Q. I often pass by wooden barriers — closing off a hole in the sidewalk or something like that — and on the top crossbar it says "rented from (some company)." I couldn't help but think that this barrier must have been paid for hundreds of times over in rental fees to this company. Would the city be better off buying these barriers?

A. City Facilities Maintenance Director Laverne Higa said the city does own a number of those barricades that city crews use routinely. "We have our own for our daily work," Higa said. "If we need to clean a catch basin or fix potholes, we have what we need."

She said it's likely that you are referring to barriers provided by private contractors doing street work for the city. Higa said the contractors usually work with sign companies to determine which barriers they need, how many and where they will go.

"The requirement with the barricade varies greatly with each project," Higa said. She said it's actually more efficient to work the barricades this way rather than the city buying and storing all sizes and types of barricades.

Q. Who's responsible for cleaning up that grassy hillside along H-1 Freeway 'ewa-bound in the area near the on-ramp to Pali Highway just above Punchbowl Street. Why is it just covered with rubbish so often?

A. State Transportation Department spokesman Scott Ishikawa said road crews from his department have cleaned the H-1 area a couple of times in the past three or four months, but trash and debris seem to pop up in the area again quickly. "Our suspicion is there may be some roving homeless in the area," and that's why the problem recurs more quickly along the busy roadway. He said because the maintenance staff is stretched thin in covering the whole island it tends to cover various districts in cycles. "We will try to clean it when possible," he said.

Q. I drive the H-3 Freeway between Kane'ohe and Kailua and have never noticed so much litter as what I have seen lately. It looks like nobody's picking it up. I'm wondering what the problem is with that?

A. Transportation spokesman Ishikawa said you have identified an area that is in transition. The previous private landscaping contract ended Aug. 11 and there was a delay in the new private contractor starting. The paperwork for the new contract is being processed and work is scheduled to resume by next week.

If you have a question or a problem and need help getting to the right person, you can reach The Bureaucracy Buster one of three ways:

Write to:

The Bureaucracy Buster
The Honolulu Advertiser
605 Kapi'olani Blvd.
Honolulu, HI 96813

Phone: 535-2454 and leave a message. Be sure to give us your name and daytime telephone number in case we need more information.

Reach Robbie Dingeman at rdingeman@honoluluadvertiser.com.