BUREAUCRACY BUSTER

By Robbie Dingeman
Advertiser Staff Writer

Q. I have a concern about exit No. 7310, the Moanalua Freeway westbound off-ramp to Tripler Army Medical Center. Between 7 and 8 a.m. there's a problem there. I think the traffic light at the top is too short and should be lengthened so the traffic doesn't back up onto the freeway. Can the light be extended like they did to the Fort Shafter light at Middle and King streets?

A. The official word is maybe.

State Transportation Department spokesman Scott Ishikawa said officials will investigate your suggestion about changing the traffic signals in this area as part of an upcoming project "to optimize various traffic signals on O'ahu." He said this project is expected to start late this year.

"The balancing act we face is when we increase the green light timing for one direction, we have to observe how it affects traffic along the other streets," Ishikawa said.

Q. I have a complaint about some large trees on Pono Street in the Pearl City area that are blocking signs and lights. What can be done?

A. City urban-forestry expert Stan Oka said those trees that you describe — two mango trees and one avocado — are privately owned. He said that sometimes, if the job is small, city crews are able to trim trees to clear a public area. In this case, the supervisor referred the concern to Honolulu police, who are then expected to contact the owners.

Nuisance call update

Kane'ohe resident Mike Reilly reports back that those nuisance telephone calls he was getting for weeks in the middle of the night finally have come to an end.

Reilly wrote to the Bureaucracy Buster earlier because he was frustrated by a series of calls that disturbed his family after 3 a.m. for weeks. Reilly hadn't been able to trace the calls and learned from the telephone company only that the calls were coming from a long-distance trunk line.

He said Hawaiian Telcom had him forward his calls during the night until they received a fax from a company on the East Coast that Reilly's wife had done business with. It turned out a computer was programmed to automatically send a fax to the numbers on a list and would redial when the fax wasn't received.

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.