Question: Aren’t cars parked within 4 feet of a driveway supposed to be towed?
Answer: “The Traffic Code authorizes, but does not mandate, the police to remove and store vehicles that are parked within four feet of a driveway. However, citations shall be issued for all violations, and a vehicle that encroaches upon a driveway area and impedes the ingress and egress shall be towed,” according to the Honolulu Police Department’s policy No. 6.07.
Honolulu County’s Traffic Code is Chapter 15 of the Revised Ordinances of Honolulu. Section 15-13.9 authorizes HPD and the city’s Department of Customer Services to have vehicles towed under 26 circumstances, including (No. 9) when a vehicle is parked in front of a public or private driveway in a way that obstructs vehicular traffic trying to enter or exit the driveway, and (No. 12) when a vehicle is parked within 4 feet of either side of a public or private driveway.
Find the full list of circumstances at honolulu.gov/ocs/roh.html.
Q: Is it true that HPD can’t tow a car that doesn’t have a license plate?
A: No. The municipal law cited in the previous question says (No. 21) that a vehicle left unattended or parked on any public street, road or highway can be towed if it has no valid vehicle registration emblem or an expired vehicle registration emblem; or no valid sticker certifying inspection or an expired inspection sticker; or no valid license plates. One or more of the conditions must be met — not all of them.
Q: Regarding Kaneohe District Park, what about the fun fair? That’s a lot sooner than August soccer.
A: The Makahiki Fun Fair will be held Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon in the upper parking lot of Kaneohe District Park, 45-660 Keaahala Road, according to the city Department of Parks and Recreation.
That parking lot has been closed to vehicular traffic since mid-April because of a sinkhole near the entrance. A DPR spokesperson confirmed by text Friday that the fair would go on as scheduled, but was unavailable for a phone interview to answer further questions.
DPR’s social media says the event, which is sponsored by the Kaneohe Lions Club, will include games, pool activities, food, prizes and family entertainment; admission is free.
Parks and Recreation issued a news release June 23 saying that it hoped to reopen the parking lot to vehicular traffic by August, in time for youth soccer. A solution was elusive because “more and more undermined and structurally compromised areas of the lot” were discovered, the release said.
On Thursday the department issued an update, saying that a temporary solution should have the parking lot fully reopened by Saturday. “Our in-house, specialized maintenance staff have begun performing modifications to the existing driveway entrance to allow passenger vehicle access, bypassing the failed pavement. This involves removing the curbing on both sides, taking away the subsurface, relocating signs, and adding new curbing with asphalt paving,” the update said. Facing the playground, the vehicular entrance will be on the right and the exit on the left, it said.
Also, the sinkhole is being filled with gravel and new barriers are being put up. “The hope is to have this new driveway complete and the parking lot reopened to the public, in time for the park’s Makahiki Fun Fair on Saturday,” the update said.
Mahalo
Many thanks to the customer at Kapahulu Safeway who caught up with me after I mistakenly dropped my license plate emblem after using the motor vehicle registration kiosk. All that convenience would have been out the window if I had lost the emblem. Mahalo for returning it to me.
— A reader
Write to Kokua Line at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Suite 7-500, Honolulu, HI 96813; call 808-529-4773; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.
