Tow trucks circle the Ala Wai Small Boat Harbor almost as often as the surfers, who are looking to nab one of the facility’s free public parking spots.

That’s because parking issues are heating up again at the harbor, where conditions have continued deteriorating while the state pursues public-private partnerships. For years, there have been complaints about poorly maintained boater amenities as well as slip conditions and utilization. More recently, concerns have been increasing about poor parking signage and improperly painted and faded stall lines that have caused some people to run afoul of the parking requirements — earning an instant tow.

Jen Kersey and her mother, Susan Davies, who like to brunch at the Harbor Pub, also learned the hard way that overstaying parking by even a few minutes is risky. Kersey said she thought Davies was exaggerating a few months ago when she said that she was towed for going over her parking time by five minutes.

“But then I went down there recently to have brunch with her. My time expired at 12:15 p.m. I was literally walking toward my car at 12:10 p.m. and saw the flatbed tow truck sitting next to it waiting,” Kersey said. “When the tow truck driver saw me he drove away. When I was leaving the parking lot after that tow truck went away, I saw two more.”

Concerned citizens are holding a rally from 3-6 p.m. Saturday at the Ala Wai Small Boat Harbor surf and recreational parking lot. The purpose of the event, which is co-sponsored by the Surfrider Foundation Oahu chapter, is to highlight the importance of protecting the 300 free stalls that are currently available to harbor recreational users, which range from surfers at the popular Bowls spot to families coming out for the Friday night fireworks.

The rally will start with sign- waving at 3 p.m. A group picture will be taken at 4 p.m. and then at 5 p.m. participants will paddle out for a drone shot to mark the occasion. More details can be found at surfparking.org.

“The public beach access is part of the common trust resources held by the state, and it’s their responsibility to guarantee those resources,” said Natalie Wohner, outreach coordinator for the Surfrider Oahu chapter. “The issue specifically goes back to when Waikiki and the Ala Wai Small Boat Harbor were developed and what locals gave up in exchange for this public beach access. Slowly over time that deal went away. The state should be funding itself through businesses and hotels, not local surfers and other recreational users.”

The rally also builds on a movement started by Kate Thompson, an Ala Wai boater for 25 years, who is seeking to improve parking signage at the harbor, where she says for many years she has watched cars towed on a daily basis, especially from the harbor’s permit and recreational zones. Thompson said she and others want the state to end its instant towing policy at the harbor, as well as install new parking signage to replace confusing language as well as signs covered with graffiti or which are faded. They also want faded and nonuniform stall markings repainted so that drivers know where to park.

The state Department of Land and Natural Resources’ Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser on Thursday that it could not immediately respond to questions due to the upcoming holiday.

Secure Parking Hawaii Inc., which has held a month-to-month revocable permit to manage harbor parking since September 2021, also said it could not immediately respond to the Star-Advertiser’s request for a comment due to the holiday.

Mr. Tow LLC, which the state contracted with in July 2020, declined to comment. The state Office of Consumer Protection noted only two complaints for the company since 2019. Both complaints were filed March 18, 2022. One was disposed of because the OCP found the complainant unresponsive, and the other for insufficient evidence.

Anxiety about the future of the public recreational area has been heightened since the state, years ago, broadened the harbor’s redevelopment options through Act 197 and HRS 171-6(19), paving the way for a public-private partnership. DOBOR has permission from the Board of Land and Natural Resources to issue another request for proposals to redevelop Ala Wai Small Boat Harbor under a lease arrangement that could extend up to 65 years.

A vision report, released in July 2022 and developed for the state by the University of Hawaii Community Design Center and UH’s Department of Urban and Regional Planning, calls for a partner willing to participate on an upgrade, estimated to cost $251 million to $356 million, that focuses on delivering essential harbor functions, improving community amenities and preparing for climate change. Since the vision report laid out a construction timeline that could start June 1, 2024, and end by June 1, 2028, the subject of partially or fully privatizing the harbor is expected to be part of the upcoming legislative session and could lead to parking changes.

Rep. Adrian Tam (D-Waikiki- Ala Moana-Kakaako), said discussions about a public- private partnership for the harbor are likely to emerge this session.

“I will approach everything with an open mind, but as of right now, I’m not supportive of a public-private partnership,” Tam said.

He added that he understands the frustration over parking at the harbor, and thinks that the issue also may be revisited this session.

“It’s kind of a double-edged sword,” Tam said. “People don’t want to pay for parking, but if someone is allowed to hog a spot, especially a worker, it limits recreational access.”

Tam said he would consider converting more free parking at the harbor to paid parking if it better balanced the interests of all users. However, before the state does that, he favors exploring setting parking time limits and marking car tires.

He said regardless of the parking policy chosen, the state needs to improve signage and paint the stalls uniformly.

Thompson said if the state puts an end to free parking at Ala Wai Small Boat Harbor, more recreational users could be at risk of getting towed as they will be forced to use the harbor’s paid parking, where some of the signs are faded and have confusing verbiage. She said parking stall lines also are faded, making it difficult to distinguish white lines from yellow lines, especially at night.

Wohner said her car was once towed from the harbor when she accidentally parked in a permitted parking stall instead of the adjacent free stall.

