Disabled consumers have two big problems regarding parking.
First, there's no consistency or uniformity regarding penalties, signage and markings for disabled parking spaces. And second, some able-bodied but weak-minded okoles keep parking in stalls meant for the handicapped.
Let's take the first problem. In some places it's hard to find the disabled parking spaces because there's no sign, just blue lines. Different parking lots also use different signs.
The penalty for violating disabled parking statutes until recently was $50 on Oahu, but God-knows-what in other counties. In one county, tickets can be given to violators in private parking lots at shopping malls, stores, doctors' offices, etc., not just on our public streets or county and state parking lots. Yet the biggest abuse of disabled parking spaces happens on private property.
These inconsistencies cause confusion for the disabled consumer, as well as the general public. What's needed is a statewide law to correct all of these inconsistencies regarding parking for the disabled, once and for all.
Senate Bill 1619 and its companion, House Bill 1759, will correct all inconsistencies and provide uniformity. I personally like the part where all signs will advise the able-bodied that "fines up to $500" will hit you in the pocketbook if you're caught violating this law.
The second big problem is lack of enforcement of disabled parking regulations. Our police officers, most of the time, are too busy chasing crooks to chase able-bodied drivers out of parking stalls for the disabled.
I've had too many cops, even majors in the precincts, tell me in the last 20 years, "Sorry, enforcing disabled parking space violations is low priority." Consequently, to enforce the law, we disabled consumers have to fight the violators ourselves.
I'm not criticizing the Honolulu Police Department because I agree that police have more important priorities. On the other hand, why should the disabled themselves have to fight for our designated parking spaces?
Recently, a friend of mine, an advocate for the disabled, came up with the excellent idea of using volunteers to help enforce the law. It's cost effective and if the volunteers are screened and trained correctly, we should be as successful as other cities, such as San Francisco and San Jose, that use volunteers for enforcement today.
Maybe we will have one or two rotten eggs who may screw up the program by abusing their power to cite violators. They may even get hurt, as Star-Bulletin columnist Charles Memminger feared in a recent column about the new citizen patrols.
But that doesn't mean the program can't work. And there's no reason to cancel a program like this if something goes wrong. We must learn from our mistakes and keep on truckin'.
And what about Memminger's tongue-in-cheek suggestion to use a citizens' patrol to enforce littering, graffiti or loitering? Having been involved in the legislative process for nearly 18 years, I can assure Memminger that our politicos at City Hall and the state Capitol have more common sense than that.
Unless Memminger has a better idea to help us to enforce the law relating to disabled parking spaces, I challenge him to park his butt in a wheelchair for 30 days. Ask the county's assistance in providing him with a temporary disabled parking card.
And no cheating, Charles. You have to use only parking spaces designated for the disabled, even if it means going around and around all the empty non-disabled parking spaces because some able-bodied jerk parked his car in a spot for the disabled. After 30 days, Memminger could write another column from our perspective to give everyone an education.