Question: My mother lives on the mainland but will be spending more time in Hawaii with me now that she needs more care and we are sharing the caregiving among family members. She is deciding where it would be best to stay permanently but hasn’t decided yet. Can she use her handicapped-parking permit from home, or does she need to get a new one here? If she needs to get a new one, how do we go about that? I would like it ready when she gets here.
Answer: You mom can use her disability parking placard issued by another state when she is in Hawaii, as long it is not expired, according to the state Disability and Communication Access Board.
If she wants a Hawaii placard, she may apply for one as any full-time Hawaii resident would, by filling out the paperwork, visiting a Hawaii doctor who will certify that she is eligible and submitting the application. See the instructions at 808ne.ws/placard.
The state does not issue special disability parking permits for part-time residents.
Q: I have guests arriving in less than two weeks, first-time visitors to Oahu. One place I wanted to take them to is the Pali Lookout. Will that be accessible in light of the Pali Highway road closures?
A: Nuuanu Pali State Wayside, site of the scenic and windy overlook, remained closed as of deadline Thursday, and it’s too soon to say when it will reopen. A spokesman for the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, which oversees the park, said DLNR is working with the state Department of Transportation to determine whether it’s safe and feasible to allow access to the Pali Lookout. Updates will be provided as soon as they are available, he said.
The highway itself reopened Thursday for one-way traffic during limited hours (the morning and evening commutes) after being closed since Monday due to multiple landslides. To be clear, it was open only one direction at a time during “rush hour” and closed completely outside those hours. Crews are stabilizing slopes near the tunnels, work that is expected to take months.
In answer to another reader, who was annoyed that a website did not alert would-be visitors to the Pali Lookout closure: You were looking at the wrong website. Numerous commercial and personal websites highlight Hawaii attractions but rarely if ever update the information. The DLNR’s website for Nuuanu Pali State Wayside does highlight the closure. You and others can check for updates there, at 808ne.ws/palilook.
Mahalo
A big mahalo to the three young men who helped me push my stalled car off Kamehameha Highway onto a driveway next to the Kaneohe Jiffy Lube on Feb. 15. They rushed back to their truck, which was still on the main road, so I didn’t get a chance to get their names or the company they worked for. It was very stressful being in a stalled car on a main thoroughfare, but I am very grateful to those young men for their aloha and help. It is nice to know that people still help each other out in times of need. — K.T.
Mahalo
On Jan. 19 I dropped my (license) ID in the TSA security line near Hawaiian Airlines. My bag had already gone through, and TSA agents kept pressing me to go through, stating that an agent would help on the other side. No one seemed to care until a younger TSA agent offered to look for it. Not able to find it, she said she would run it to the gate if it was found. The plane departed but had a mechanical issue and returned to gate. A flight attendant brought the ID to me, saying the TSA agent just missed me. For once I was happy with a delay! I hope she is reading this. Mahalo! — Grateful traveler
Write to Kokua Line at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Honolulu 96813; call 529-4773; fax 529-4750; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.
