Question: Two to three months ago we started to see numbers painted on our streets in Makiki. Later, a man from Grace Pacific said they were going to pave our street. Can you find out when the work will be done?
Answer: The city’s Road Work Weekly Report for the week of Nov. 4 — www1. honolulu.gov/csd/publiccom/honnews12/roadworknov412.htm — shows many streets in Makiki and Upper Makiki scheduled for "localized reconstruction of pavement and resurfacing."
"The contractor has full control over the sequence in which he completes the various streets," said Lori Kahikina, director of the city Department of Design and Construction. "Usually they work in one direction (east to west/mauka to makai) doing the side streets first and then finishing with the one main arterial road. But it’s entirely up (to the contractor)."
The contractor was given the "notice to proceed" on March 27, with a contract duration of 270 calendar days.
The project was scheduled for completion by the end of the year but has fallen behind schedule, Kahikina said. The target completion date is now sometime in the first quarter of 2013.
STATE ID PROGRAM MOVING
Those of you who rely on state ID cards, be aware: Beginning Jan. 2, the state Department of Transportation will be taking over the civil identification program.
There’ll be new — and more — locations to obtain state IDs beginning next year, although locations will not change for obtaining driver’s licenses, excluding satellite city halls.
The state attorney general’s Hawaii Criminal Justice Data Center has administered the program since 1983.
The law calls for the program to be transferred to the DOT, with the counties processing the IDs, as they do state driver’s licenses.
The transfer will help Hawaii meet requirements of the federal REAL ID Act, which established more stringent requirements and procedures for issuing driver’s licenses and state ID cards, according to the attorney general’s office.
To comply with the federal law, state IDs are being issued as temporary cards and will continue to be issued as such after the transition. The temporary IDs are valid for one month until the permanent cards are mailed.
There will be a brief period in December when ID cards will not be issued.
The state ID office at 465 S. King St. will continue to issue IDs until Dec. 21. It will close Dec. 24 and then will no longer issue IDs.
The governor’s neighbor island liaison offices will stop issuing state ID cards beginning Dec. 17.
Beginning Jan. 2, state IDs can be obtained at these driver’s licensing locations on Oahu: Kalihi-Kapalama, 1199 Dillingham Blvd.; Wahiawa, 330 N. Cane St.; Waianae, 85-670 Farrington Highway (Mondays and Wednesdays only); Kapolei, 1000 Uluohia St.; Koolau, 47-388 Hui Iwa St.
City officials emphasize that state IDs will not be processed at satellite city halls.
MAHALO
To some fine young people. On Sept. 24, as my wife and I were getting into our car in the McDonald’s parking lot at Kamehameha Shopping Center, a young man in a car alerted me to a flat tire. I signaled "thank you," then proceeded to get my spare tire from my trunk. But he drove his car around to ours, and to our profound surprise, he and two young ladies with a toddler rushed to help. Then another gentleman from a nearby car approached without a word and handed a multiple socket wrench to the young man. In a flash the tire was replaced, and the two fellows disappeared just as fast. I offered a token gift to the young ladies, but they absolutely refused. To all of them we express our heartfelt appreciation for your true aloha spirit and caring for kupuna like us. May God continue to bless you, just as it was a blessing for us to have met you all that day.
— Dick Hamada, Kalihi
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