There goes the neighborhood: Troublesome neighbors can change laws

For decades, neighbors endured Mark Char’s taunts and threats. There were times he walked around his Halolani Street home in Ewa with a crossbow in hand. He called the cops when vehicles were parked too close to his or anyone else’s driveway. He roamed through nearby streets looking for parking scofflaws.

“One time we had over 40 cars that got towed away,” said Davina Elgarico, who lives two streets away from Char’s residence. Char is now behind bars on $2 million bail in connection with an unrelated road-rage incident.

Elgarico sought help from the Honolulu City Council to exempt their streets from a law that prohibits cars from parking within 4 feet of a driveway — largely to defend against Char’s frequent calls to police about illegally parked cars.

The Ewa case may be an extreme example of a neighborhood dispute, but it highlights how difficult it can be to resolve issues. Most neighborhood disputes can be settled amicably between the parties involved, but when all else fails, residents have options that include mediation, petitioning for a restraining order — and in rare cases, advocating a change in law.

A bill authorizing the parking exemption passed in March, even though Elgarico was never able get anyone on Halolani Street to sign the petition — they feared retaliation. “Even though I said it could be anonymous, they said they were scared. They’re worried about their kids and grandkids,” Elgarico said.

Calling police also is an option if someone acts in a violent or threatening manner. Several of Char’s neighbors who met with police officials at the Kapolei station were told that a terroristic threatening complaint could be filed, but no one did, fearing it would make matters worse, said Kurt Fevella, Elgarico’s brother and a neighborhood board member.

Char’s complaints about parking scofflaws forced his neighbors to seek parking on adjacent streets. That, in turn, caused problems for those who lived on those neighboring streets. Elgarico contacted City Councilman Ron Menor for help, and he introduced a bill after seeing the parking situation firsthand.

The new ordinance relaxes parking restrictions on Halolani and Maliko streets and a portion of Auwaha Street. Menor said he supported the measure because the subdivision was built in a way that “there was no way for residents to park on their streets” without risk of being cited — “not to resolve a dispute among neighbors.”

But it did address a longstanding problem. When Char subsequently called police to ticket vehicles, no law was being broken.

The parking exemption was a highly unusual request, but a necessary one, Council members determined.

“That’s an extreme case,” said City Councilman Joey Manahan, whose transportation committee heard the measure. “The neighbors came out and they testified … certainly the ordinance is justified.”

Manahan said Council members often field calls reporting neighbor-to-neighbor disputes, whether it stems from noise complaints or other problems. “We try to encourage them to … work it out peacefully. That would be the best way. Because at the end of the day they’re still going to be neighbors,” he said. But in some cases, a new law is needed to get results.

A 2013 city ordinance that outlines enforcement for unkempt properties was a result of many Kahala residents complaining about the eyesore properties of Japanese billionaire Genshiro Kawamoto, who purchased several residences along Kahala Avenue but let them deteriorate before selling them to Alexander &Baldwin.

That law outlined procedures for citing and fining owners of properties that are overgrown with weeds or cluttered with excessive amounts of trash. “Usually the last resort is an ordinance,” Manahan said.

When police or politicians aren’t the best sources to clear up a dispute, some residents try to navigate the judicial system to address their neighbor conflicts. Mediation — a process in which an impartial mediator helps guide the parties to resolve a dispute voluntarily and informally — is often available through court referrals, said Cecelia Chang, director of the state Judiciary’s Center for Alternative Dispute Resolution (CADR).

Judges in all Circuit, District and Family Courts, as well as volunteers at the Judiciary Self Help Centers, refer hundreds of cases to the community mediation centers every year, some of which include neighbor disputes. In the fiscal year ending July 31, 7,762 clients were served by mediation in the courts, statistics show.

If a neighborhood dispute does not involve violence or the threat of violence, mediation is perhaps a better venue, said Tracey Wiltgen, executive director of The Mediation Center of the Pacific. A nominal fee is charged for services.

“What kinds of cases are appropriate? My neighbor is really noisy, the kids have parties in their garage next door, my neighbor’s dog barks, my neighbor’s tree is huge and the roots are coming into my yard, wall encroachments. … There are all kinds of things that arise nowadays,” she said.

Mediation allows each side to present their perspective as a “neutral” helps them negotiate potential agreements. Not all cases are ideal for mediation, however. “If you have somebody who is potentially violent, if a neighbor is afraid, it wouldn’t be appropriate for mediation,” Wiltgen said.

Chang said the courts encourage mediation. “Not only is it healthy, it is cost-effective,” she said. “Rather than have a judge or jury issue a verdict, (the parties) can determine their own settlement. They’re not bound by the structure of the court system.”

If a neighborhood dispute involves a client concerned for his or her safety, there also is the option to petition the court for a temporary restraining order (TRO), said Tammy Mori, a spokeswoman for the Hawaii State Judiciary.

There are two types of TROs — domestic and non-family. Non-family member cases, which would include neighbor complaints, are handled at Honolulu District Court in the third-floor legal documents branch.

“Anyone can apply for a TRO,” Mori said, noting an applicant, or petitioner, must fill out a three-page form that includes a declaration of why he or she feels threatened. There is a $15 filing fee and a decision by a judge on whether to grant the restraining order temporarily is made on the same or next business day, Mori said.

The TRO must be served on the respondent. A hearing date is scheduled if the TRO is granted. At the hearing, a judge hears both sides to determine whether an order of injunction should be granted for up to three years.

In the case of neighbors, the judge would provide reasonable terms so as not to force someone from their home, Mori said. For instance, the TRO could prohibit someone from entering the petitioner’s property, among other conditions, she said. Violating the conditions of a TRO or order of injunction can result in the respondent being charged with a criminal offense.

Sociologists have long found that communities with higher rates of residential mobility have lower social cohesion, lower trust in their neighbors, and more crime and violence, said David Harding, associate professor of sociology at the University of California, Berkeley.

“It’s harder to maintain order when there are fewer ties between neighbors and individuals have less confidence that their neighbors will act collectively to prevent problems,” Harding said in an email. “Trust comes from repeated positive social interaction, but, of course, repeated negative social interactions can have the opposite effect.”