BUREAUCRACY BUSTER

By Robbie Dingeman
Advertiser Staff Writer

Q. What's going on with the city's street signs? I reported a missing sign in my neighborhood in Nanakuli months ago and it's still missing. Why is it taking so long to replace?

A. The city Department of Facilities Maintenance is responsible for replacing those green street signs that you are describing. You reported the missing sign at Haleakala Avenue and Nanaikala Street but other communities have been waiting for their signs as well, said city facilities maintenance director Laverne Higa.

That's because the city road division crews use a special reflective tape for the letters that spell out the words on the green signs, she said.

Higa said the distributor here was out of the tape and the department had been waiting for the order to arrive from the manufacturer on the Mainland. She said the tape just came in this week and your sign will be installed within the next two weeks.

Q: I know that there was a law passed that stores would charge five cents on each beverage container bought, but I noticed recently that some stores charge six cents. Is this legal?

A. Yes, it's legal because that's the way the state set up the program. The state law that created the new program to charge a nickel deposit on beverage containers also initiated a penny-per-container fee to be used to run the beverage container deposit program. So, generally you may expect to see two fees on your cash-register receipt: one for the HI 5¢ beverage deposit, which you get back if you take the container to a redemption center, and the container fee, which you don't get back.

Q. Here in Wai'anae, we don't have a place to take our recyclables. We have to go to Nanakuli, but even then, every time we go there, they say that their glass container is full.

A. State Health Department official Genevieve Salmonson said her office continues to work with the private businesses that run the recycling centers to try to resolve complaints and make the system work for everyone.

A call to the Health Department with specific complaints like yours may help them track any problems and find out where improvements can be made.

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.