Question: There are few road sign untouched by graffiti in Windward Oahu. Many signs are so obscured by paint they’re becoming a matter of public safety. How can I clean off the graffiti without damaging the sign? I’ve tried obtaining this information from DOT with no success. Maybe if others see the signs being cleaned they too would participate in a “Take Back Our Signs” campaign. Can you find out what can be used to clean the signs? Some of the beautiful sea-life murals in Kailua have been destroyed by kids who have no respect for property, people, beauty or possessions.
Answer: There are community efforts to clean up graffiti and other eyesores in general in different parts of the island, including Kailua.
But while the state Department of Transportation appreciates community interest in dealing with its graffiti problem — all over the island — it doesn’t want well-meaning folks removing the graffiti themselves.
“Cleaning the signs can be a bit tricky because many cleaning agents can harm the reflective surface, so we don’t encourage volunteer participation with sign cleaning,” said DOT spokeswoman Caroline Sluyter.
What it wants to encourage is reports of damaged signs so that crews can clean or replace them. On Oahu, call 831-6714.
“It is important to give as much information about the type of sign and location as possible so that our crews can locate it,” Sluyter said.
On the Windward side, call Sgt. Duane Samson of the District 4 (Makapuu to Kahuku) Community Policing Division, email dsamson@honolulu.gov or 723-8874 to see how you can become involved in community cleanups.
“It depends on what the community wants,” Samson said, when asked if removing graffiti was on the list of projects. “The community spearheads (the projects) and we partner with them. … We target everything.”
The Community Policing Division works with groups ranging from Malama 96744 to the city Department of Parks and Recreation, the Job Corps, prisoners at Oahu Community Correctional Center and anyone “who wants to volunteer,” he said.
For those who just want to report graffiti, call HPD’s graffiti hotline at 723-3475.
HPD’s graffiti Web page also has contact numbers for different agencies, depending on where the graffiti is: is.gd/PdLQZA.
Adopt-A-Highway
For those who want to go beyond graffiti, organizations are welcomed to volunteer to pick up trash through the Adopt-a-Highway program.
The DOT provides safety training and materials, trash bags and even a sign to recognize each group’s efforts in return for a minimum two-year commitment to pick up litter at least four times a year along a 2-mile portion of a state highway.
For more information, go to is.gd/lUR2xN or call 831-6712.
Mahalo
To four Choe contractor employees working on the Millennium Grounds Renovation Project at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl on Thursday, Jan. 31. It was rainy with much mud on the ground where they were working. I drove up to my husband’s resting area, and these four men offered to assist me in carrying my flowers and a vase filled with water to his grave and back to my car to be sure I wouldn’t fall, I being handicapped. They even cleaned off his headstone so it looked decent after the heavy rain. When I visited his grave a week later, all seven Choe employees came racing to my car, knowing it was me, with a Valentine’s box of chocolates, all of them wishing me an early Happy Valentine’s Day, with hugs. Again, they assisted me with my flowers and helped me to the grave and back to my car. I found out this company is from Texas. Mahalo nui loa to all these courteous gentlemen. Their kindness left me with a lot of tears. — Lehua, grateful military widow
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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.