“The sign in front of my car was for free parking, but the space was on a diagonal so I missed the other signage,” she said.

Thompson has started a change.org petition, bit.ly/3Gtv7hV, objecting to the state’s instant towing policy, which she said is overly harsh at about $200 a pop.

Indeed, Malia Hill, Grassroot Institute of Hawaii policy director, said the state might consider how its instant-tow policy fits into the nationwide discussion about overreach of fines, especially pertaining to asset forfeiture as well as the emergence of governments using fines as a way to bring in more revenue.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals recently ruled in Pimentel v. the City of Los Angeles that the Eighth Amendment’s Excessive Fines Clause applied to parking meter fines, which were made excessive through late-payment penalties.

If it reviews its instant- towing policy, Hill said the state should consider that “people need a lot of warning, and there should be transparency. You can’t have a giant gulf between what you did wrong — a parking meter— and the financial result a $200 tow, not to mention all of the inconvenience of going to get your car.”

Thompson said she has contacted DOBOR, DLNR and former Gov. David Ige’s administration about her parking concerns.

She received a Nov. 7, 2022, letter from Ige, which stated that Hawaii Administrative Rule Section 13-233-8 gives DLNR the authority to tow any vehicle at any time for nonpayment of parking charges. Ige told Thompson that existing laws and administrative rules do not provide for any grace period or “pause” in enforcement for overstaying.

“As you are well aware, Ala Wai Small Boat Harbor is one of the most heavily used and trafficked public facilities in the State,” Ige said in his letter to Thompson. “Therefore, the Department must facilitate fair and equitable use of the public facilities to re­sidents and visitors alike, which includes removal of vehicles parked in violation of any parking laws and rules.”

Thompson has since reached out to Gov. Josh Green’s administration, and said she was provided with a community resource contact to restart the process.

Parking has long been a concern at the harbor, where more than half of the parking stalls became permit parking or metered parking in 2008. Save Our Surf and other like-minded groups negotiated at that time to keep about 300 harbor parking stalls free of charge to recreational users.

The state hired Diamond Parking to enforce the 2008 parking changes, which preceded a class-action lawsuit in 2010 in U.S. District Court. The suit, which was ultimately settled, alleged that defendants — Diamond Parking, Gino’s Powerlift Towing, the state and others — “seized, towed, impounded and ticketed plaintiff’s vehicles” parked in the harbor’s public areas and failed to provide “procedural safeguards including notice and meaningful opportunity to dispute private property deprivation by state’s action.”

The state Land Board in 2020 last stopped a plan to eliminate 125 free stalls — more than 40% of the free stalls at the harbor.

DOBOR told the state Land Board at the time that eliminating some of the free parking would provide more support to commercial activities, which had been growing at the harbor. DOBOR said many of the free parking spaces were being used by employees of nearby hotels and other businesses rather than the harbor’s recreational users.

Instead of approving DOBOR’s plan, the Land Board directed the division to work with harbor stakeholders to develop a comprehensive parking plan for the harbor.

Thompson said she initiated an October walk-through of the harbor’s parking with DOBOR Oahu District Manager Bruce Swartz and Ala Wai harbormaster Corey Fujioka. During the walk-through, Thompson said the officials pointed out that Mr. Tow had created some new temporary parking signage, which was installed about April 2022.

As required by HRS §290-11, the signage created by Mr. Tow states in 2-inch, light-reflective letters on a contrasting background that the vehicle parked without authorization will be towed and held at the expense of the vehicle owner, and includes the name, address and a telephone number of the facility where the vehicle will be towed and held.

Thompson said the lettering on the temporary signage is so compact that it is hard to read, and in her view the towing company should not have been involved in its creation.

Thompson said harbor officials told her that new permanent parking signage had been approved. But she said it hasn’t been installed.

“It’s been in the works for over a year,” Thompson said. “That’s unacceptable.”

PARKING REMEDIES

>> Remove and replace all extremely faded signs.

>> Ground label every stall to designate if it is paid parking or for ocean access or boat owners.

>> Add square reflective pavement markers on the street facing the end of parking stalls that are designated for boat owners with parking permits.

>> Limit disability parking to four-hour limit to provide more opportunity for access.

>> Ensure that pole signage and ground signage for disability parking is clearly marked and differentiated from the adjacent white-stripped access spot, which is supposed to be for loading and unloading.

>> Install signage defining who can park in the free public recreational area, especially indicating that the spaces are not for nearby employees or hotel guests to use. Valet parking should not be allowed either.

>> Add signage to the free recreational parking lot that can be seen at night to clarify that no parking is allowed from 10:30 p.m. to 4:30 a.m.

>> Consider installing smart meters, which allow local residents to enter a code to bypass payment or have a reduced payment.

>> Develop proper parking signage, which has not been designed by the parking or towing companies.

>> Remove all temporary signs that were designed by Mr. Tow.

>> Hire a land surveyor to conduct a parking lot improvement survey, which shows each stall, its category, and if it is the proper size so that cars are not towed for going over the line.

>> Install a large 4-foot by 6-foot illuminated sign that displays an accurate parking map and the parking rules. Add a QR code for more information. Placement should be in a high-visibility spot such as the boat-turnout site in front of the Ilikai.

Source: Kate Thompson