Question: Is there any law that prohibits posting signs on utility poles? In Aiea and Pearl City, I counted four signs that say "We buy and sell houses."
Answer: The state and city each have laws prohibiting the plastering of any kind of notice on utility poles.
Section 29-4.4(7) of the Revised Ordinances of Honolulu says no person shall "post, affix or display 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 may be authorized by law."
State law is more specific, with Section 445-115 of the Hawaii Revised Statutes saying "it shall be unlawful for any person to paste, post, paint, print, nail, tack, or otherwise fasten any card, banner, handbill, sign, poster, outdoor advertising device, or notice of any kind or cause the same to be done, on any curbstone, lamppost, utility pole, streetlight pole, hydrant, bridge, tree, street sign, traffic sign, or traffic light upon any public property in the state," except as legally authorized.
The problem is enforcement. The Honolulu Police Department has told us in the past that an officer has to catch someone in the act of posting a flier before issuing a citation. It doesn’t matter that a name and phone number is on the flier.
The last time we addressed this issue, in 2008, we described how The Outdoor Circle was fighting to stop the "visual pollution."
Five years later the organization says it has seen "a noticeable drop-off in the blanketing of entire areas with fliers, such as South Beretania Street and other thoroughfares."
"We still see fliers posted in extremely high traffic areas, such as Dillingham Boulevard and Nimitz Highway, near the Costco/Home Depot big-box store district," as well as "high-traffic recreation areas such as Sandy Beach," said Bob Loy, director of environmental programs. "Promoters know that folks flock to these areas, so they love to post fliers on nearby poles."
But, overall, Loy attributes an improvement "to our strategy of speaking directly to the venue owners and convincing them to pressure promoters to stop the illegal flier posting. Not only have we found these folks willing to collaborate on the problem, the voluntary compliance has reduced the need to ask already overworked county enforcers to step in."
He encourages anyone who sees illegally posted fliers or other "inappropriate" advertisements to call The Outdoor Circle at 593-0300.
"We will be happy to report violations to the county for enforcement action and, in many cases, directly contact those who posted the signs to provide them with relevant sign code information and ask for their kokua," Loy said.
The Outdoor Circle has an informative sign brochure at www.outdoorcircle.org/blog/detail/signs-brochure; or call 593-0300 to get a hard copy.
Question: Periodically, I see volunteers cleaning the H-2 freeway and putting orange bags of rubbish along the road for pickup. Those bags stay out for several days to where some break open and the rubbish is all over the road again. Is there no coordination in picking up those bags?
Answer: The state Department of Transportation thanks you for bringing this to its attention.
"We will work closely with our Adopt-a-Highway groups and maintenance crews to help make sure there is coordination and trash is picked up in a timely manner," said spokeswoman Caroline Sluyter. If you see a problem, call 831-6712.
Sluyter explained that after finishing a cleanup, the volunteer group is asked to email or fax a report to the Oahu Highways District office within two days. See hidot.hawaii.gov/highways/home/doing-business/adopt-a-highway.
"Our goal is to remove the bags within a week," Sluyter said.
MAHALO
To the kind and honest person who found my paycheck and mailed it to me. Unfortunately, there was no return address on the envelope. God bless you. — Grateful Student
