Question: Who is responsible for trimming high grass around a fire hydrant on the city-county street easement? On the mauka, Ewa side of the intersection of Prospect and Miller streets, a fire hydrant is covered by waist-high grass. The hydrant and the yellow posts are not visible. Cars park there during the day and overnight. The blue reflector for the Fire Department was removed by recent street repaving. This is a real safety hazard in case of fire.
Answer: The abutting property owner is responsible for cutting the grass, said Ross S. Sasamura, director of the city’s Department of Facility Maintenance. He said he would report your concern about the overgrowth to the city’s Department of Planning and Permitting, which can cite offending property owners, and the parked cars to the Honolulu Police Department, for investigation. The blue reflector in the street will be replaced.
Sasamura explained that “although the matter involves a concern within the City and County of Honolulu right-of-way, the abutting property owner is responsible for the maintenance of the area between their property line and the curb, or, as applied to this particular situation along an unimproved street, the edge of pavement.”
This is spelled out in Revised Ordinances of Honolulu, Chapter 14, Article 20. To comply, “the property owner, lessee, tenant, property manager, or trustee must keep the area clean and free from weeds and noxious growths,” he said.
DPP enforces ROH Section 14-20, and may charge the property owner for the cost of cleaning the area if the property owner fails to do so after being notified.
While Sasamura took care of forwarding the complaint in this case, Oahu residents and visitors affected by overgrowth and/or parked vehicles that obstruct safe passage between the edge of a paved city street and the property line of an abutting property are encouraged to report the problem to the city’s Department of Customer Services. You may call 768-4381 or fill out a complaint online at 808ne.ws/probreport.
As for the blue reflector that was removed from the center of the street during recent road repaving, Sasamura said that will be replaced when permanent striping is applied. “The contractor is still working in the area and is not ready for the final striping and marking,” he said.
Q: I got the mailer about voting for the neighborhood board, but I know nothing about the candidates.
A: You can learn a little at 808ne.ws/nabecans, where each candidate was invited to post a photo and write a few sentences about themselves and their goals if elected. After perusing the site, I’d say that the array of people committed to improving their communities is inspiring.
Nonprofits cautioned
The Internal Revenue Service is reminding nonprofit organizations not to include Social Security numbers or other unnecessary personal information on their Form 990. Both the IRS and many tax-exempt organizations are required to publicly disclose most parts of Form 990 filings, including schedules and attachments. Mistakenly including SSNs and other personally identifiable information about donors, clients or benefactors in that paperwork could contribute to identity theft, the IRS warns. The reminder is timely, since many tax-exempt organizations have a Monday filing deadline for Form 990-series information.
Mahalo
Mahalo to all our U.S. service members. I appreciate what you are doing for us. Whenever I go into a store or someplace and see serv- ice personnel, I always tell them, “Thank you.” I think a lot more people should do this, too. — A reader
Write to Kokua Line at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Honolulu 96813; call 529-4773; fax 529-4750; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.
