pass on some other tips.

She recommends carrying a money belt around your waist or ankle or under your clothes. And she said that some travel clothing catalogs (such as Magellan's Travel Supplies) sell specially tailored trousers with hidden pockets to help keep money safe. While traveler's checks can be useful, Zezza found that a number of places won't accept them, so she prefers using an ATM card to get smaller amounts of cash.

If you have a question or a problem and need help getting to the right person, you can reach The Bureaucracy Buster one of three ways.

Write to:

The Bureaucracy Buster
The Honolulu Advertiser
605 Kapi'olani Blvd.
Honolulu, HI 96813

E-mail: buster@honoluluadvertiser.com

Phone: 535-2454 and leave a message. Be sure to give us your name and daytime telephone number in case we need more information.