Saturday, January 16, 2010

State Clears 'Opala Along Makaha Road & Ma`ili Point on 1/16/10

Update: On 1/16/10, in conjunction with the pathway clean-up organized by Women of Wai`anae, AlohaCare, Nani `O Wai`anae, Rep. Maile Shimabukuro, and others, the State Department of Transportation (DOT) cleared the trash piles past Kea`au Beach along Farrington Highway, and near Kaukama Road at Ma`ili Point ("Guardrails"). `Olelo video footage is forthcoming. In the meantime, mahalo nui loa to Pat Coffmin and his Leeward DOT Highway Crew for an excellent job addressing this critical problem. Background information is below.

HPD Major Michael Moses, pictured at the December 2009 "Live & Let Live" opening ceremony, is working hard to try to find solutions to the trash pile problem along the highway past Kea`au Beach.

Here is an update on the issue:

-- On Tue, 1/12/10, Moses, Michael K. S. wrote:

Subject: Re: Question Re: 'Opala piling up along Makaha road
To: maileshimabukuro@yahoo.com
Date: Tuesday, January 12, 2010, 6:00 AM

Rep. Shimabukuro,

HPD, the Department of Parks and Recreation, and the Department of Community Services have been working on strategies to address all the issues at Keaau Beach Park and the undeveloped portions of Keaau.

After DPR cleans and maintains the remainder of Ulehawa Beach park to Maili Point we will all take a hard look at Keaau and hopefully come up with a viable plan. In the meantime HPD will continue its effort to enforce all on-view violations of the law including littering.

The HPD Parks Detail and Community Policing Team regularly engage the illegal campers at Keaau and have given them numerous warnings, issued hundreds of citations for various offenses including littering, however they continue to live in squander and filth.

We will continue our efforts, but it becomes very frustrating when it appears HPD is always called upon to be the answer and solution to these very deep rooted social issues.

You really cannot do anything to assist HPD regarding this problem as there are sufficient laws on the books. You can offer support when we get criticized for our enforcement efforts, but that's about it. You can help by assisting the social services providers with desperately needed funding and resources to help these people living in the streets and parks of our city.

From: Maile Shimabukuro
To: Moses, Michael K. S.
Sent: Tue Jan 12 05:32:57 2010
Subject: Question Re: 'Opala piling up along Makaha road

Dear Major Moses:

Please see news article below. Since it seems like the homeless past Kea`au Beach are under the false impression that it is ok to leave their rubbish on the side of the road, is it possible for HPD to issue warnings to the homeless telling them it's actually illegal to leave their trash out? The warnings should give the homeless a deadline to clear the trash that is currently left along Farrington Highway, and provide them with the legal options, eg, disposing of their rubbish in the trash cans at Kea`au Beach Park, at the various dumps in Waianae, etc. Let me know if there's anything I can do to assist with this problem.

Mahalo, Maile

Article Title:
'Opala piles up along Makaha road, as officials point fingers

To view the contents on www.honoluluadvertiser.com, click HERE or go to:
http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/201001110200/NEWS01/1110359

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