Vigilante Curb Painting Has ʻAiea Resident Seeing Red
Red paint on public curbs is reserved for Honolulu bus stops, but at one condo building, the enamel has been more widely applied.
Street parking: Two words likely to raise the blood pressure of many Oʻahu residents.
Complaints regularly flow through neighborhood Facebook groups, the Nextdoor app and Honolulu’s own 311 hotline, including one ʻEwa Beach resident on Monday who lamented of illegally parked cars, “This is really getting old!!”
Not surprising perhaps that sometimes residents or building managers might resort to DIY solutions to help enforce parking rules, including dropping their own orange traffic cones or wielding a paintbrush of red auto paint. But taking such matters into one’s own hands is not allowed.
One irate resident in ʻAiea contacted Civil Beat about some fresh striping on the curbs around the driveways to The Pearl One condominiums at 98-500 Koauka Loop in ʻAiea.
“This is taking out at least two legal street parking spaces,” the tipster wrote. “Please fix this.”
Photos taken Tuesday show red markings on either side of the driveway entrance and exit to the residential building, apparently indicating a “no parking” zone. By law, drivers must leave a minimum 4-foot clearance at driveways, but at least one marking appears to be wider than that.
People who take it upon themselves to brandish a brush are modifying infrastructure, according to the city. That requires approval by the city and can restrict otherwise legal street parking for residents.
Red enamel on public street curbs is currently only used for bus stop areas and must be authorized by the Department of Transportation Services, city spokeswoman Brandi Higa said via email.
“If unpermitted work on public property is reported, the Department of Planning and Permitting may conduct an inspection and issue a warning or notice of violation” under the county ordinance for pedestrian infrastructure, Higa said.
Michael Turman, The Pearl One’s general manager, said in an email Tuesday he was not in a position to respond to questions about the markings but would forward a request from Civil Beat to the building’s board of directors. So far there has been no response.
Higa could not confirm if the paint on the public curbs at Pearl One was unpermitted, but said that the city would be looking into it further.
If unauthorized paint is not removed, Department of Facilities Maintenance crews can be assigned to repaint the areas gray and bill those involved for the cost of the work. That could include, for example, an Association of Apartment Owners.
Community members can submit a complaint about issues like this to the city permitting office using an online Request for Information form, Higa said.
It’s not possible to say how widespread the issue of unauthorized curb painting is, but a search of local social media showed several recent instances of similar paintwork in locations that don’t appear to fit county ordinances.
In 2021, Honolulu Transportation Director Roger Morton wrote to the Honolulu City Council about a bill that proposed the department apply curb painting to driveways in areas where residents were overwhelmed by people parking on streets near popular hiking trails.
The curb painting was a bad idea, he said, and would “require continuous upkeep and would strain city resources,” Morton said. Instead, “DTS is willing to work on a case-by-case basis to implement remedies to address parking issues.”
Parking restrictions on some popular streets have been another means the city has been exploring recently to manage parking demand and resident access.
Who Do You Contact?
The Pearl One general manager is Michael Turman: pearl1aiea@gmail.com
Report building and related issues via the new City and County of Honolulu online form.
Seen Red Curbing Or Have Another Tip?
Please tell us where the problem is, as specifically as possible. A cellphone photo would be helpful. Here are ways to get in touch:
You can submit in minutes using this form.
You can send us an email at news@civilbeat.org. Put “Fix It” in the subject line so it doesn’t get lost.
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