Bikeshare Hawaii announced that its crew moved the Biki station on Maunakea and North King streets to an intersection fronting the Arts at Marks Garage in Chinatown on Wednesday morning.
The move came after resistance from shop owners along Maunakea Street to the installation of bulbouts, or extended curbs, in the neighborhood, as well as the Biki station within a bulbout at its former location.
Tony Nguyen, whose family owns Lin’s Lei Shop on Maunakea Street, had complained that business dropped due to the bulbouts and station because customers could no longer make a quick stop to buy a lei.
“The city was moving the bulbout and requested that we relocate the Biki Stop as well,” said Lori McCarney, Bikeshare Hawaii’s executive director, in a news release. “We received the permit for the new location at Pauahi Street and Nuuanu Avenue (Tuesday), and we moved the station (Wednesday) morning. We work very closely with the city on the location of our stations, and only install Biki Stops where permitted.”
City spokesman Andrew Pereira said representatives of Arts at Marks were “extremely supportive” of the relocation.
The new Biki station is within a bulbout at the intersection of Pauahi Street and Nuuanu Avenue in front of the Arts at Marks Garage. Sandra Pohl, owner of Louis Pohl Gallery on the ground floor of the garage, said she thought the Biki bikes were good for the neighborhood.
McCarney added that she looked forward to working with the neighborhood board on bringing more visitors to the area and that Chinatown “will most definitely be a consideration for expansion in 2018.”
Kauai
Hawaiian monk seal released after 2 months of rehabilitation
A formerly malnourished Hawaiian monk seal was released back to the shores of Kauai on Friday after two months of rehabilitation at Ke Kai Ola in Kona, according to The Marine Mammal Center.
Hawaiian monk seal RH38, a female yearling, was picked up by the U.S. Coast Guard on Kauai’s North Shore and transported to Ke Kai Ola in August. She was the hospital’s first patient from Kauai to be rehabilitated at the center.
She was spotted in poor condition on Milolii Beach by a member of the Pacific Island Region Marine Mammal Response Network. At just under 90 pounds, it was clear that she required care.
“The rescue and rehabilitation of RH38 was a unique opportunity,” said Claire Simeone, the center’s conservation medicine veterinarian. “With only a few hundred monk seals in the main Hawaiian Islands, the survival of each individual is critical to the recovery of the population.”
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration estimates that the current monk seal population is at about 1,400, with about 1,100 in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands and 300 in the main Hawaiian Islands.
Ke Kai Ola, a center dedicated to the care of endangered Hawaiian monk seals run by The Marine Mammal Center of California, has admitted 23 monk seals since opening in 2014 in partnership with NOAA Fisheries. A total of 20 have been released back to the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.
Two monk seal patients — Awapuhi and Koani pehu — rescued from French Frigate Shoals, remain at Ke Kai
