Outdoor Circle will record any complaints about signs

Question: I’ve seen a proliferation of signs nailed on utility poles in the Kaimuki area. They are about 32 by 24 inches, are made of a corrugated plastic and advertise towing or home buying services, with phone numbers. Are these legal, and whom should I contact to have them removed?

Answer: Call The Outdoor Circle at 593-0300 to file a complaint about an illegal sign, said Bob Loy, director of environmental programs.

The signs you describe “definitely violate the sign law,” and “in fact it also is a criminal violation to post any signs on utility poles,” Loy said.

He cited Section 445-114 of the Hawaii Revised Statutes — “Unlawful posting in public places” — and Section 29-4.4 of the Revised Ordinances of Hono­lulu, which prohibits posting or displaying “any notice, poster or other paper or device, calculated to attract the attention of the public, to any lamppost, public utility pole or shade tree, or upon any public structure or building” except as authorized by law.

Depending on where the violation occurs, the Outdoor Circle, a nonprofit watchdog group, generally will report illegal-sign complaints to the state Department of Transportation or the city Department of Planning and Permitting, either for removal or enforcement.

“If it is appropriate and feasible, we often directly contact those who illegally post signs and ask them to voluntarily remove the signs to spare taxpayers the expense of enforcement,” Loy said. “That approach usually is effective, but not always.”

The problem, he says, is a loss in the number of sign inspectors, resulting in it taking weeks or months for a complaint to be investigated,

“Sign inspections are just one of the regulatory areas that has been depleted through attrition,” Loy said. “In fact the same inspectors that investigate sign complaints also have other, arguably more important duties such as inspecting kupuna care homes.”

Art Challacombe, chief of customer services for Planning and Permitting, concedes “there are sometimes delays regarding sign complaint investigations.”

The two main reasons, he said, are the large volume of complaints and the increasing demand on inspectors for higher-priority, safety investigations.

“In the past three years we have responded to an average of 720 complaints per year,” Challacombe said.

While sign complaints are “very important,” they sometimes have to be deferred in favor of “life safety complaints/inspections,” he said.

 In the meantime, Loy said, “The Outdoor Circle believes that Hono­lulu residents want to keep our neighborhoods as free from illegal and inappropriate signage as possible, and we are committed to doing whatever we can to make that possible.”

Question: Politicians are already posting signs on fences in Maka­kilo. Is this legal?

Answer: Yes, as long as the signs are on private property; campaign signs are not allowed on public property.

Campaign signs are protected under the First Amendment as free speech, and there is no restriction as to how far in advance of an election they can be posted and when they have to be taken down post-election.

The Outdoor Circle has lobbied to require campaign signs to be taken down 10 days after an election but has been unsuccessful.

Mahalo

To Ailana Molina. I was stopped at a light at Kalakaua and King, stuck in fifth gear with a gear-shift lever that had become disconnected from the manual transmission. As I began dialing 911, there was Ailana at my window, in the middle of traffic, asking, “Sir, do you need help?” She was driving by, noticed my plight and pulled into a gas station around the corner and walked back to offer assistance. By the time the police arrived, she had called a tow truck. She and the policeman pushed me to the station, and she waited with me until the tow truck arrived. She is the embodiment of the gracious ohana that makes Hawaii so special. — Tom

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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.