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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Thursday, October 11, 2007

BUREAUCRACY BUSTER
Ask first, then place the parrot

By Treena Shapiro
Advertiser Columnist

StoryChat: Comment on this story

Q. My son was looking at a man's collection of tropical birds in Waikiki when the bird-owner decided to put a parrot on my son's head. Is it OK to put an animal on someone's body without permission? Also, why are those guys allowed to charge you for taking a photo with your own camera?

A. Interesting question, because the answer depends entirely on the individual's reaction. What might bother one person might amuse another, a Waikiki police officer pointed out.

However, the officer said that it's not OK to harass people, so anyone offended by a parrot placement should report the problem to police. As for making people pay to take photos with their own cameras, did the man actually charge for the photos? That's not allowed, police say. Asking for donations, on the other hand, is legal, as long as it's a request, not a demand.

"Asking them flat-out for money, that's peddling," which would be illegal, the officer said. "Asking for a donation is legal."

If you refuse to offer a donation and the person requesting it gets upset, the situation should be reported to the police.

Q. My neighbors have been parking their lunchwagon across the street from my house for the past month. Before the University of Hawai'i resumed classes, they moved it once a week about a foot or so. Now that school has started, they take it out for the lunch crowd and leave their car parked in its place. Then, when lunch is over, the lunchwagon is back. I live in a residential neighborhood of Manoa. Is this legal? The lunchwagon is wide, hard to see around and takes up quite a bit of road. Why can't they park their commercial vehicle in front of their own house?

A. Have you asked your neighbors if they would be willing to park somewhere else? I ask because according to the Honolulu Police Department Traffic Division, lunchwagons are bound by the same parking laws as other vehicles when they're not in operation, which means they probably are parking legally.

The only obvious violation from your description is leaving the wagon parked in one place for a week at a time, but it doesn't sound like that's happening now.

I'm assuming it's not an exceptionally large lunchwagon, but if it does happen to weigh more than 10,000 pounds or is longer than 20 feet, you neighbors can only park it on public streets for four hours at a time.

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