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Question: Please help us to get the Board of Water Supply to remove their equipment from our extremely scarce street parking space on the 3700 block of Mariposa Drive. They used the equipment in September and have just left it on the street, using up our street parking spaces. People living here have been parking two blocks away for several months.
Answer: The equipment will be removed this week, according to BWS spokeswoman Kathleen M. Elliott-Pahinui, who also said why it’s been there. Here is her full response:
“The Board of Water Supply appreciates the understanding of area residents affected by its contractor’s use of street space to park the construction equipment. The equipment is used daily for the ongoing Wilhelmina Rise Water System Improvements, Part IV project. The contractor, who has a street usage permit that allows for on-street parking of equipment, will be removing the equipment from the neighborhood this week, since they will take a break for the holiday season. The contractor will resume work in early January but will park the equipment at a different site.”
Wilhelmina Rise Water System Improvements, Part IV involves replacing about 11,000 feet of aging 8-inch water main on Sierra Drive from Wilhelmina Rise to Fire Hydrant M01653 and along Mariposa Drive and Nihipali, Lilinoe, Niele, Nioi and Palua places, according the BWS website, which says work began in November 2015. It was originally projected to be finished by January 2017.
The BWS says the project will improve fire protection and water-service reliability in the area as pipes installed from the 1930s to the 1960s are replaced.
Work generally occurs Mondays through Fridays from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and, as you know, disrupts traffic and street parking in the affected neighborhoods.
Q: Is it too late to run in the marathon?
A: No. You may register in person through Saturday afternoon. This late-registration option is available at the Honolulu Marathon Expo at the Hawai‘i Convention Center today from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The annual marathon kicks off Sunday at 5 a.m. Late registration costs $340, with a discount to $85 for active-duty military, according to the race website.
Q: When they say the unemployment rate is 2.2 percent, how many people is that?
A: 15,150, according to October’s record-low unemployment statistics for the state of Hawaii. The seasonally adjusted civilian labor force that month included 686,600, 671,450 of whom were working and 15,140 of whom were not, for an unemployment rate of 2.2 percent, according to the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.
Auwe
Auwe to the chicken “owners” who tire of their hobby and don’t care where poultry they brought into the neighborhood ends up and reproduces. Urban “farming” shouldn’t be a fad. If you’re going to do it, take responsibility. Don’t let your chickens loose because you don’t want to take care of them anymore but don’t have the heart to kill them. — Tired of the crowing
Mahalo
I want to say thank you to the person who found my gold bracelet at Macy’s Ala Moana on Nov. 19. It was during the “Night of Stars” event. It was found in the first-floor women’s restroom. After searching at home and trying to remember when I last wore the bracelet, I just took a chance by going to the Lost and Found Department at Macy’s and inquiring about my bracelet. Imagine my shock upon learning that an honest person had found and turned in my bracelet to the store. I thought it was lost forever. Again, thank you very much. — S.H.
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.
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