Question: Any update on Foster Botanical Garden? It’s almost the end of the summer.
Answer: Yes, the 14-acre urban oasis at 180 N. Vineyard Blvd. in Honolulu is scheduled to reopen Monday after being closed since Feb. 13 for renovations to improve accessibility for people with disabilities. Honolulu’s Department of Parks and Recreation had originally expected the work to take 11 weeks, and after various delays said in early June that the park would reopen by the end of the summer.
Now that the reopening is set, with regular hours of 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. to resume on Monday, people holding annual passes valid during the closure (from Feb. 13-Aug. 13) will have their passes extended by seven months from the original expiration dates, DPR said in a news release Friday.
“We really appreciate the public’s patience while we worked with the contractor, park and garden staff, and our counterparts in the Department of Design and Construction to finish several efforts within this popular urban garden,” said Joshlyn Sand, director of the Honolulu Botanical Gardens. “It is evident through the many inquiries we received about the garden how beloved this location is to kama‘aina and malihini alike. To show our appreciation, we are extending the expiration date for garden visitors holding annual passes valid during the closure period.”
The finished work improves accessibility at Foster’s entrance, bathrooms, community garden and along the botanical gardens pathways, the news release said. Unforeseen circumstances extended the project, including the presence of a historic wall near the Conservatory and buried utilities at the park’s entrance; construction plans had to be reviewed and modified. Some work in a separate project remains to be done, including the demolition of an old annex building, but that will be done by the city and won’t require the park to close, the news release said.
Foster Botanical Garden is the oldest of the city’s five botanical gardens and has hundreds of species of tropical plants, flowers and trees, some of which were planted in the 1850s. See bit.ly/VirtualFosterGarden for a history of the garden and a virtual tour.
Q: This is minor compared to the death and destruction that has occurred, but could you please find out what people who lived in Lahaina are supposed to do about receiving their mail?
A: The U.S. Postal Service is working on setting up an alternative service location, but before it can do that “we must complete our assessment of the impact of the fires on our own facilities and employees,” spokesperson Duke Gonzales said in an email Thursday.
The agency had previously announced the closures of the Lahaina Main Post Office at 1760 Honoapiilani Highway, and the Lahaina Downtown Post Office at 132 Papalaua St., due to the fires. “Mail service for customers of these offices will be relocated to nearby USPS facilities as soon as all Maui postal facilities have been assessed and transportation routes are open. An announcement of the alternate service locations will be made as soon as that information is available, according to a news release Wednesday.
Some customers may be able to sign up for a temporary forwarding service online at USPS.com.
Pali Night Work
Night work on the Pali Highway from Vineyard Boulevard to the Wylie Street Interchange has been postponed. It had been scheduled to start Sunday, but has been pushed back to Aug. 20, the state Department of Transportation said. Once it gets underway “paving operations will occur nightly, from Sunday nights through Friday mornings, from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. Motorists can expect one to two lane closures at a time, with one lane always remaining open in both directions,” DOT said.
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.
