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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Thursday, March 1, 2007

BUREAUCRACY BUSTER
Runaway sprinklers repaired

By Robbie Dingeman
Advertiser Columnist

Q. What can be done about those sprinklers along the freeway in Kaimuki going town-bound that seem to run wild pretty often? You can see them on the right side of the H-1 near the Harding Avenue overpass.

A. State highway maintenance crews think the sprinklers are working properly now and have been in recent weeks. But toward the end of last year, state Transportation Department spokesman Scott Ishikawa said vandals caused a series of problems.

"Someone late at night was breaking off the sprinkler heads and turning the water on along the H-1 in the Kaimuki area, causing it to spray near the houses and onto the freeway below," he said.

State crews would turn off the water but then find it happening again on other nights. Ishikawa said the staff periodically checks the area, which seems to have helped discourage those responsible.

He said it's unfortunate that people have to keep watch over problems like that instead of using that time to do proactive maintenance work on state highways.

Ishikawa asks that people in the area call police at 911 to report suspicious activity they see in that area or along the freeways.

Q. With so many people working at the Honolulu International Airport and traveling through there, why are there so few automated teller machines there?

A. State transportation spokesman Scott Ishikawa said you raise a good question that others have asked. He said there are eight teller machines at the airport and that the number is likely to go up soon.

"We are working on new concession agreements for ATMs at our airports statewide, so it is likely that number will increase under the new concession agreements," he said.

Ishikawa said the state is concerned about adding the bank machines on the outside portion of the airports — before the security checkpoints — because that makes them more vulnerable to vandalism or tampering, especially during the early morning hours at the airport when few people are around.

ATMs at the airport are in the main terminal's central lobby, near gates 12-13 and in the interisland terminal, according to the airport Web site, www.honoluluairport .com.

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