Chinatown Pedestrian Meeting Scheduled

I have questions about how the law is being applied. I hope answers and clarification from governmental officials will be found.

Remember when at the intersection of Kekaulike and Hotel the new curb ramp was installed, the new cement is still distinct in the sidewalk. DOT infrastructure improvements are always welcome. Wondered why at the time, crosswalk was off to one side and only 7 feet wide. A few blocks down, near the bank district on Fort Street mall, the legal area to cross has a light and is almost ten times wider.

Now, with the increased focus on penalizing jaywalkers, feel that this situation should be corrected, so that Chinatown shoppers are not victimized by false ticketing from Honolulu police issuing undue tickets.

Called DOT about this intersection and about Easter Morning ticketing and why is the stop line for the maikai lane next to Kekaulike pedestrian mall located smack dab in the middle of the intersection. Asked if there are plans to widen the crosswalk from curb to curb at the T intersection. No plans for widening and intersection has been found adequate. Dissagreed and prompted that a Sunday morning study would find the following pitiful scene.

Masses of aged people on both sides of the sidewalk,crowding and slowly funneling themselves onto the narrowly painted path as if there were crocodiles swimming on both sides of the crosswalk. The downside of issuing undue tickets because of a fault with the street artwork outweighs the benefits of furthering impoverishing the urban underclass.

By depriving Chinatown shoppers of $70 due to an odd and inadequteley designed intersection on a holiday Easter morning before 9 o'clock is simple revenue enhancement on the backs of the very poor. This is the most despicable and deplorable situation I have ever witnessed in graft by centurions whose motto is "to protect and serve."

These people weren't jaywalking in a reasonable sense. It is outrageous to design a pedestrian-only mall that is antagonistic towards pedestrians. On Kekaulike, the ramped sidewalk for the disabled extends almost the full length of the pedestrian mall.

The current administration decided last year to make this intersection second-rate in an attempt to rob the neighborhood for the planned railroad land speculation.

Instead of making the new ramp as wide as it is on Kekaulike side, a small secondary ramp was installed and the stop line placed halfway between the two curbs, (if Kekaulike Street were extended). At the very center of the intersection is the stop line for the bus.

Understand that city busses are having a hard time due to pedestrians continuing to enter the painted crosswalk, making the busses brake repeatly. Those pedestrians should be citied for impeding? What ware the rules? Perhaps with so many people continuing in a steady stream entering the crosswalk is an indication that a wider crosswalk is required.

Instead of having four cops issuing tickets, have one cop directing pedestrian crossing only for weekends only when there are so many people coming in to shop inside Chinatown.