Question: Numerous retired people, including myself, play at the Ala Moana tennis courts daily. The cracks on some courts were 1 to 3 inches wide, making matches quite challenging. About four months ago the city Department of Parks and Recreation completed a lengthy process of resurfacing all 10 courts. We all concluded that the work was mostly cosmetic. Cracks reappeared a few weeks after the work was completed. Park employees write it off to ground movement, so why was that not taken into consideration when the work was put out to bid? The city needs to do a better job of planning and maintaining our recreation facilities and not waste tax dollars on short-term cosmetic repairs.
Answer: The courts were not resurfaced with new asphalt, which would have been too costly a project, although the work done was more than cosmetic.
The $170,000 project entailed patching the old, cracked asphalt surfaces, said Jason Woll, parks grounds improvement supervisor for Parks and Recreation.
The contractor, All Court Hawaii, did “a pretty good job … making it look brand new,” he said. “But it’s old asphalt, so cracks will develop and do happen.”
There are 10 courts at Ala Moana — five on the mauka side and five on the makai side, plus one practice court.
The cracks on the mauka side were “pretty extensive, structural cracks … deep and wide,” Woll said. For those courts a product called Guardian was used.
To apply Guardian, workers had to strip down several layers of coating to bare asphalt, “grind out the cracks and fill the cracks,” before laying rolls of the flexible product over the cracks, then re-coat and re-stripe the courts.
“That process took a while,” Woll said. It took six to eight weeks for all 11 courts to be patched.
Work on the mauka and practice courts accounted for a little more than $100,000 of the total cost.
For the Ala Moana project, having to strip several layers of coating down to the bare asphalt was “not part of (the contractor’s) expected work, so they ate that cost,” Woll said.
Resurfacing would have been the better way to go if funding was available and parks projects were higher on the community’s list of priorities. “But we just don’t have the money,” Woll said, estimating it would have cost $600,000 to resurface the courts.
“So what we are at least trying to do is some preventive maintenance … where we can keep things safe and playable and usable” for a few more years, he said. Despite the cracking, he said the tennis complex is “10 times better than what it was.”
See is.gd/ypVK7b for information from Racquet Sports Industry magazine about cracks in asphalt courts.
Question: What is the law regarding parking in a handicap van-accessible stall in Hawaii?
Answer: Any vehicle with a valid placard/license can park in a van-accessible stall.
However, the state Disability and Communications Access Board says if you have a standard vehicle and a choice to park in a van-accessible or standard space, “do not occupy the van space. Your action will allow a person who uses a van to make use of the space.”
For information go to hawaii.gov/health/dcab/parkingusersguide or call 586-8121.
Mahalo
To a kind man. I took my grandkids to the Olomana golf range last month. After they hit a bucket of balls, I gave my 8-year-old grandson $2 to get a half bucket. When he returned, he said a man gave him $1 to help pay for it. I thought a half bucket was $2 since a full bucket is $4, but it’s $3. My grandson had thanked the man, and I went to the pro shop to thank him and repay the $1, but to no avail. My grandson is too young to really know what went on, and I know it’s just a dollar, but the gesture was priceless to us. I hope he had a great round of golf. — Papa Ray
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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.
