Question: Is there a four-hour parking limit at Ward Warehouse? I went to the movies, lunch and shopping and got a parking violation notice. There’s no sign about a time limit and nothing on the website.
Answer: No. “There is no set time limit for parking at Ward Warehouse. We do have a parking monitor who checks the property regularly to help ensure that we have ample parking available for our guests,” said Bobbie Lau, senior general manager of Ward Village, the shopping, dining and entertainment complex in Kakaako that includes Ward Warehouse, Ward Centre and the Ward 16 Theatres.
You described the notice you received as stating that parking was for Ward Village customers only and that your vehicle had been there too long. It documented your license plate (with a digital photo) and said that future infractions could bring fines or cause your car to be towed. The warning carried no immediate penalty.
Any customer who received a parking violation notice may call the Ward Village Management Office at 591-8411, said Lau, who hoped to communicate with you directly.
When Kokua Line followed up with you, you confirmed that you had heard from Lau and that the issue was resolved to your satisfaction. Your understanding is that the parking violation notice was issued in error and that the image of your license plate would be deleted.
Free parking is at a premium in Kakaako. Ward Village parking monitors work to ensure that the more than 4,000 parking spaces are available to people with business there, not taken up by others who walk to some other nearby destination. You expressed no complaint about that, but did emphasize that with so much to do at Ward Village, a paying customer could easily be there for hours and hours.
Q: I am fed up with my phone company. We’ve been going back and forth about outages and charges for months. … Is there any regulatory agency that I can file a complaint with?
A: Yes, everyday people may file informal or formal complaints with the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission, which is charged with protecting the public interest by regulating telecommunications companies and other public utilities to ensure that they provide “reliable service at just and reasonable rates.”
After trying to resolve a dispute directly with the company, you may wish to file an informal complaint with the PUC. If that doesn’t help, you may choose to file a formal complaint, which follows more stringent filing requirements and carries a $30 filing fee. You can find out more about both options at puc.hawaii.gov/filing/complaint/.
You mentioned that this dispute is ongoing. If you have not done so already, keep careful records of your communication with the company going forward. Note the date and time of each exchange, the name of the company representative with whom you spoke and whatever information he or she provided. Records of these interactions will be important to include in your complaint with the PUC, should you decide to file one.
Road repaving
Several readers called or emailed to say they had trouble accessing the city’s online, searchable list and map of recently completed, ongoing or planned road repaving projects that we cited in Tuesday’s column. Kokua Line provided a shortened, direct link that worked fine for many readers, but not all.
So here’s the long way to the site: Go to honolulu.gov. Click on the Departments tab to reveal a pull-down menu. Hover over Executive Branch in the pull-down menu; a list of departments will appear. Click on Design and Construction, which will take you to that department’s main page. Once there, click on Road Repaving Update, which will take you to the Web page with the links to the “Updated Road Repaving Map” and “Full list of road repaving projects (now-2017).”
Readers also may reach the site by clicking on “Road Repaving Update” in the Hot Links section of honolulu.gov.
Mahalo
Mahalo to the man who found my car keys in the Longs Pearl City parking lot on March 22. I was so happy that this good man turned them in to Longs Pharmacy. I forgot to ask his name. I am so grateful. God bless you. — Thank you, EFS
Write to “Kokua Line” at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 7 Water-front Plaza, Suite 210, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Honolulu 96813; call 529-4773; fax 529-4750; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.
