2007/08

Community Activism saved 300 of the 549 parking stalls

Since 2007, Ed Underwood, Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation chief administrator has tried to charge the recreational users of the Ala Wai Small Boat Harbor for parking.

In Ed Underwood's 2007 letter to the legislature he requests the conversion of all the free recreational parking to paid parking (see the highlighted area in the remarks section).

In 2007, the State of Hawaii required mandatory public hearings on the subject of the Ala Wai Small Boat Harbor parking. Since the harbor is a State recreational area, the meetings were open to the public and held at a local elementary school. During the public hearings, community members expressed their intense opposition to any reduction of the free recreational parking, which, at the time, was 549 stalls. The intense public outcry lead to the State of Hawaii hiring a third party Mediation company. George Downing of SAVE OUR SURF and 30 others testified against any change to the ‘parking plan’ or the fee schedule. In George Downing’s 2007 written testimony he gives a detailed look at situation including parking policy, harbor revenue and the importance proper assessment of the harbor use and Environmental Impact.

The funds gained from the converting some of the 549 originally free parking stalls to paid stalls was to offset the costs of the free (300 stalls) for lighting, signage, surfer shower water. The negotiations went on into January 2008. George Downing, of the SAVE OUR SURF community group ‘represented the public in a small meeting’ and he was able to establish a formal ‘parking plan’ that included the maintenance (preservation) of not less than 300 free parking stalls.

The grassroots community organization Common Ground was involved in recruiting the public for testimony and the negotiation. in which two surfers and two State employees negotiated, and a ‘Parking Plan’ was adopted that preserves ‘no less than three hundred parking stalls’ for recreational use and beach access which was approved by the Land Board in 2008.

The revenue from the 249 parking stalls that converted from free to paid makes about $50,000. (50K) a month. That's about half of the total parking revenue; the total Ala Wai Boat Harbor parking revenue is 100K per month. Some parking revenue is from the boaters who pay for monthly parking permits and some stalls were always paid stalls (near the Iliaki) . One could say the 50K a month earned from the 249 parking stalls (‘lost’ as free parking in 2008) certainly pays for the surfer shower water (about 5 K month) and parking lot lighting.