CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARADVERTISER.COM
An electrical issue at Kauikeaouli Hale created problems with elevator use at the courts building.
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Elevator workers were trying to determine Monday what caused Honolulu District Court elevators to malfunction for the second time in less than a week, resulting in a long line of people trying to get in to the Alakea Street building.
Although there were delays, no court hearings were canceled or postponed Monday, said Mark Santoki, spokesman for the state Judiciary. Some hearings had been postponed Wednesday because of the elevator problems.
On Monday morning none of the four elevators was running at first. By 10 a.m. two elevators were operating, and the backlog of people in the lobby area had cleared, Santoki said.
Escalators in the building extend to the fourth floor of the 11-story building, but the public uses services on some of the higher floors. The escalator, which usually goes down only, was reversed to allow people to travel up, Santoki said.
Officials decided not to have people use a fire exit stairwell because it was not designed for a large number of people, he said.
On Wednesday a partial electrical failure resulted in a water outage on the fourth floor, because water is supplied by an electrical pump system. Three of four elevators were not working for a time, and afternoon court proceedings were canceled.